Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Hex

Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

93 reviews

aromarrie's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Only if we have suffered can we make choices out of love.

honestly….weird sexual references and violations of a witch’s body aside….what was originally a very strong 4-star was bumped up into a 4.5 when i got close to the ending. one that was very bleak and left me feeling kinda numb, to be honest 🥲

if there’s one thing i can compliment about this author’s work, among many others, it’s how he portrays the grief of family and losing a loved one. how fast it makes you spiral and also the town you could maybe call home. he’s a real charmer for that.

and now i need even more to get to speak with the author like please 😭 i need to hear about what goes through his head; it’s a new dream of mine, now more than ever.

Content Warnings

quabbityash's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

alexandrias_library's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

essgeearr's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

bludgeoned_by_hail's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

A surreally terrifying and original story. Just thinking about the premise of a rotting witch popping up randomly in my house gives me the chills, and the exploration of the prosaic ways in which a small XXI century town would deal with an ancient mystical curse like this is very unique and interesting. The creepy atmosphere of Stephen King-esque small town gothic (King is a big influence in general) escalates and the tension rises, but unfortunately it all falls apart in lazy shock horror and hamfisted moralizing.

The amazing concept is also pretty heavily dragged down by the book's "dudebro-isms": the almost fetishistic amounts of gendered violence used for horror, the mean-spirited portrayal of small town folks as bloodthirsty Bible-thumping idiots, and the entire character of Robert Grim, the epitome of "Reddit cool". Sometimes even the language of the writing slips into these cringy tropes, which makes the big sweeping declarations about the evils of humanity and mass hysteria feel even more adolescent.

This all makes it sound like I didn't like the book, which is not true. It's an incredibly spooky and engaging read and I'd still definitely recommend it to horror fans everywhere. I'm just kinda pissed about the ending still ;-;

(Also the setting should've stayed Beek in the English version, WHERE IS THE DUTCH HORROR REP)

Content Warnings