Reviews tagging 'Police brutality'

Red X by David Demchuk

9 reviews

moz_art's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

technically not the best book ever written, very disjointed at times, but I can’t deny the dread it filled me with as soon as I picked it up and will linger for a long time after I finished. Absolutely horrific. Total respect.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Cannibalism, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Murder, Sexual content, Death, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Grief

Moderate: Addiction, Suicide, and Drug abuse

crushedvelvet's review

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Part confessional & part ghost story, Red X is gruesome, haunting, & emotional. It follows a variety of gay men over a span of decades as they fall victim to a folkloric monster. A bit like an interconnected anthology, we get to know each man before tragedy strikes. Acquaintances & friends left picking up the pieces. Demchuk himself weaves in and out of the narrative as both a character & the author. Reflecting on the relationships between queerness, horror, & fear. The creature at work serves as a conduit through which he channels these fears. Of disease, of loneliness, of violence. All in all the book is poignant & raw.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Body horror, Homophobia, Blood, Hate crime, and Police brutality

Moderate: Animal death, Addiction, Cancer, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Sexual violence

Occasional "white author writing character of color" cringe moments

wyabook234's review

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Homophobia, and Hate crime

Moderate: Death of parent, Police brutality, and Sexual content

markedwithanm's review

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Grief, Gore, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Murder, Terminal illness, and Animal cruelty

evanlorant's review

dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Alcohol, Ableism, Blood, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Addiction, Drug use, Sexual violence, Sexual content, and Excrement

danidamico's review

dark emotional sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

En el año 2018, la policía canadiense detuvo a un sujeto sospechado de haber asesinado a ocho personas, en su mayoría hombres gay, en Toronto entre 2010 y 2017. Uno de esos hombres, Andrew Kinsman, era un activista importante en la comunidad LGBTQ+ de la zona y amigo del escritor David Demchuk. Eventualmente, se comprobó que el detenido era culpable de los crímenes y fue condenado a veinticinco años de prisión. A partir de este suceso, Demchuk empezó a construir lo que más tarde sería Red X, un mosaico basado en datos históricos, experiencias propias, folklore escocés y ficción.

A lo largo de cinco capítulos, vamos siguiendo las desapariciones de un grupo de hombres y el sufrimiento de sus amigos y seres queridos, sumidos en la incertidumbre. Es muy difícil sintetizar todo lo que sucede en esta novela y mis sentimientos al respecto. Me gustó muchísimo, es un libro que parece estar en un estado constante de desborde: voces desesperadas que buscan sobrevivir, que buscan compañía, amor, no quedarse solos ni ser olvidados. Esa urgencia atraviesa todo el texto.

Si bien es un libro en el que predomina el miedo, entre todo ese sufrimiento aparecen destellos de comunidad, de amor, de aquellos que no olvidan a los que ya no están en este mundo. Red X es terrorífico, pero en su centro hay un corazón humano que late y persiste. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Racism, Rape, Police brutality, Body horror, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

skeletonsinmysleeves's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Police brutality, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Transphobia and Homophobia

kyletells's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

This is the perfect book of hauntings. It's devastating and perfectly devastating. Centered around queer communities and the AIDS crisis in Toronto across multiple timelines, Demchuk somehow weaves every type of haunting in one novel. Time slips by, and it feels real (new relationships; changing city landscapes; deaths—everything moves by with so little comment but with major impact); meanwhile, people slip into the maws of a monster. Every man who goes missing in this book is deeply characterized in the smallest amount of space. That's not a spoiler—you're informed in chapter 1 that a man goes missing. And while the monster is horrifying, what's really scary is forgetting these incredibly depicted people you knew so well because there's another very deep character, another year, and another man missing within a few chapters. This book has a large cast but with very identifiable, rich characters. The language is perfect, the pacing amazing, the dialogue and commentary sometimes so biting I cackled, and while it's a hard-to-stomach read at times, it's a novel I'll likely re-read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Rape, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Murder, Homophobia, Hate crime, and Suicide attempt

The graphic horror is shown mostly after the event or described at a time after it occurs, though it is still graphic. Example: police violence is not depicted in the scene but by the police cleanup, which still is quite graphic through suggestion.

deandra_lalonde's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Murder, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence