Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
3.75 rounded up. This was an interesting read. I went into this with the totally wrong idea of what it was about. For some reason I thought this was a beach island slasher. However, this is a weird island mystery. I really enjoyed the mystery element even though those types of books usually aren't my thing. I felt the ending dragged out a bit but I think that's more of a personal issue than a thing that's an issue with the book. If you are looking for something a bit different than check out this supernatural mystery. Also, I listened to this on audio which was such a fun experience. The interviews are recorded like you'd listen to an interview which really created a fun atmosphere that really added to the story.
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Reads like a longer, polished NoSleep story which makes sense. I love that stuff and the general mixed format here (transcripts, letters, traditional narrative, etc.) worked really well I think. I've seen this advertised as a kooky spooky story about a town that's obsessed with 1994 but it definitely is more a horror-mystery where one of the things to investigate is why the island is weird in general.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Reminded me of the show FROM
2.5 Stars
A common problem, but the book is too long. It’s supposed to be suspenseful, but a plodding investigation doesn’t provide the right atmosphere to keep that suspense building. The book is also ultimately about grief, which could be a horror concept, but it’s not executed well enough here. So it sort of suffers from a personality problem, where it wants to be a supernatural thriller, an investigative mystery, and a story about coping with loss all at once, while never totally succeeding in artfully tying those separate threads together.
Book also isn’t particularly well written. It’s a debut by a guy who got his start writing reddit horror, so maybe there’s room to grow here, but it suffers from a lot of common mistakes. The characters are all pretty hollow, and not very interesting. The technique of adding letters and audio interviews is something that seems clever in theory, but it ultimately results in the author “telling instead of showing”, which is one of my least favorite writerly pitfalls - a character monologuing about how another character’s personality instead of just showing us that behavior and letting us draw our own conclusions, a character retelling events that have already happened rather than letting them unfold on the page. I also as a personal pet peeve hate book intros that are like “What you’re about to read is crazy but trust me it’s true” - like bro, no it’s not. It’s a fiction book lmao. Just start the book.
A common problem, but the book is too long. It’s supposed to be suspenseful, but a plodding investigation doesn’t provide the right atmosphere to keep that suspense building. The book is also ultimately about grief, which could be a horror concept, but it’s not executed well enough here. So it sort of suffers from a personality problem, where it wants to be a supernatural thriller, an investigative mystery, and a story about coping with loss all at once, while never totally succeeding in artfully tying those separate threads together.
Book also isn’t particularly well written. It’s a debut by a guy who got his start writing reddit horror, so maybe there’s room to grow here, but it suffers from a lot of common mistakes. The characters are all pretty hollow, and not very interesting. The technique of adding letters and audio interviews is something that seems clever in theory, but it ultimately results in the author “telling instead of showing”, which is one of my least favorite writerly pitfalls - a character monologuing about how another character’s personality instead of just showing us that behavior and letting us draw our own conclusions, a character retelling events that have already happened rather than letting them unfold on the page. I also as a personal pet peeve hate book intros that are like “What you’re about to read is crazy but trust me it’s true” - like bro, no it’s not. It’s a fiction book lmao. Just start the book.
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I really wanted to love this (I’m a sucker for a creepy island) and I did when it first started but this was just way too long for me.
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
very few books have actually spooked me like this one! i was quite impressed with how the story ended too, i spent a while wondering how he was going to wrap it all up and i thoroughly enjoyed it! honestly would make a great tv series