Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

5 reviews

aleen_elizabeth's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

tavvyj's review against another edition

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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I read this in a book club and can tell I liked it quite a bit more than most of them did. This novel is emotional, and so much of it is tense. Heuvelt uses very specific language to stand out specific passages, and because of that it can warrant disgust at times.

I'm going to talk about the nipples here, which are a large part of the shock value. My friends said things like "don't make a drinking game out of it" and the like, so while I was reading I kept count of the mentions. While it's a higher number than one would expect in a non-smut or romance book, it mentions them 10 total times, 9 of which are for shock value and disgust. Talking about Tyler's nips was weird though. 

In any case, the use seems pretty clear to make the imagery stand out and not just mentioning nipples just to mention nipples as my friends emphasized.

The book is dark and emotional, it's horrific. And it's a reminder that the true evil in the world is, and has always been, humans being afraid of something.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Gaslighting

hauntedantiqueshop's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-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

1.0

an absurd amount of nipple in this book and I assure you, it isn’t in a fun sexy way. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Alcohol

There isn’t a tag for the f slur but it is used a handful of times.

aparker89's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This is a solid book! A fascinating story full of terror, love, heartbreak and most importantly- the evil of mankind! 
Good f&cking book! Definitely not for the faint of heart but damn- my heart hurts after reading this! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

ravensalwaysreading's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

4.0

Up until the last chapter every character made me think "wow, you can really tell this was written in 2012 by a guy- the bigotry did not age well" and then the ending happened and made everything make sense and I was so pleased while simultaneously being horrified. Highly recommend!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail