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sea_caummisar's review
4.0
A girl is throwing a party, and the pizza guy takes them hostage and starts killing them. It's an interesting read, and things happen quickly. It's not exactly a gore story, but there's plenty of blood. It's short and ends with a to be continued. I guess I was hoping for more blood since it said extreme horror in the blurb. I guess extreme horror is open to interpretation. Anyways, it's a fun quick read
It just wasn't what I was expecting
It just wasn't what I was expecting
silenttwg's review
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Bella's nightmare begins when she has friends come over while her parents are out of town, but her drive to survive just keeps opening doors for a deviant killer to hunt her.
Who doesn't love a final girl who fights for her life and makes the killer feel a taste of his own pain? This was vicious, bloody, sexually grotesque, and very focused on sa and violence so if that's a trigger for you, you might want to read on. It's not something you can skip in this book.
The first part bugged me with it being the story from Bella's interrogation with the detective. It didn't flow smoothly and felt like too much of an information dump. It distracted from the brutality of the story.
*
SPOILER ALERT
*
*
*
This novel also heavily relied on the "idiot ball" idea of characters making poor decisions to allow the story to keep moving forward. For example, the girl is traumatized by a pizza killer so the department orders pizza, after the supposed survivor a pizza deliverer disappears? Jeez, wonder what could happen. Or it's been a year since the killer has attacked Bella but strikes 5 hours away, and the family protector summarizes that maybe the killer is moving away from them towards the west coast. Like how in the world does that make sense? I found myself wrinkling my nose at the stupidity of these characters, who were supposed to be detectives and smart fellas.
There were also a few big errors that yanked me out of the story, including in the last part of the story, one of the paragraphs was missing the first word which full-on brought me to a stop.
This is tense, not easy to read, and has the potential to be a truly horrific piece of work, but it needs some polishing and better story plotting in relation to the idiot ball.
Who doesn't love a final girl who fights for her life and makes the killer feel a taste of his own pain? This was vicious, bloody, sexually grotesque, and very focused on sa and violence so if that's a trigger for you, you might want to read on. It's not something you can skip in this book.
The first part bugged me with it being the story from Bella's interrogation with the detective. It didn't flow smoothly and felt like too much of an information dump. It distracted from the brutality of the story.
*
SPOILER ALERT
*
*
*
This novel also heavily relied on the "idiot ball" idea of characters making poor decisions to allow the story to keep moving forward. For example, the girl is traumatized by a pizza killer so the department orders pizza, after the supposed survivor a pizza deliverer disappears? Jeez, wonder what could happen. Or it's been a year since the killer has attacked Bella but strikes 5 hours away, and the family protector summarizes that maybe the killer is moving away from them towards the west coast. Like how in the world does that make sense? I found myself wrinkling my nose at the stupidity of these characters, who were supposed to be detectives and smart fellas.
There were also a few big errors that yanked me out of the story, including in the last part of the story, one of the paragraphs was missing the first word which full-on brought me to a stop.
This is tense, not easy to read, and has the potential to be a truly horrific piece of work, but it needs some polishing and better story plotting in relation to the idiot ball.
myweereads's review
4.0
"It all started with the pizza."
30 Minutes Or Less is a short story by Bizarro/Horror author Matthew Vaughn. We meet Bella who is traumatised after a terrible ordeal. She is in police custody recounting what happened when a night which was suppose to be spent with friends enjoying movies and pizza turns into one of extreme horror. A stranger comes to her door and brutally terrorises everyone. Only hours later, Bella tries her best to process and come to terms with the aftermath.
This story from the get go packs a punch. It means business and goes deep into the core of the horror from the first few sentences. Very quickly you can feel the dread and tension greatly, this mixed with the explicit visualisation of the brutal torment of these characters keeps the attention of the reader. I flew through this story because I was desperate to know the fate of Bella.
Last year I read my first novella by Matthew Vaughn and I instantly fell in love with his uniquely bizarre and explicit style of writing. The way he told the story played out like a horror movie which was perfectly easy to connect with as soon as you began reading. I am a sucker for horror movies, I adore anything that connects my favourite kinds of characters and tales and binds them into something new which is what Vaughn has done with this extraordinary short story.
I deffo recommend 30 Minutes Or Less to all fans of classic horror and gore fulled fun. This will be available in March so keep a wee eye out for it!!!
30 Minutes Or Less is a short story by Bizarro/Horror author Matthew Vaughn. We meet Bella who is traumatised after a terrible ordeal. She is in police custody recounting what happened when a night which was suppose to be spent with friends enjoying movies and pizza turns into one of extreme horror. A stranger comes to her door and brutally terrorises everyone. Only hours later, Bella tries her best to process and come to terms with the aftermath.
This story from the get go packs a punch. It means business and goes deep into the core of the horror from the first few sentences. Very quickly you can feel the dread and tension greatly, this mixed with the explicit visualisation of the brutal torment of these characters keeps the attention of the reader. I flew through this story because I was desperate to know the fate of Bella.
Last year I read my first novella by Matthew Vaughn and I instantly fell in love with his uniquely bizarre and explicit style of writing. The way he told the story played out like a horror movie which was perfectly easy to connect with as soon as you began reading. I am a sucker for horror movies, I adore anything that connects my favourite kinds of characters and tales and binds them into something new which is what Vaughn has done with this extraordinary short story.
I deffo recommend 30 Minutes Or Less to all fans of classic horror and gore fulled fun. This will be available in March so keep a wee eye out for it!!!
indiebookaddict's review
3.0
What should have been a fun night for a group of friends quickly becomes a nightmare.
Bella and a few friends are hanging out and having a good time until the pizza delivery guy shows up. From here everything changes, and the group must fight to stay alive.
The book started off a bit slow for me, but it did pick up eventually. I enjoyed the few slasher elements in the book I just wish there would have been more details given about what happened to a couple of the characters. Extreme horror was mentioned in the blurb, but I think it was a bit too mild for that.
Bella and a few friends are hanging out and having a good time until the pizza delivery guy shows up. From here everything changes, and the group must fight to stay alive.
The book started off a bit slow for me, but it did pick up eventually. I enjoyed the few slasher elements in the book I just wish there would have been more details given about what happened to a couple of the characters. Extreme horror was mentioned in the blurb, but I think it was a bit too mild for that.
woffordleejones's review
5.0
30 Minutes or Less, takes Bella Montgomery and her friends through a night of pure hell. Part of the story is told by her in vivid detail as she is questioned by the detective assigned to her case. Vaughn does an excellent job of stretching the tension making you want to get to the final ending of the story. You definitely live the hurt and trauma he puts his characters through; its always the worst possible imaginings. Vaughn always puts his characters through the meat grinder. Many of his stories have a gritty feeling and are reminiscent of those long ago but beloved days of classic '80s horror movies. You are always going to have a good, gory time and you will always be thoroughly entertained with anything Vaughn writes. When you read 30 Minutes or Less, you will never look at pizza the same way again!
findingmontauk1's review
4.0
30 Minutes or Less is a great gorefest of a story! If that is what you are into, then I highly recommend this one. It gave me awesome "Slumber Party Massacre" vibes and it's the kind of horror that I could read and read and read. Home invasions are one of my fears in horror movies and books and this short story definitely honed in on that and had me on the edge of my seat fearing for the main characters. 4 stars!
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