Reviews with content warning for Body horror - The Creeper

I enjoyed reading this book, I found it fairly gripping and creepy.
The problem for me is...
MASSIVE SPOILER AHEAD!!! THIS WILL RUIN THE ENDING AND THE MYSTERY OF THE WHOLE BOOK!!!!
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It loses points for me because of the ending, the revelation that The Creeper is not a supernatural being. I feel that this doesn't make sense given that various people were followed and stalked by the Creeper and we know that even after years it would still kill them if they saw it. I also don't know how these people who were severely injured to the point of such deformity that they no longer resemble humans were able to stalk and kill the characters we've been told about, traveling great distances and overpowering every one- surely the victims would have been able to outrun the Creeper at least!
I also just thought that the supernatural explanation we were given in the book was so dark and compelling it's a shame that that was just thrown away.

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ishouldreadthat's review

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dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

While the book started out great, I found the ending to be a bit of a letdown. I have a lot of logistical questions!

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saltedsnail's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

I struggled to decide exactly how to rate this book and finally landed on 2.5/5 being the most appropriate seeing there are just enough things I liked about this book to counterbalance out everything I didn’t like. The initial premise is exciting and intriguing enough to carry the story some ways and Shine’s writing style is one I find enjoyable enough to listen to for an extended period…

But there’s so much of this book that feels like a waste of time. Many folks complain about the pacing of the Creeper, saying it doesn’t get exciting until two thirds in, but I actually don’t mind a very slow build horror. I think the sense of boredom the first half of this book elicits has more to do with the characters being uninteresting and flat than it does the plot. Ben is a somewhat pitiful absentee dad academic-turned-shoe-salesman with obvious insecurity issues that I believe we’re supposed to empathize with… and Chloe is a very typical spunky-petite-female written by a male author. Shine tries like hell to make us believe these characters (that might as well be cardboard cut outs) have chemistry but they’re just… profoundly flat and unlikable.

That being said, I truly enjoyed the actual plot of The Creeper all the way until

the twist. Hilariously, I find the actual ending of this book (the villagers mutilate each other into monsters through an extensive process of physical torture) more unbelievable than the original assumption that there is some paranormal being out there stalking and killing. Even the villagers, in this way, are horribly written; Shine simply doesn’t do enough to convince us of their motivations. I believe we’re supposed to feel vindicated by this ending that Ben was correct all along…. But seeing as Ben is so profoundly unlikable, his smug right-ness doesn’t really pay off.

So basically: great premise, incredibly rote and flat characters written with a very limited understanding of what motivates actual human beings.

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maregred's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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amethyst_sea's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Was well written. I kept wanting to go on to figure out what was happening. Didn’t dislike it but just not a type of story I like, but I still enjoyed it if that makes sense.

I didn’t love the male MC but enjoyed the female MC. I thought the Dr. character was interesting and the slow reveal of his backstory added more interesting complexities. I still have a few questions but the end of the book was not what I expected

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