Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Låt den rätte komma in by John Ajvide Lindqvist

59 reviews

klimtsonian's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Gory, graphic, and gripping. Perfectly juxtaposes the mundanity and sterility of modern, suburban existence with the pervasiveness of horror in every form — from the systemic to the supernatural. The prose is straightforward and incisive, with some really stomach-turning descriptions that linger on the details just enough to get the point across without reveling in it. Even through it all, there’s a hopeful, tender core to the story: that there is someone out there for everyone, no matter how fucked up.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Torture, Murder, Sexual violence, Medical content, Pedophilia, Alcoholism, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Self harm, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Body horror and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Addiction

suneaters's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

2.0

This book is honestly kinda depressing. It felt like a lot of the bad things that happen are for shock value and add nothing to the story. Did we need Eli’s caretaker Hakan to be a pedophile? Just so we don’t, what, feel bad when he dies horribly? He’s already killing kids! It was so bizarre. And if we really do need it, why do we need his gross side quest assaulting some poor kid with no teeth in the bathroom? Just horrendous stuff. 

There were too many storylines that ultimately go nowhere (the drunks and Virginia especially and Tommy’s POV bits) and mean nothing. The story could’ve been condensed down to only Oskar and Eli. 

Speaking of, did we also need all the weirdness of Eli being stuck pretending to be a little girl to entice grown men to do things for him? And the castration flashback?

It seemed so…gratuitous. 

I wasn’t chilled by this book, just saddened and disgusted. Eli and Oskar’s relationship was very cute and really holds the book together, but there wasn’t really a great story here that makes wading through the muck worth it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual content, Bullying, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Rape, Blood, and Murder

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Medical content

lperkins11's review against another edition

It got too disturbing...the scenes with Hakan, especially the sexual assault scene was just too much and honestly shouldn't have been in there. Don't know why people think this is such a great book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Rape, Sexual content, Murder, Pedophilia, and Bullying

Moderate: Alcoholism

teaandtales1's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This is a really well-written book that I did not care for. There's dark and bleak and then there's this book. As an avid horror reader it takes a lot to make me want to skim certain parts of a book because it's just *too much,* but I felt the need to do that on multiple occasions. There was just so much in this book that didn't really need to be there, and in the process I felt the story dragging me down further and further into its well of darkness. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Violence, Animal death, Bullying, Gore, Murder, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Suicide, Sexual violence, Addiction, and Drug use

kyliesh's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

A book that I’ll truly think about for years to come and possibly a rare reread one day! I was completely immersed in the story and found that the author wrote several characters in such a way that you understood them through their complications. Very well written, intriguing, and unique.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Blood, Death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Gore, Murder, Bullying, and Pedophilia

athompson0429's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

This is a great coming-of-age horror that has a lot of interesting characters.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Gore, Pedophilia, and Toxic relationship

morebedsidebooks's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Murder, Blood, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Alcoholism, Animal death, Car accident, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Trafficking

Minor: Racism, Homophobia, Cancer, and Death of parent

Also contains scenes of genital mutilation and substance abuse.

mafaichney's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Suicide, Animal death, Pedophilia, Murder, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Xenophobia

vlpfeiffer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense

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

3.5

I've been curious about this book for quite a while and finally picked it up. I had seen the movie when I was much younger and remember the atmospheric and tense vibes that really appealed to me. After struggling to get through halfway I watched the film again and realized I much prefer the film, which is a rare phenomenon. But watching it did get me to finish the book to finish the comparison. 

There were several arcs that seemed unnecessary and it seems that the filmmakers felt the same. Several characters I was forced to slog through with little to no connection to the plot until the end. And the relationship to Hakan, which

in the film was more mysterious and felt more like a genuine father/daughter or thrall situation turned into an unnecessarily disgusting portrayal of a pedophile who has latched himself onto this child vampire in an attempt to assuage his proclivities by way of justifying it through the lens of 'she's not REALLY a kid so it's okay'. All the while some of the most vile descriptions of sexual attraction and behavior towards children seemed unnecessary and just there to horrify. Which, duh, horror, but for my personal tastes was not a thread I was happy about.

 

Otherwise, things were neatly tied together with a hint of sweet justice for Oskar's antagonists and a deserved outcome for Hakan. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Murder, Torture, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

bebodotcom's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Violence, Gore, Alcoholism, Murder, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence