Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Hide by Kiersten White

19 reviews

jaedia's review against another edition

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

1.75


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krissysbooked's review against another edition

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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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connorjdaley's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I wanted this book since DelRey first posted the cover reveal. I thought it looked so cool and the premise was promising. This was my pick in a bookstagram giveaway! 

This is a fourteen person, seven day hide-and-seek competition. Two people can get out a day and there is only one single winner. With $50,000 on the line, even with the game running from sunup to sundown daily, who wouldn’t be enticed into playing? Of course nothing is as it seems, there’s the horror. 

At only 240 pages, this is a rather short one. Yet it still felt like kind of a slog to me. The story takes a strange amount of time to get going, the characters’ backgrounds play so heavily into the story and yet most of them are pointless or even unbelievable. The exposition takes away almost all of the creepiness…and let me tell you, this could have been a really creepy story. 

The last section of the book though I really did enjoy (although even that felt like it went on for a little too long) which saved it. Once the truth is out the novel kind of goes balls-to-the-walls for the last 40 or so pages. Still in no way creepy or scary, but at the least I was entertained and interested to see what happened. 

Kind of into it, but I didn’t love it.

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tkhenry99's review against another edition

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3.75

i really liked the way this was written, cycling through all the characters and information about them. i think it was a clever way to represent the idea of being trapped in a cycle due to things outside of your control. i loved how distinct every character’s voice was, especially brandon’s. but i thought 14 characters was too many and i couldn’t keep them all straight, especially when they started dying. i wish we had gotten a little more of mack’s backstory—
what happened to her in the years between her family’s murder and becoming homeless in her early 20s?
i’m also not sure how i feel about the ending.
i like that it isn’t a traditional happy ending, and White’s message was clearly that the next generation isn’t responsible for fixing the messes their elders made, but i have a hard time being in mack’s side. releasing a demon into the world with no knowledge of what it might do seems……. bad….. to say the least.
and tbh i felt like the romance was unnecessary. i just don’t see why every book needs to have a random romantic subplot 🤷🏼‍♀️ and it wasn’t as spooky/scary as i expected it to be. 

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nixieba25f's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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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starscollision's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0


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thatswhatshanread's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Let it be known that I am deeply fascinated by abandoned places, but especially abandoned amusement parks. So I was instantly drawn to this book! 

It was sort-of like “The Hunger Games” meets “Ready or Not” (a criminally underrated movie IMO) meets “Stranger Things”. 

I don’t want to give too much away, as it’s better to go in blindly. But I will say I had hoped for faster pacing, and maybe less switches between POVs. The plot was intriguing, though the second half derailed from that intrigue at times. I would also note that, personally, I didn’t really find this read as a horror. Maybe more of a suspense? It had the creepiness factor. 

Not a bad book, though I had wished for more. It definitely surprised me, which is a plus. Would love to see it made into a movie!

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charley34's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75


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cjxx26's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25


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