Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

Good Neighbors by Sarah Langan

22 reviews

emilyorrwhat's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I absolutely loved this book. I couldn’t put it down! Read in a day because it was such a page turner. I love the author’s writing style and the way she built up the suspense while foreshadowing the events. Loved how unpredictable the story was, even with the flash forwards. 

Definitely worth the time I spent reading it, and will be reading more of Langan!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Addiction, Toxic friendship, Pedophilia, Violence, Child death, and Gun violence

a core topic in this book is one of the characters being falsely accused of pedophilia, so it is mentioned often, but it never actually occurs in the book.

stacylaughs's review

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Bullying

Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Blood, Pedophilia, Alcoholism, and Body shaming

Minor: Animal death and Death of parent

savvylit's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

Good Neighbors is a tense blend of eco-thriller and suburban horror. What if your neighbors suddenly decided to hate you as a bitumen-spewing sinkhole opens up across the street from your home? Langan explores this question thoroughly, deftly portraying unsettling groupthink and ignored environmental disaster. The neighbors of this novel are genuinely terrifying in an all-too-real way due to their classist hive mind mentality. They make so many assumptions that ultimately cascade and escalate to the point of violence. Langan perfectly understands and reveals the covert hatred that is often seething just under the surface in so-called "good" American neighborhoods.

All that being said, the execution of the plot left me feeling a little hollow. I wanted to love this book for its social commentary. However, the format ultimately keeps it from feeling cohesive. Good Neighbors is interspersed with newspaper clippings from various retrospectives on the events at the heart of its plot. It would seem that these article snippets were included to maintain intrigue and drop clues. Really, though, the snippets took unnecessary focus away from the actual happenings in the plot.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence and Addiction

tbrooks's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, Drug abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Suicide, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Alcoholism, and Bullying

malea_ann's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is dark. It's also equal parts simple and complex, reflecting the worst of humanity back at us. This is more of a psychological horror than anything -- it takes a deep dive into the worst of our characteristics, though it also shows glimpses of the best of humanity in brief, easy to miss moments. Yet, those minute examples of the best of humanity are easy to miss amid mob mentality, horrifying accusations, and even more horrifying actions. This is a tense read throughout, but also well crafted with layers of stories atop one another.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Animal death, Death, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Alcoholism, and Child abuse

finleyfrogreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Incest, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Medical content, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Violence, Pedophilia, Gun violence, Murder, Forced institutionalization, and Grief

Moderate: Classism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Blood, Cancer, Excrement, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Emotional abuse

mollmccaff's review

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Rape, Murder, Child death, Grief, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Gun violence, Excrement, Addiction, Drug use, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Medical content, Bullying, and Death of parent

Minor: Suicide and Forced institutionalization

mjreadings's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Child death, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, and Bullying

Moderate: Gaslighting

cursivewolf's review

dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

While the writing was cheesy at times, it was a great read. The book made me so mad, but not in a bad way? It’s not a bad book, just upsetting. It breaks your heart. I liked the article clippings in between certain chapters, it added to the suspense at times. And it added a lot of context.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Grief, Pregnancy, Stalking, Suicide, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Drug abuse, Ableism, and Addiction

Minor: Rape

kristy_lyn's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

This book was not what I was expecting and I'm still not sure exactly how to rate it. But after closing the cover I still can't stop thinking about it so I'll settle on 3.5 stars. 

The story takes place in the not-so-distant future and follows the events that occur in one particular cul-de-sac and the lives of the families who live there. We meet up with the Wilde family at the beginning of the book and immediately get the impression they are somewhat outcast from the rest of the neighbours. As the story unfolds it begins to centre around two main families and the conflict that arises between them. I was left with an uncomfortable feeling of unease through the duration of this book as I felt it hit a little too close to our modern day world despite being set in the future. There are implications towards global warming with the forming of the sink hole, and a rather bleak look into mob mentality and the dangers that arise when frustrations and hostility begin to grow within society. Even in the small scale study that is Maple Street. I found myself turning page after page eager to see where the story was going and repeatedly found it was not where I expected. Although it was slow to start, I enjoyed the news articles scattered throughout which kept you guessing right up until the end. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Gun violence