Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Before She Knew Him by Peter Swanson

17 reviews

temberhop's review against another edition

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

3.75

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gothmore's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

4.25

If you like Dexter you’ll like this book. 
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dblue236's review against another edition

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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

4.0

This was definitely not my favorite of this author's books, but it was a solid thriller with some twists I didn't see coming. The reveal regarding one particular character SHOULD have been obvious, but I managed to gloss right over it somehow until shortly before it was unveiled. Overall this was a great story and I enjoyed it, but it definitely isn't the best indicator of how talented Peter Swanson really is. 
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kathaleyenda's review against another edition

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

4.0

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smileysam's review against another edition

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

3.5

I’m pretty sure that a year or two ago, I listened to a podcast about this book. Despite that, the book was still enjoyable and I didn’t remember all of the twists and turns, which was a plus.
I had completely forgotten that Matthew and Richard were the same person, so it still came as a surprise when unveiled.
All in all, this book is a good, quick read. 

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catriona176's review against another edition

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

3.5

I don’t like the central framing device as a rule
because I think dissociative identity disorder is really overused and often poorly researched in media
though I’ll allow it here because the character’s background is quite faithful to the real life nature of the disease. Not his strongest novel but still entirely readable 
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rochelleisreading's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced
  • Loveable characters? No

2.0

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gellyreads's review against another edition

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

4.5

So, I can see why some people may feel like this book was trying to do too much, but I had a lot of fun with it. I didn't exactly go where I wanted it to go, even though I really thought I was right on a plot twist or too. I really enjoy books where you can see
the killer's point of view
, and the fact that this one still had some twists and turns was great for me. I also really enjoyed Hen's point of view, although I'm not sure how accurate of a depiction of bipolar is with it; Swanson also continues to do a decent job of a man writing a woman's view.
I definitely didn't see the fact that he didn't have a brother and it was a split personality at all, and I felt incredibly stupid for not realizing that she almost slept with and then got almost raped by one of his victims.
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aichaa's review against another edition

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dark tense
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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bethasaurus13's review against another edition

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

1.0

I really wanted to like this but I really did not. I’m a big fan of thrillers and I enjoyed the kind worth killing. however, I have never read a book that made me feel so sick. This book was  disturbing. 
the amount of misogyny, sexual violence was gross. The author stigmatizes DID and bipolar disorder.  The amount of sexual violence was beyond what was necessary and was described in great detail. The internal monologue of the killer was revolting. 

I listened to the audiobook which likely made that character’s internal thoughts about women even more disturbing. The way the killer talks about women was horrific. As a woman, the language was vile. It also made me uneasy that the person writing this was a man.  

The plot was not terrible but I felt sick from the sexual violence and the killer’s internal dialogue.

Also while the book is set in a fictional town, the author gives clues as to where it would be. He  says the town is on the south shore in Massachusetts, but the author’s descriptions of the town and the geography do not make sense. For example they go home from Logan airport but the author says they head towards Lexington to get home … on the south shore. The authors grasp on the geography of the region is sloppy, like most of the book. 
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