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3.41 AVERAGE
3.41 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
As the kid who was always more scared of the news than ghosts stories, this hit such a sweet spot from me.
This book plays so well on the ghost stories that circulate round the school yard when you’re a kid. Y’know the ones that the one kid swears he “heard this story (and it’s true!)” from his uncle’s mum’s best friend’s cousin and proceeds to traumatise your entire class, to the point where letters start getting sent home to parents.
This plays with that, and the way your mind forces you to think of the things that scare you the most, even when it’s the last thing you want to think of.
Also anxiety and basketball.
This book plays so well on the ghost stories that circulate round the school yard when you’re a kid. Y’know the ones that the one kid swears he “heard this story (and it’s true!)” from his uncle’s mum’s best friend’s cousin and proceeds to traumatise your entire class, to the point where letters start getting sent home to parents.
This plays with that, and the way your mind forces you to think of the things that scare you the most, even when it’s the last thing you want to think of.
Also anxiety and basketball.
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
If you don’t like basketball, this book won’t change your mind. I think I would have enjoyed this a lot more if there was significantly less “baller” talk, after awhile it was just grating and the last 15 min of the audiobook DRAGGED. My first foray into Josh Malerman, and I know the bookstagram world raves about him, but he might be a one and done for me.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
challenging
dark
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book scared the sh*t out of me. The character of Daphne is straight up horrifying, and every time the perspective shifted to her next victim, my stomach dropped. While I think the ghost story aspects of this book worked well, I think the human aspects of it worked less well. I found the ending uncompelling, and the twist of who was “behind it all” wasn’t all that clear or interesting. It also felt like a lot of the characters existed in a vacuum and we never got to see them interact with each other so there was no real weight to their relationships
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Murder
If you have anxiety/obsessive thinking I would not recommend reading this book as its horror relies on a monster that attacks people who are thinking about her
I wanted to love this book, but it never went there for me.
Things I did love the anxiety representation. I think Malerman always does that well. I loved all the references to town in his book. The fact that the town all were part of this and forgetting was interesting.
Problem is I am not a fan of basketball so that was not interesting for me to read. I didn't feel the characters were real which was hard to connect to them and care when all picked off. I could tell no difference from the teenage pov and the cops pov. It also felt like we never fully went with the legend, the history, and the towns parts. If that had been developed more I would have give this book top ratings.
Thank you netgalley for an arc.
Things I did love the anxiety representation. I think Malerman always does that well. I loved all the references to town in his book. The fact that the town all were part of this and forgetting was interesting.
Problem is I am not a fan of basketball so that was not interesting for me to read. I didn't feel the characters were real which was hard to connect to them and care when all picked off. I could tell no difference from the teenage pov and the cops pov. It also felt like we never fully went with the legend, the history, and the towns parts. If that had been developed more I would have give this book top ratings.
Thank you netgalley for an arc.