Reviews with content warning for Violence - Dead Girls Walking

The gore and body horror really delivered. The slasher vibes were on point. If I was rating this based on that alone, it’d be 5 stars. Ellis did an incredible job making it all gross and unsettling.

There was lots of interesting lore involved. Unfortunately it got kinda incoherent at times, or maybe it just didn’t click for me. I was trying to figure out rules for the supernatural elements. Definitely not the right approach.

I really enjoyed Temple and her dad’s relationship. It was a twisted, abusive one, but it felt real. The flashbacks were well implemented imo.

Overall, it’s a strong debut. I’ll definitely keep an eye out for this author.

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blakeandbooks'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

4.0

Thank you to NetGalley, Harry N. Abrams, and RB Media for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

At first, I honestly didn’t know if I was going to enjoy this book, because I was constantly getting go distracted while listening like it wasn’t capturing my attention enough. But wow! I was so surprised by how much I ended up enjoying this story. It definitely reminded me of You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron, which I also enjoyed.

It was so wild, and I love when a book has me anticipating what comes next. Temple’s family??? WILD. I was not expecting any of that! And I love how she is able to find a found family/real friendships in the midst of all the insanity that happens at the queer, girls camp. It’s a great YA horror novel, and I am looking forward to more from Sami Ellis!

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tranvnguyen's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

I received this audiobook as an ARC through NetGallley.

This usually isn’t my usual kind of read/listen, but it was phenomenal! The story itself was captivating, the perfect combination of spine chilling horror with touches of perfectly placed humor to break it up.

Tamika Katon-Donegal was amazing bringing the characters to life, showcasing everyone’s diverse personalities!

10/10 would watch this if it ever gets optioned for a movie.

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courtneys_shelves's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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librarytribute's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.5

Thank you to RB Media and NetGalley for a free advanced listener’s copy. I received this copy in exchange for my honest review.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book in the end. I was originally scared this would fall into the failures of most written slashers I’ve read before, which tend to rely too heavily on the physicality of the slasher genre. Though this book plays with the shasher tropes I think it navigates our main character’s mind in such a way that lends itself to suspense and it really kept me engaged. I loved the underlying conversation around the consumption of true crime media and how it painted all of Temple’s interactions with her peers. Her distrust and jaded outlook was a great tool for the narrative to keep you guessing. I genuinely felt frustration and anger on her behalf, separate from the plot of the book and Temple’s own temper was something that made her feel really complex, you could tell she was just a girl putting up a wall to keep herself safe even as she firmly roots herself as an outsider (which can read a bit ‘not like other girls’ but the way Sami Ellis deals with Temple’s anger does a good enough job offsetting it for me.)

Even though I thought the tension of the narrative overall was really enjoyable I do feel like some of the character interactions in the beginning felt weak and rushed which kind of affected the way I felt towards the middle and end when consequences started happening. I could have been more attached to some of these characters over all and it would have felt more weighty when you see choices being made towards the climax. This was definitely a plot-driven story which may not check boxes for people looking for a lot of heavy lifting from the characters.

If you liked the survival aspects of Eat Your Heart Out by Kelly DeVos and the vibes of 80/90s slashers with a twist, I’d definitely recommend Dead Girls Walking.

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bookishmillennial's review

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dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

Woweeeeeee! Whatever I thought this book was… well, that doesn’t matter. I was *wrong* !!! I find horror so delightful because I have no idea what to expect. Is this going to be a serial killer? Slasher? Paranormal horror? How much disbelief must I suspend to accept the story? It is always such an entertaining ride and I am so grateful to this genre for just letting me have fun!

Temple goes back to North Point Park, which has been turned into a queer horror-loving camp/retreat, which was awarded to about ten young women. Temple applies as a counselor, hiding her identity (her dad was the North Point Killer and this property was his home!) because she is desperate to find out what happened to her mom five years ago. She is 16 now, and her mom went missing five years ago. However, people begin to get murdered and Temple has to act quickly to figure out how to stop the killings and to get out alive!

Temple was funny, fierce, and a young woman on a mission! I appreciated her backstory of she knew some of the other girls, and how fearful she is of becoming like her murderous father. Some of the scenes towards the latter half of the book were so hard to read, specifically because I feel queasy whenever I read about deliberate child abuse😔

Anyway, I thought the reveals and the explanation for what was happening at this camp were incredibly wild! It felt like an ode to classic summer camp slasher films, but also stood strong enough on its own! There are interview transcripts of Temple’s father Thomas from his time in prison, as well as excerpts from this book that mirrored the reality of the NPK murders, which I felt worked really well & gave me a bit of context surrounding the social climate!

I will totally read more from Sami Ellis in the future, even if 3rd person, present-tense is not my fave !

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storiesatstarfall's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

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sophiareads_'s review

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adventurous dark 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

3.5

Content Warnings: murder, violence, gore, death of a parent, desecration of bodies, stalking, child abuse, fire/fire injury

Temple, the daughter of an infamous serial killer, returns to the woods in which she was raised - the woods where her father's victims were discovered - hoping to find the truth of her mother's disappearance. But the woods, now a campsite, are still a site of multiple missing persons cases, and Temple soon finds herself investigating a possible copycat of her father's crimes.

So, this was definitely different than I was expecting, but I think it was different for the better! Ellis definitely does a good job invoking the energy of a horror flick with this book - her writing sets the spooky atmosphere, and the descriptions of gore, while not my exact cup of tea, are definitely reminiscent of a slasher film. Going into this, I was definitely not expecting a paranormal kind of horror, but once this element is introduced, it works really well. Plot-wise, I think this is really great. It's full of twists and turns, and it's fun to see all of the various plot threads introduced throughout the book come together to create a cohesive narrative. My only issue with it, really, was that I wished we were given more information sooner, because frankly, I don't think I fully comprehended what was actually going on here until the 90% mark or something. I totally understand wanting that 'unfolding mystery' vibe with your book, but for a little too much of this book, I just felt a little too out of the loop, which didn't make for the best reading experience. That being said, totally possible that I'm just dumb and other people would totally have grasped everything earlier! And everything did totally come together - definitely a case of 'when it clicks, it CLICKS'.

Still, I think plot was the strongest element here. I really wanted to like Temple as a character, but she sort of gave off 'not like other girls' vibes. (Like, come on, aren't we over calling other girls 'Barbie' as an insult?) Ultimately, I think her character arc was pretty good, but I did find it difficult to warm up to her. I'm really glad the book didn't have a romance though - I was worried it might and it SO didn't need one, so I was glad everyone was just bestie vibes only at the end. Also I really appreciated the discussion of the ethics of true crime buffs - we didn't get a super deep dive into the topic, but I really like what there was, and I thought it was great to include!

Huge thank you to NetGalley, Sami Ellis, and Amulet Books for the eARC!

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