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clairebonney's review against another edition
dark
tense
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Cancer, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Torture, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death and Alcohol
Ch. 7 - mention of Pepper the dog having to be put to sleep the night before (off the page)chloseencounter's review
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Theme Music has been on my TBR for months and I was so happy to finally get to it. Though this novel didn’t end up being exactly what I expected, I wasn’t disappointed.
The unreliable narrator trope is one of my favorites and I think this book does that trope so well. Dixie is the ultimate unreliable narrator especially considering she doesn’t even know what’s happening most of the time. I enjoyed her as the novel’s voice, she was funny and at times frustrating but I still found myself hoping desperately everything would work out for her. I also liked that at any given time the reader only knew as much as Dixie knew, which kept us in the dark as much as she had been the majority of her life. I found that to be effective and kept me guessing until pretty far into the book.
I had my suspicions about what may have been happening by the climax but I think I literally suspected almost every main character at some point in time. I actually only figured it out because I was skimming the beginning and came upon the first paragraph about the axe, and when I was presented with a four letter word beginning with F again, it clicked for me. Despite having mostly figured it out, I still didn’t expect the ending and was very anxious for Dixie and her neighbors.
I thought that even though the story dragged just a little around the 50% - 75% mark, the ending was satisfactory for me. I especially enjoyed the epilogue because I’m nosy and I want to know where our characters end up. I realize that this kind of ending is not everyone’s favorite but I appreciate being left with some questions, I actually think all the answers are there if we look back (upon a second read I definitely began to theorize why some things happened the way they did) but again, we only ever know as much as Dixie so some things are up to the reader’s discretion. Books tend to have more staying power with me if I’m left to interpret afterward.
This was a successful read for me, I felt pretty enthralled through most of it.
The unreliable narrator trope is one of my favorites and I think this book does that trope so well. Dixie is the ultimate unreliable narrator especially considering she doesn’t even know what’s happening most of the time. I enjoyed her as the novel’s voice, she was funny and at times frustrating but I still found myself hoping desperately everything would work out for her. I also liked that at any given time the reader only knew as much as Dixie knew, which kept us in the dark as much as she had been the majority of her life. I found that to be effective and kept me guessing until pretty far into the book.
I had my suspicions about what may have been happening by the climax but I think I literally suspected almost every main character at some point in time.
I thought that even though the story dragged just a little around the 50% - 75% mark, the ending was satisfactory for me. I especially enjoyed the epilogue because I’m nosy and I want to know where our characters end up. I realize that this kind of ending is not everyone’s favorite but I appreciate being left with some questions, I actually think all the answers are there if we look back (upon a second read I definitely began to theorize why some things happened the way they did) but again, we only ever know as much as Dixie so some things are up to the reader’s discretion. Books tend to have more staying power with me if I’m left to interpret afterward.
This was a successful read for me, I felt pretty enthralled through most of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Blood, Gore, Murder, Cursing, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cancer, Child death, and Violence
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Alcohol
archaicrobin's review
challenging
dark
funny
slow-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
1.0
This was just a complete mess. The writing was amateur and the plot was so confusing I still don’t really understand what the hell was going on. A very poor version of the “are they possessed or just crazy” trope. There’s too many ideas here and none of them are well done. You have the final girl, the haunted house, the family murder, the serial killer, the red herrings, the mystery, the cop drama, etc. it’s just way too much and none of it weaves together well.
All the characters feel fake and just husks of people. Dixie is the worst protagonist I’ve ever read and again comes off as a complete psychopath the entire book. I would never recommend this, it just fails on all points and is so repetitive that I feel like the entire novel was the same 4 scenes over and over and over again.
All the characters feel fake and just husks of people. Dixie is the worst protagonist I’ve ever read and again comes off as a complete psychopath the entire book. I would never recommend this, it just fails on all points and is so repetitive that I feel like the entire novel was the same 4 scenes over and over and over again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Chronic illness, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, Cancer, Cursing, and Death
barefootbetsy's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Alcohol, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Abandonment
lilifane's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I'm very, very picky when it comes to Horror books.
I like it when the Horror is a little bit more subtle, when the focus is on a character study, when your imagination scares you more than what's actually on page, when you don't know if the explanation is supernatural or not. And I think this book does this beautifully for the most part.
So, 25 years ago, a man murdered his whole family and only the 18 months old daughter survived. She was raised by her aunt and in the present she is in a serious relationship and in search for a house to move into with her boyfriend. That's when she discovers her old family home is up for sale. So she moves in to reconnect to the part of her life, she can't really remember, but that's haunted her all her life. From then on, spooky things start to happen, while she also discovers that what she knew about the tragedy of the past, might not be the whole story.
I loved Dixie's narrative voice. She's not always the most likable character, in fact she makes some questionable decisions. But I still couldn't help but root for her. The humor is amazing. The choice of words, the word plays, I loved it. At the same time, the spooky scenes are actually spooky. I think the author does a great job of creating the mysterious and creepy atmosphere of a haunted murder house without making it too over the top. And the way Dixie describes her fears is SO relatable. I've never read from a point of view that described so well how I feel when I'm alone after watching/reading something spooky. Intrusive thoughts that one is not alone, while at the same time making fun of oneself for having these thoughts. I loved this!
There are some scenes that have a little too much violence, blood and gore for my usual taste, but somehow those worked really well for me here. I also like that there is a mystery aspect to the story, even if it's pretty obvious. I still think it's crafted well and you kind of start to question everything the more unhinged the protagonist gets, to be honest.
Towards the end there were a little too many things happening all at once, so you couldn't really appreciate most of them, especially some of the more emotional revelations that were just glossed over. And I didn't like the showdown, I think it was too long. I liked the ending, though.
I like it when the Horror is a little bit more subtle, when the focus is on a character study, when your imagination scares you more than what's actually on page, when you don't know if the explanation is supernatural or not. And I think this book does this beautifully for the most part.
So, 25 years ago, a man murdered his whole family and only the 18 months old daughter survived. She was raised by her aunt and in the present she is in a serious relationship and in search for a house to move into with her boyfriend. That's when she discovers her old family home is up for sale. So she moves in to reconnect to the part of her life, she can't really remember, but that's haunted her all her life. From then on, spooky things start to happen, while she also discovers that what she knew about the tragedy of the past, might not be the whole story.
I loved Dixie's narrative voice. She's not always the most likable character, in fact she makes some questionable decisions. But I still couldn't help but root for her. The humor is amazing. The choice of words, the word plays, I loved it. At the same time, the spooky scenes are actually spooky. I think the author does a great job of creating the mysterious and creepy atmosphere of a haunted murder house without making it too over the top. And the way Dixie describes her fears is SO relatable. I've never read from a point of view that described so well how I feel when I'm alone after watching/reading something spooky. Intrusive thoughts that one is not alone, while at the same time making fun of oneself for having these thoughts. I loved this!
There are some scenes that have a little too much violence, blood and gore for my usual taste, but somehow those worked really well for me here. I also like that there is a mystery aspect to the story, even if it's pretty obvious. I still think it's crafted well and you kind of start to question everything the more unhinged the protagonist gets, to be honest.
Towards the end there were a little too many things happening all at once, so you couldn't really appreciate most of them, especially some of the more emotional revelations that were just glossed over. And I didn't like the showdown, I think it was too long. I liked the ending, though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Suicide, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Terminal illness, and Toxic friendship
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