Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

214 reviews

niceonehros's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Stalking, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

While much of the content is troubling, disturbing, and hard, this book was worth the discomfort. I don't want to give anything away, but do make sure you read the Afterword.

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Violence, Death of parent, Animal death, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Child death, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Suicide, Kidnapping, Torture, and Medical trauma

Minor: Abandonment

winlei's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.5

Ever wanted to read a book that would make you physically ill??? Well, have I got the book for you! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Child abuse, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Vomit and Stalking

grunbean's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A must read. I was a bit puzzled by it at first, but it falls into place and knocks you off your feet. 

It is a dark book for sure. The last chapters made my skin itch. But it is thrilling. I read the second half of this book in hours - I couldn’t put it down! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Blood, Body horror, Death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Torture, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

feeyuh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was incredibly captivating and well done. It was sad and dark and I honestly just want to read more horror novels now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Alcoholism and Torture

squisheebee_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

If you find yourself drawn to Ted and empathizing with him, trust your gut. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Mental illness, Stalking, Torture, Child abuse, Child death, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Abandonment, Medical content, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Blood, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Animal cruelty

catsy2022's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Suicide, Mental illness, and Death of parent

Moderate: Blood and Violence

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

this book is like nothing i have ever read before. i went into it blind and would recommend everyone does the same (except for content warnings if you need to) for the best reading experience. a lot of reviews had spoilers in them, even if they did not mean to. this writing was so incredibly immersive, the characters were incredibly well-rounded, and the narration was like nothing i have ever experienced. everyone needs to read this. if you have already read this and are looking for something similar, Ian Reid is the closest comparison i can make. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Abandonment, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Body horror, Child death, Drug use, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, and Suicide attempt

sylvestra's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Child abuse, Kidnapping, and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Medical trauma

Minor: Torture and Suicide

annamolpus's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious fast-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? It's complicated

2.5

I never know how to rate reading experiences like this.  I read this in a single day - once I got going, I wanted to know what the heck was going on, so I felt compelled to finish.  That's gotta be worth something.  HOWEVER, I found the twists in this book fairly dumb.  There are bread crumbs hinting at where it's going, and I appreciated that, but there's plenty of purposefully misleading stuff which made some of the ultimate revelations feel a bit like a cheap trick.  FWIW, I loved Ward's 2022 novel "Sundial," which has more supernatural horror elements (and I think "earned" its twists better).

This is a page turner and I'd feel fine recommending it to thriller fans, it's just that I'm beginning to think I am not a thriller fan myself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Suicide