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WOW! THE DEATHS!!! EPIC
This book was such a good take on the slasher genre! It's a vivid book that made me feel like watching the movie. The characters also felt like they were more developed as people, than just characters to kill (which is an infamous complaint about slasher media.) I found each character really compelling but none more than our protagonist, Hannah. Her growth as a character and her trauma as a survivor was real and cinematic (not gonna lie if this turns into a movie, I want to audition). Oh, and not to mention the setting!! Loved it all around, but I also just love a good slasher piece!
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Injury/Injury detail
I struggled with this book. An early falsehood threw me out of the story within the first few pages, and I kept noticing little mistakes like that throughout the whole book. (Fun fact, like all New World vultures, the California Condor does not have a voice box and can only hiss and grunt.) Eventually I realized I'm not supposed to care about any of these stereotypical LA assholes, I'm supposed to watch them be murdered with with an ice pick. My main source of entertainment became trying to figure out who the killer was and if there something supernatural was happening or not. It's also clear from nearly the start that Hannah has not been completely honest about the events surrounding her fiancé's death, and I enjoyed speculating about the real story.
Unfortunately, I found the answers for two of the three questions to be really disappointing. I felt the final reveals jumped the shark and I found myself going "that's SO lame" for the last several page turns. I also thought at least one of the kills was extremely silly, but I'm not an experienced slasher fan so who knows, maybe other people would love it.
The worst part to me is that the book concludes with an author's note, and it's really good! It's a beautiful ode to the horror genre and it makes me feel worse about my low score. And like, I had to drop the audiobook of Curse of the Reaper because it was too damn scary for me to handle at the time. I know McAuley is a good author! I just couldn't connect with or enjoy this one.
Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for giving me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation
Minor: Genocide
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, Classism
Minor: Deadnaming, Genocide, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic
Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting
Minor: Vomit
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail