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dehydrated_dobby's review
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
dumb_library's review
5.0
More of a 4.5 but wowwww so close to being a new favorite. I did think that the gore was a little tame compared to some of the reviews I’ve heard (I’m sick, clearly) but the characters!!!!! Honestly what shook me more was the psychological horror aspects rather than the actual gore of it. Certain things are done to fuck with people in this book that had me screaming. I might end up giving this a full 5 stars either way but I’ll have to sit on it. Definitely recommend for horror and character development lovers.
thenycbookwhore69's review
3.0
I didn't have an emotional pull to the characters :/ ,but the story was interesting enough to finish.
cbroderick226's review against another edition
DNF at 49%. Every time I picked this up I just thought…ok, it’s dark and sadistic, but to what end? It just really wallows in the redneck torture family trope without doing anything interesting with it. I think at this point I need put Ania Ahlborn in the same category as Catriona Ward: just not for me.
melonfizz's review
1.0
Pros
- Entertaining
- Decent purely as a crime novel
- An easy and quick read
- The premise could’ve made for a solid book if it stuck to one theme or the other (a gut-wrenching story of violence and generational trauma, or an over-the-top campy horror about a messed up backwoods family) rather than attempting and failing to integrate aspects from both.
Cons
- This is more of something i was confused by and is not necessarily a con, but it didn’t live up to the “hype” of being an extreme horror read. Yes, the subject matter is very disturbing and some parts could be gross for readers who are a bit more squeamish, but people have made this book sound like it is practically unreadable due to how explicit and disgusting it is, which i didn’t at all find to be true
- Extremely predictable “plot twists” that feel cheap and hinge on shock factor and violation of taboos rather than meaningful character/plot development
- Annoying love-at-first-sight plot derailment purely to further a random plot twist
- Cliché horror tropes galore as well as schlocky dialogue, especially from Alice towards the end
- Bland prose with little to no character or stylization
- Though there were occasional glimpses of complexity in the characters, as a whole they did not feel multifaceted despite their extensive trauma which in reality would more drastically complicate their personalities and experiences. Instead, most characters are framed as either good or bad, and were sometimes even explicitly named as such. Michael and Misty are the heroic martyrs while everyone else is labeled as evil and unsympathetic despite everyone being victims of some sort of awful abuse and having all committed the same crimes.
- Entertaining
- Decent purely as a crime novel
- An easy and quick read
- The premise could’ve made for a solid book if it stuck to one theme or the other (a gut-wrenching story of violence and generational trauma, or an over-the-top campy horror about a messed up backwoods family) rather than attempting and failing to integrate aspects from both.
Cons
- This is more of something i was confused by and is not necessarily a con, but it didn’t live up to the “hype” of being an extreme horror read. Yes, the subject matter is very disturbing and some parts could be gross for readers who are a bit more squeamish, but people have made this book sound like it is practically unreadable due to how explicit and disgusting it is, which i didn’t at all find to be true
- Extremely predictable “plot twists” that feel cheap and hinge on shock factor and violation of taboos rather than meaningful character/plot development
- Annoying love-at-first-sight plot derailment purely to further a random plot twist
- Cliché horror tropes galore as well as schlocky dialogue, especially from Alice towards the end
- Bland prose with little to no character or stylization
- Though there were occasional glimpses of complexity in the characters, as a whole they did not feel multifaceted despite their extensive trauma which in reality would more drastically complicate their personalities and experiences. Instead, most characters are framed as either good or bad, and were sometimes even explicitly named as such. Michael and Misty are the heroic martyrs while everyone else is labeled as evil and unsympathetic despite everyone being victims of some sort of awful abuse and having all committed the same crimes.
all_things_books21's review against another edition
5.0
I found this book from another Bookstagrammer and I’m so glad I read it. This was such a dark, twisted, and messed up book. From kidnapping, to killing, this book had so many twist and turns. I had no clue what was going to happen next, and the plot twist of this book left me speechless in the end. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a dark thriller.