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catsbooks_uk's review against another edition
5.0
I love the recent trend of ‘found footage’ books. Yes, they were once called Epistolary Novels, but we don’t have letters so much these days, do we? So here it’s a narrative that alternates chapters with a movie script that never was. Writers play with words to create effect after all, right?
If you’ve been anywhere near the horror bookshelves in recent years, you’ll know Paul Tremblay. Not just a lovely person, but a talented writer who genuinely knows how to spin a good yarn while ramping up the tension, so that we (the Constant Readers, you might say) just can’t stop reading his work.
Here we have a narrator without a name. In the titular movie, he was just ‘The Thin Kid’, and now he’s finally telling the truth about the novel’s own creepypasta film experience.
Yes, it’s a love-letter to pretentious film students and the vagaries of young-adult life. Absolutely, it riffs off the slasher phenomenon and just what makes horror tropes work. But like the original Blair Witch Project, we have a tiny crew making bad choices that seemed good at the time (so the Constant Reader can shout Stop, No, Don’t Go Down that Path), until we somehow find ourselves deep in the metaphorical woods without a map. And the monster is there with us.
This book is absolutely a rollercoaster. There’s one entire scene which is the pause… right… at the top… because you know the drop is coming… and it’s the sound of a writer at the absolute peak of his power. Poor Constant Reader hasn’t got a chance.
I read this in two sittings only because I had dogs to walk, and the vibe of the book was with me every step of that everyday errand. I revelled in this ride and am already looking forward to going again. If you love horror, you know you need to pick this up.
I was kindly sent an early copy of this book by the publisher, but the above opinions are entirely my own.
If you’ve been anywhere near the horror bookshelves in recent years, you’ll know Paul Tremblay. Not just a lovely person, but a talented writer who genuinely knows how to spin a good yarn while ramping up the tension, so that we (the Constant Readers, you might say) just can’t stop reading his work.
Here we have a narrator without a name. In the titular movie, he was just ‘The Thin Kid’, and now he’s finally telling the truth about the novel’s own creepypasta film experience.
Yes, it’s a love-letter to pretentious film students and the vagaries of young-adult life. Absolutely, it riffs off the slasher phenomenon and just what makes horror tropes work. But like the original Blair Witch Project, we have a tiny crew making bad choices that seemed good at the time (so the Constant Reader can shout Stop, No, Don’t Go Down that Path), until we somehow find ourselves deep in the metaphorical woods without a map. And the monster is there with us.
This book is absolutely a rollercoaster. There’s one entire scene which is the pause… right… at the top… because you know the drop is coming… and it’s the sound of a writer at the absolute peak of his power. Poor Constant Reader hasn’t got a chance.
I read this in two sittings only because I had dogs to walk, and the vibe of the book was with me every step of that everyday errand. I revelled in this ride and am already looking forward to going again. If you love horror, you know you need to pick this up.
I was kindly sent an early copy of this book by the publisher, but the above opinions are entirely my own.
evilproduct's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
I didn't necessarily dislike my time with this book but it was underwhelming to say the least. Without knowing what to expect its hard for me to say it disappointed me but I walked away quite cold. Upsetting that this was my first Tremblay after I'd heard such great things about his previous work. There is horror to be found here for sure, I just don't think it ends up in a place I thought made sense. Felt sort of like a first draft for its own adaptation, a low budget indie horror movie whose ending is sudden and ambiguous because they couldn't afford anything more bombastic so they leaned heavily on ambiguity.
skyewhitney's review against another edition
3.0
I've never been so 'on-the-fence' about a book. I don't hate it, by any means, but do I like it? I don't know. I had high hopes for this starting out and at multiple points I was thoroughly engrossed but 60% of the time I was confused or apathetic...so it's gonna be a 3 for me.
tialee34's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
3.0
It wasn’t what I thought it was going to be
kelbel62's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
baronvonwaffle's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
murph2244's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This wasn’t really what I was expecting from the description of the book, but I did find the storytelling to be really creative. Jumping around in time for the narrative and weaving the screenplay throughout was a cool way of telling the story and building suspense as different things were revealed and reacted to. I didn’t always love the writing style, especially early on and in the stage direction, but I got into the groove of it eventually and enjoyed the majority of the book.
shirin_'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
fast-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
4.5
chthonicgod's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0