Reviews tagging 'Violence'

No One Gets Out Alive by Adam L.G. Nevill

7 reviews

uggy90's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

readwithbells's review against another edition

Go to review page

2.0

I wanted to give this a better rating, because the first part pre time skip really did package up some of my worst fears then hit me over the head with them. That story is frightening and poignant and devastating. The second part felt totally unnecessary, we rehashed the same things over and over again, Stephanie became a person with less and less agency, and it really felt like we were doing it so Nevill could comment on media sprees over true crime cases, which is fine but that wasn’t even done in a particularly nuanced way. I also really didn’t appreciate the judgement against sex workers that wasn’t ever examined. Stephanie just stops thinking of the girls as sex workers and then she cares about them as people again. 

There’s also a particular line that really rubbed me the wrong way where Stephanie feels herself getting turned on listening to these other girls, like really?? 

Stephanie starts off as a person with agency but by the end of the story, her own thoughts are on repeat just like the ghosts and it’s exhausting. The entire second part of the book was superfluous and ultimately pretty boring. This is a story I was wary of a man writing, and while I can acknowledge the research that went into this, I would much rather have read a perspective that didn’t turn our main character into a screaming mess reminiscent of pulpy horror for over half the book. 

Look it did scare me. And absolutely bummed me out. But this book would have been a lot better had we cut the last two hundred pages. If I had stopped reading right before part 2, I genuinely think I would have been satisfied with a 4ish star for the book. 

Update: upon considering for a few days, the resolution and the removal of responsibility from the human monsters makes this book unrecommendable to me. It scared me, but the scares aren’t worth the rest. Reduced from 2.75 to 2 stars. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

franticfreya's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

2.25

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

raen99's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

girlcalledryan's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark 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? No

2.0

The blurb on the cover says "Neville out Kings Stephen...." but the only think he has out done Stephen King at is writing a needlessly long book and doing a poor job writing a female protagonist. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

archaicrobin's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

No One Gets Out Alive is now on my my must read haunted house novels list! This was my first read from Adam Neville and I absolutely loved it! He creates an atmosphere and apparitions that are truly terrifying and you feel stuck with Stephanie in those veil house. 

Stephanie is down on her luck, struggling to get by with little available work and very little help. She finds a cheap room being rented out on an old house close to her temp work and jumps on the opportunity only to quickly realize maybe it was too good to be true when her sleazy landlords start to intimidate her. Along with real life dangers are the dangers she’s been encountering at night, ghostly voices, phantom hands, crying women, and horrific scents.  This haunted house story has everything from serial killers to demonic deities and I could not put it down!

The only reason I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 is that I feel it was a little too long and some parts could have been shortened. For example, there are a lot of chapters where Amber is strategizing in her head what to do and how to get out of her financial situation. While I understand the need for this, I don’t think the reader needed to have this experience EVERY chapter. Also, the end felt very dragged out to me and was the hardest part to get through. If these things had been trimmed down I probably would have given it the full 5 stars. 

Also, big content warning for this one!! There is rape, sexual assault, forced prostitution, gore, murder, and violence. Reading the summary on the back you would have no idea how deep this book goes into sexual assault and I feel like if that’s something you’re not comfortable with don’t pick this one up because it’s a huge part of the horror in this novel. 

I can’t wait to read more by Adam Neville!
Expand filter menu Content Warnings

bucketofentrails's review

Go to review page

dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
More...