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connorjdaley's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I received an ebook copy to review for FanFiAddict/Fear For All and I’m glad to have read it.
This is a drug induced horror ride. Blood pumping, ear splitting, nose sniffing ride.
What works:
Paulo, the father, and the first person POV in the novel, is desperate to find his daughter Adriana. The loss of his wife and his promise to her really solidified his desperation. It sells the fact that he would drive off and then walk miles through the wilderness in winter to find here. Not that a father wouldn’t move mountains for their daughter in general, but this is death-defying stuff here.
Adriana, always forced to focus education above all else, has taken the loss of her mother hard. It has driven a split between her and her father, and she has taken this one step further by running away. Turning to a life that neither parent would want for her. Their relationship, centered around grief, again really sold their decision making.
This examination of grief, the loss of a loved one, and the lack thereof that follows, were really the pieces that glued this together for me. The author’s grasp on human nature is showed off really well.
The monsters, whether it was just Harold and the drugs, or something more, were very interesting, gruesome, and most definitely intense. The scene in the tunnel was almost scifi monster level.
What didn’t work for me:
The drug influenced scenes, which could arguable be all of them, none of them, or at least a decent chunk, read very out there. In that sense, they are clearly successful, don’t get me wrong. But in a sense they read like fantasy dream sequences, which I find extremely hard to get through. I don’t do drugs, therefore maybe I don’t get it? It read as real, just a bit to get through for me.
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