Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane

12 reviews

nutfreenerd's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Child death, Grief, Racism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Murder, and Racial slurs

marthadude's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Misogyny, Child abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pregnancy, Racism, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Torture, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, and Gun violence

emory's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Racial slurs, Child death, Gun violence, and Drug use

Minor: Gore

shellbell31's review against another edition

dark emotional funny tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Hate crime, Addiction, Grief, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, and Child death

alexisgarcia's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

this is incredibly dark and hard to read. this book is very very depressing but it’s a good and important story that shows a woman having to face her own racism, as well as the racism in her community, while searching for her missing daughter. there are no heroes in this story, and there is no happy ending. while this is a crime novel, it covers racism, politics, grief, and much more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Toxic friendship, Murder, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Addiction, Bullying, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Gore, Adult/minor relationship, Classism, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Racism, and Toxic relationship

magicinwords23's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was such a spectacular read. I was bewitched from the first page. Mary Pat was a badass and someone you want fighting your corner. The courage she showed in front of some of the most dangerous criminals and situations she found herself in was commendable. Her efforts in searching for Jules and the lengths she went to were so admirable that no one could fault her loyalty and love for her daughter. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Murder, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Child death, Violence, and Grief

This story takes place over the summer of 1971, during a heatwave, in the housing projects of Southie, Boston. The city has decided to desegregate the white and black public schools and no one is happy about it. Mary Pat Fennessy is a single mother trying badly to keep her head above water. Having spent her life in the housing projects she is tough and doesn’t let too much get by her. One night her daughter Jules doesn’t come home, the same night a black kid is suspiciously killed mysteriously by a train in Southie. After a few nights and there is no sign of Jules Mary Pat becomes worried and starts doing her investigation, interrogating those who might know her whereabouts. Mary Pat’s interrogation does not go down well with Marty Butler, the boss of the city’s mob and his crew, and along with this, the recent killing of the black kid and the desegregation, it forces a shining beacon over Southie and Marty’s dodgy businesses. But Mary Pat’s whole life is her daughter and will not let anything stand in her way, not even Marty and his posse, to find Jules.

meroth07's review

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Racism, Hate crime, Racial slurs, and Violence

daralexandria's review

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Addiction, Child death, Hate crime, Blood, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Racism

bek67's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

What the hell did I just read. This book did not make me happy, it did not give me any good feels. It was a challenging read. The language was appalling. I am not a prude and I cuss, but I just inwardly cringed every time the n word was spoken-and it was A LOT! Our protagonist (Mary Pat) is a racist through and through. I think, or at least I hope right at the end of the book when she was on the phone to Bobby, she realizes how racist she has been all her life. <She is describing how when you're a kid and they feed you all the lies. Who you can't trust and how that's just the Way. And as a kid you want to be part of the Way, so you embrace it and you dig in and then spread the same lies to your kids. Bobby tells her it's ok but her response is, "It's not!" So I hope she realizes the error of her ways even though it's too late for her./> This is not an easy read, but I did give it four stars because I read it very quickly-I need to know what happened to Jules, Mary Pat and the Butler crew.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, and Child death

llayaz's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Murder, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Cursing, Child death, Grief, Drug use, Death, Blood, Alcohol, Addiction, Violence, and Drug abuse

Minor: Alcoholism, Mass/school shootings, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Medical content, Gun violence, and Infidelity