Reviews with content warning for Suicide - This Thing Between Us

“Only in the darkness are we ever made whole.”

This was my first entry into horror so I don’t really know what makes a horror good, bad, or cliche so take my review with a grain of salt.

The writing was good. The author packed it up with clear and precise description that really lent a hand in making everything easy to read and imagine.

I think the shining part in this book was Gus Morenos depiction of grief. I thought it was pretty stellar. You could feel the weight of Thiagos loss and how it followed him and impacted his decisions. It led to some really powerful lines that moved me. The story takes a WHILE though to get creepy, and even then it felt much more mysterious.

Even up until the end I was sort of waiting for… more, I guess. The horror aspects felt kind of secondary to Thiago’s journey of processing Vera’s death. The confrontation with the entity at the cabin with Diane (Vera’s mom) was the first instance where I felt really creeped out. I liked it. I thought the scene was filled with good tension and suspense, and I was hoping the story would keep the same momentum but it didn’t. Towards the end, it felt sort of aimless as we wait for whether or not Thiago would beat the entity or if it would consume him, and I found myself thinking: “when will this end?” The confrontations felt repetitive in that way. I will say that there were certain revelations and callbacks that were delivered in a way that had my jaw to the floor.

“Ya sabes guey.” Like WHAAAAAT.

This book wasn’t bad. It had good moments but overall fell in the middle for me. Again, this review is in the perspective of someone that’s never read the genre so maybe that’s more helpful for you. Also:

The dog dies. I knew he would because it’s a horror and they always die, but it didn’t hurt any less. RIP Brimley.

Content Warnings

vonnibel's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.25

felt a bit like the entire book was a way to make the last 2 pages incredibly creepy; even so, it worked.

to be honest, I'm not sure if I have ever felt grief to this extent. I knew what I was in for when I started reading, but I did assume the titular thing between us would be more technological than beast-like/nature-made. I don't think the book suffers from this choice; it's just a different kind of book that I expected. honestly not sure I would ever recommend this to anyone, but I did enjoy the writing style.

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ghast's review against another edition

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dark 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

4.0

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killmoore_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark 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

4.5

I finished this, looked at my husband and said "I can't wait to read this again".

This Thing Between Us gutted me. It is a horrific and heartbreaking take on the process of grief, and the isolation and guilt that so often follows losing someone we love in a way that we have convinced ourselves was preventable.

I loved the small reveal regarding the format of our story, and honestly the jumbled, erratic time line did it for me here - it was written as a memory and clearly comes across as such. The body horror is graphic, the imagery is beautiful, and the portrayal of grief is so spot on that I reached out to hold my partners hand multiple times throughout.

I was slightly disappointed that we didn't delve deeper into the "haunted itza" story line, and the reason behind the haunting itself fell a bit flat for me, which is why this isn't a 5 star read for me. However, I'm not disappointed, and I look forward to picking this up for a second time.

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geryon92's review against another edition

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dark emotional 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? Yes

3.0

The beats are there, and Moreno's imagery is great, but the writing style lacks artistry. It's as if the story didn't take full advantage of being a novel. I rarely say this, but I think this would have thrived more as a movie rather than a book since the horror beats are quite strong. I did like Thiago quite a lot as I found his flaws to push the narrative forward, but I felt there was a vital missing thread that made the ending fall flat for me.

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