Reviews with content warning for Violence - This Thing Between Us

The ending’s plot twist really got to me. It’s very open ended and upon the first time reading this I feel like the evil entity was a sort of his ancestry and so he really did play a roll in his wife’s death. The ending especially before the thing forced him to piss on her grave… then again maybe he was possessed and that’s why he had those thoughts.

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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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samanthaleereads's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad 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
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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katmargaux's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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autumnrevisited's review against another edition

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dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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queenkath32's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense

2.0

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jkar7's review against another edition

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I got to 75% and it was decent. Then I started just skimming and quit at 81%. Some people may enjoy books like this, but don't.
What really grabbed my attention was how grief was described. I found it to be quite accurate and I connect that part. And then the book fell off a cliff and it was too ridiculous to continue.

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apollo0325's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

First, I'd like to say the length of this novel saved this from being a DNF for me. I almost DNF'd midway through part one, but I said fuck it, it's only a 6 hour audiobook and I decided to keep going. I'm glad I did. This book encompasses such a specific angle of grief that isn't explored enough in literature especially under the lens of psychological horror/body horror/cosmic horror (of sorts).

I won't lie, the beginning is VERY slow because it's setting up Thiago's relationship with Vera, his mental state at her loss, and what life was like with her. However, after part one, we really get a grasp of what this novel is going to be in a way. I kept seeing people online pitch this book as one about grief and a "haunted Alexa" but babes, the haunted Alexa part is maybe 10% of the novel within part one and mentioned later on. I'd pitch this book as a psychological horror examining grief and how one deals with loss as someone basically loses their grip on reality (psychosis). Thiago is someone who is absolutely stricken with bad luck 100% of the time, and you learn this very quickly in part one. It makes this book all the more tragic.

If you're sensitive to animal death/violence especially with dogs, please cautiously read this book. It doesn't occur until part two, but everything snowballs very quickly after that point.

The ending was simultaneously confusing and tragic. I knew Thiago was succumbing to his grief, but it was really unclear as to what was actually happening to him. That's more of a me problem + listening through the audiobook. NGL, I also kind of hate the idea that people's tragedies/fates are inescapable, especially when it is based on generational trauma. It makes it feel like there is no hope at all and instead you should just die to save the people around you. It's a very hopeless ending, but that's also my interpretation. Others may feel differently! I think the open ending allows the reader to draw their own conclusions on what was going on with Thiago.

This book was brutal, unsettling, and tragic. The audiobook narrator was also FANTASTIC. I loved his narration. I'd read another book with him narrating it for sure.

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