Reviews with content warning for Sexual assault - Gaslight

Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Gaslight by Sara Shepard, Miles Joris-Peyrafitte

10 reviews

applesodaperson's review

dark tense 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

4.25

This book was so so good! Clearly the authors of this book did an extensive amount of research into cults for this book. I also would say I have a better than average knowledge base about cults, so I could really see and appreciate how accurate and detailed this book was. And this book was written so well and made me feel so stressed at times. It did such a good job of keeping the stakes so high. Especially when

Danny was trying to kidnap Roscoe.

And it was so compelling watching the various characters go through the deconstruction process and try to break out of the patterns of thought that cults enforce.
And Ben was seriously terrifying and had pretty much every trait of the classic cult leader.
Honestly a lot of this book reminded me of the NXIVM cult. 2 years ago I read Don't Call It A Cult by Sarah Berman, and honestly I would be shocked if this book was not heavily inspired by that real life cult. Because they both have the base of being for self help and self improvement, and they both involved branding their members, and in both cases the cult leader has a woman as their second in command. This book was basically a fictionalized version of that real life cult.
But it was such an entertaining book and I would highly recommend it.
Listened to on Libby.

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minaminabot's review against another edition

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dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

5.0

If you had listened to the audio drama this was based on and felt it was too short, then the book is the answer.

This goes more into detail to what happens to Danny and Rebecca, and I feel ends much better than the podcast.

Spoiler re: the ending of the audio drama vs book

My biggest fear was from memory the audio drama ends and Danny doesn't learn anything and continues to stay in an abusive relationship. But despite the years of brainwashing she tries to deprogram herself. I'm so happy it did not end poorly.

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kannahhilmer's review against another edition

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4.25

We need more fiction cult books like this!!!

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mochacole29's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I loved this book. I found myself thinking about the story quite often due to the suspension and wonder of what would happen next.

It was very interesting how the author included the thoughts of the characters in a way to really show how the characters’ fears and irrational thoughts play out. On a final note, Tom and Rebecca’s relationship is beautiful. I teared up at the end when reading the part about feeling as if you don’t deserve anything good because of past actions and unconditional love.

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motherofpearly's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense 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

4.0

This book was so interesting, and I finished it quickly. The authors did a good job at showing how the main character’s perspective shifted before, during, and after entering the cult. The audiobook was really well read too. I did skip past a lot of the sexual abuse because it seemed like it was going to be too graphic for me

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tinytrashqueen's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-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

4.0

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arityjane's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.25

The cult in this book was clearly based on the NXIVM cult. If you know quite a bit about it, you'll recognize it is based on that from the get-go. The writers, apparently, could only come up with one semi-original thing to differentiate the fictional cult in the book, ISB, from NXIVM, other than their locations on opposite sides of the United States.

However, it was still an interesting read with me on the edge of my seat. I LOVED the ending! If only that had happened to a certain real-life cult leader.

Overall, it was a decent read, though if more characters had been likable it would have improved the book.

Narrator Rating: 4.0 stars

The narrator was excellent, they just used some annoying voices that made the book harder to enjoy.

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ruaruarua's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.75

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miksbookpicks's review

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dark sad fast-paced

3.75

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