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librarymouse's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Gore, Blood, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Suicide attempt, Abortion, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Suicide, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, and Misogyny
Moderate: Racial slurs
Minor: Xenophobia
rachbake's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Terminal illness
ascalun's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Child death, Death, Murder, Abortion, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, and Medical content
lyssierose09's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Child death, Death, Medical content, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Gaslighting, Gore, Kidnapping, Abortion, and Torture
Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Misogyny, and Pregnancy
aargot1's review against another edition
Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Death, Torture, Murder, Confinement, and Fire/Fire injury
meganpbennett's review against another edition
3.0
The book has lots of interesting detail on the World's Fair - after all, how could Chicago hope to beat Eiffel and his Tower from the previous World's Fair? Enter an engineer named... Ferris.
The book was less graphic than I thought it would be, but there is rather disturbing imagery involving Holmes killing and disposing of the bodies.
I think the book would have been stronger had the author not switched perspectives between Holmes and the builders of the Fair every chapter. I think it would have made more sense for the author to have chosen a time frame - three months? - and written about the building of the Fair, then Pendergast, then Holmes. That would have strengthened the connect between them
Graphic: Murder, Child death, Death, Violence, Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Abortion, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Alcohol and Pregnancy
alliemikennareads's review against another edition
4.0
Bullet point review:
- I forgot how much the book discusses architecture; this got tedious at times.
- I loved the rich detail about the Chicago worlds fair and the way the book splices the fair, its history, and HH Holmes’ evil deeds together.
- I still found it a great form of true crime/ nonfiction that reads like fiction.
TW for some really graphic descriptions of a slaughterhouse, gas chambers, suicide, murder of women and children and dead body discovery.
If you can get past the graphic parts and like historical fiction, I’d definitely recommend this one!
Graphic: Suicide, Murder, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Child death, Child abuse, Body horror, Confinement, Death, and Medical trauma
renbot's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Torture, Suicide, Stalking, Mental illness, Medical content, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Chronic illness, Child death, and Confinement
Moderate: Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Grief, and Gore
Minor: Cultural appropriation and Alcohol