Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Hide by Kiersten White

71 reviews

mauvesoul's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Blood, Gore, Homophobia, Classism, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gun violence, Violence, and Torture

Minor: Medical trauma, Medical content, Misogyny, and Lesbophobia

melitta's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Suicide, Murder, and Gore

Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Homophobia

krissysbooked's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

 

Sorry Del Ray... you sent me this one a while ago and I only just got around to reading it. In my defense, this is a fun horror suspense novel and we're about to enter Spooky season so I'm reading it at the right time of year! 

We start the book following Mack, a homeless person, who is being offered an opportunity to win $50k by taking part in a competition. Money that would see her gaining monetary security that she hasn't had in a long time. She wants time to think about the offer but is ultimately guided (forced?) into it. 

We pick up the story with Mack being transported on a bus to an undisclosed location with a group of 13 others - a mix of 'influencers' and others like her who have hidden and traumatic pasts. They soon start to figure each other out as they are introduced to the competition space where they have a base camp, some basic supplies, and no cell service. Their only objective is to hide each day between sunrise and sunset, two of them will be found and eliminated from the game each day. 

We are then taken on a suspenseful joruney over the following days where Macks past is coming back to haunt her, we find the contestants have more in common than they think, and we find out that maybe (just maybe) this isn't actually a game after all. All set to the back drop of a creepy, overgrown, disused fairground... perfect! 

Kiersten White has weaved an intriguing, suspenseful story, that kept me guessing and changing my mind right up to the end. A complex cast of characters had me judging all of them for different reasons and then realising how complex they each were. You can never truly judge a book by its cover. 

There are characters that you will love, others that you will hate, and quite a few who fall into the in-between. There are stories of betrayal, friendship, and even love and the extent people will go to, to protect those they care about. Despite being a 'horror' story on the face of it, this story has it all and even if you aren't a horror fan I think you'll enjoy this one. 

The ending was wrapped up nicely but with a sliver of hope for a sequel, and I'd love to see what happens next. 

Verdict: A complex horror that is perfect for spooky season (despite being set in summer!). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Torture, Child abuse, and Panic attacks/disorders

patchy_at_best's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Classism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicide, Gore, and Violence

Minor: Lesbophobia

jenc's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

Pretty good collection of wheelhouse tropes that I can tell you about because they're spoilers. Also really good character explorations, some more meaningful and finished than others.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Suicide

Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Grief, Lesbophobia, Religious bigotry, Blood, Misogyny, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Body shaming, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

sarahbythebook's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

3.5

Abandoned places are creepy, but desperate times will drive even the most cautious of us into doing things out of our comfort zone. And for the sweet reward of $50,000? There's not a lot the characters in Hide wouldn't do for the kind of security that money would offer. This contest--a simple game of hide and seek--would totally change their lives. For many of the contestants, it will be the last game they ever get to play. 

Ultimately I did enjoy this book. It hits on a lot of real world issues and casts them onto the characters--desire to prove something to ourselves and the larger world, the gap of understanding between older generations and new, the despondency that many young people feel, the hypocrisy of wealth and religion. Add in a dose of the paranormal and a tidy reason why the haves keep getting more while the have-nots continue to suffer, and you've got a recipe for a solid book. Everyone can find themselves reflected in one of the contestants--the forever intern, the veteran, the pseudo-intellectual, the ones that just want to be seen, even the one that wants to hide forever. This group of fourteen reflect back at readers different pieces of themselves and the world we live in. 

I have a few issues with this book, largely boiling down to loose strings. 1. The item their tasked with finding. It doesn't really serve a purpose expect as world-building for the reader, and that seems like a missed opportunity to fix the next problem. 2. The ending doesn't make sense. Like at all. Spoilers from here to the end.

What exactly was the point of Ava taking the book if it never got used? How will they keep the thing they've released from coming after Mac or LeGrange in the future? Surely there could have been something in that book that would have helped them. Instead, the monster is just? Loose forever? So they'll never get to feel safe again? It made no sense to me, and that was my biggest tripping point for the whole story.

I enjoyed this book, it was accessible, and not too scary for a horror story. 

(CW: suicide, cults, religious abuse, classism)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Suicide

Minor: Domestic abuse and Injury/Injury detail

kcelena's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Chronic illness, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Grief, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Murder

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Blood, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, and Racism

Minor: Ableism, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Religious bigotry, and War

a_libraryghost's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.25

Overall I enjoyed this. I didn’t find it scary but I was genuinely worried for the characters at times. There’s a lot of ‘head hopping’, especially at the start. I’m not sure the physical book broke it up into tiny paragraphs but the characters became very jumbled in the audiobook. I liked most of the characters although some of the dialogue was a bit meh and Kiersten’s way of including ‘diversity’ was uncomfortable. There’s one character who is the token character of colour, token queer and token disabled all in one and she’s very much the saviour character. 

Despite what the reader ratings suggest, this book absolutely is not diverse. 

I’m also annoyed that it seemed to build up a romance between Mack and Ava with no payoff? I have mixed feelings about Ava’s fake out death but at least her death could have been a great emotional trigger similar to her sisters death to spur her into action. I’m also fine with her being alive but why not then let her and Mack have a happy ending?

Unlike some others I actually don’t mind the ending (except for my thoughts above)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Racism and Classism

shannananahey's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Violence, Child abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, and Suicide

Moderate: Body horror, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, and Death of parent

Minor: Grief, Homophobia, Colonisation, Misogyny, and Classism