Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Gone to See the River Man by Kristopher Triana

186 reviews

mooba77's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Rape

ameliareadsstuff's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I'm beginning to think this Lori lady might be messed up.

For as much horror as I've read, not a lot of it has been extreme or splatterpunk, of which Gone to See the River Man definitely is. It was an uncomfortable read, though still enjoyable in its own way, and it went in some directions I wasn't expecting from how it started. I thought Kristopher Triana did a good job escalating what was happening as the novel continued, reframing what we think we know and feel about the main characters and their situation. 

This is a big 'reader discretion is advised' book, if you couldn't tell from all the reviews being "5 stars—amazing, author is genius writer!" and "1 stars—garbage, author should be shot!". Still, it's a tricky one because exploring what is happened (and what has happened) was a strong part of the book for me that you'd lose if you knew too much going in. I'm glad I didn't read too much of the book's Goodreads description, since it gives the game away on whether

something supernatural is going to happen or not

. 

I wouldn't flippantly recommend this one, but if you like extreme horror, I'd keep it on your radar.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Death, Incest, Blood, Murder, and Sexual violence

claude_'s review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

'Gone to meet The River Man' goes where barely any horror dares to go anymore. Haunting. Uncomfortable. Downright evil.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Incest, Sexual violence, Blood, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Murder, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Ableism and Racism

mconroy9137's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Racism, Incest, Misogyny, Body horror, Child death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Rape, Sexism, Murder, and Racial slurs

Moderate: Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Ableism, Body horror, and Eating disorder

Minor: Alcohol, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Vomit, Abortion, Domestic abuse, War, and Cursing

mblanke's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Death, and Suicide

ohlisaline's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-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

2.0

This book was really good starting off, I really enjoyed the short and well-paced chapters, as well as the little flashbacks and snippets that broke the main plot up. 
I didn't know much about the book going into it and when some of the themes of this book emerged, I felt very put-off. But that's on me for not checking TW's. 

>SPOILER< Something that completely broke the tone of the novel for me, and felt borderline ridiculous, was the scene of Lori and Abby finally getting into the River Man's hut. The flaming footsteps, the pool of blood, the heavy metal guitar-playing old demon dude. It felt silly and didn't have an impact on me other than confusion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Ableism, Incest, Rape, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Death, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Suicide, Torture, Sexism, Cursing, Self harm, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Murder, Body horror, Child abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Racism, Terminal illness, Violence, Physical abuse, and Suicide attempt

sargasso_c's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Truly horrific but beautifully written. Worth a read if you can stomach it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Ableism, Body horror, Medical content, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Cursing, Racism, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Rape, Abortion, Alcohol, Grief, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicide

lilmissoddity's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

1.5

This was some seriously sick shit and I don’t mean sick in a good or cool way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Child death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Incest, Murder, Racial slurs, and Rape

amy_da1sy's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

3.0

I thought this was a well written book, extremely descriptive and overall two main characters that invoke a lot of feelings even if you feel nothing but hatred for our main character Lori as she deserves. Lori being behind what happened to Abby both in the past and when they find the river man was something very easy to predict. What happens to Lori at the very end is something very predictable and I honestly hated it because she has no unhappy ending as it was what she had wanted, the whole ending seemed so rushed for no real reason.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Incest, and Gore

Moderate: Murder

nicesideburns's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Wow. Just wow.

A serial killer fangirl assigned with a task to obtain a memorabilia and hand over to the river man. She brings her handicapped sister along and what happens unfolds to a series of nightmares.

Over time your opinion of Lori changes and you truly see why she and Edmund connected so well. The way things unfolded still lingers in my mind especially near the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Racial slurs, Violence, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Self harm, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Rape

Edmund's crimes are extremely racially motivated towards Asian woman from depolarable language to the acts itself that is later touched on.