Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

317 reviews

persephonefoxx's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

“How many times can someone bend before they break forever? You have to take care, dealing with broken things; sometimes they give way, and break others in their turn.”

Now I understand why so many people told me to go into this book blind. 

I was unprepared for the journey this book took me on, yet in hindsight, it all seems so obvious now. There was a moment in which I  twigged to the core of this book and the story it was telling but in a way that merely scratched the surface. A moment when I thought that this storyline was hurtling towards cliche at breakneck speed. Only for the story to expand itself into the bigger picture - slotting everything into place. Like a Russian doll. Each part perfectly fitting inside the next. 

My biggest qualm with this book is the end to Dee’s storyline. Which I personally didn’t stand up to the rest of the story. 

This is the kind of book to go into as blind as possible (however, checking content warnings is highly recommended). This book uses unreliable narrators to their best ability, luring you into false conclusions and switching up at the final second. And other than that, there is not much more I can say. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Mental illness, Child death, Torture, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Child abuse

Minor: Suicide

veelaughtland's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Torture, Death, Physical abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Blood, Alcohol, Suicide, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Self harm, Body horror, Child abuse, and Death of parent

apollo0325's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Just finished but going to come back to this review and maybe adjust star ratings (currently a 3)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Violence, Animal death, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Blood, Child death, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcoholism and Medical content

There are a lot of potentially triggering material

including the description of a hanging (suicide), injury/burn descriptions, child abuse, starvation, death, death of a child (dead child's body described), and as a MAJOR PLOT POINT, dissociative identity disorder (I do not have DID so I cannot speak to the authenticity of it - the author's afterword describes her research on DID).

If you're afraid of snakes, one of the narrators has a severe fear of snakes and will constantly describe snakes.

blackeyedraptor's review

4.5

This book cleverly disguises itself as a horror novel when really I'd argue it's a shoutout to a highly misunderstood disorder that we've all heard of but most of us know very little about (I don't want to drop spoilers). It takes place from 3 POV's, and the one I thought would be the most reliable narrator actually ended up being the least trustworthy. I could not see the end coming, and when it did, it was unforgettable and delicious. It's a really sad story, but there's clear healing in the end. I definitely intend to read it again as I want to see what clues I missed my initial read-through because I couldn't know what was happening. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Child death

Moderate: Animal death

runefactories's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Child death, Animal death, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Hate crime and Homophobia

nicesideburns's review

mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

The 3 is a nice gesture but overall im disappointed with the book. 

If you need to rely on DID to add to your horror/thriller as a non DID haver then the story is null. There are parts where it even romanticizes the concept of DID. It was uncomfortable to read. It was obvious that author was infatuated with this disorder despite interviewing DID havers. It feels like this whole novel wasn't ran through them and labeled as a gift for the community.

Upsetting this has literally been broadcasted as a horror/thriller disturbing novel on booktok and reviews despite it being said its "not"

Literally everything fell apart when things pointed to this fact. Had DID been removed this would've been more promising. Im thoroughly disappointed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Animal death, Child death, Blood, and Confinement

mcnewm's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Body horror

Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, Confinement, and Suicide

theublein's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book was super confusing and chaotic to follow until the end when everything was tied up very neatly. I typically can see twists of a mystery coming but this story had me guessing till the very end

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Torture, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Grief, Physical abuse, Death, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Minor: Animal cruelty

rabidmerk's review

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Animal death and Animal cruelty

Minor: Suicide, Blood, Death of parent, and Death

duke_elligos's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Death of parent and Child death