Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

80 reviews

ciarrareads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

 This was, absolutely, insanely, wild.

What a ride. I have no idea how to describe this book. A lot of the times when people say "go in knowing nothing," I brush that off because I always at least read the back cover/description. But honestly, nothing will prepare you for this.

It's creepy, it's surprising, it's.... I don't want to say confusing?! Is confounding the right word?!

You're not going to know what's happening for like 75% of this book, but the ride is so much fun.

Absolutely read this. And I will be reading more of Catriona Ward very soon. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Murder, Alcoholism, Death, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Body horror, Child death, and Injury/Injury detail

fencernick's review against another edition

dark hopeful informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Kidnapping, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

lolaslalaland's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

Down at the end of Needless Street lives a peculiar man with his daughter and a cat, but strange things have been happening in and around the house. Strange things... 

Pros: 
✅ I was on the edge of my sea to the very end 
✅ twists I never expected 
✅ every character was unique and individual 
✅ all moments and details are important and come together 
✅ truly terrifying and disturbing 
✅a masterwork of perspectives 
Cons: 
❌ a bit of a slow and confusing beginning, I almost DNFed it but I am so glad I didn't! 

I feel like I cannot say much more about this book without revealing key details because it is just such a ride that cannot be spoiled. Highly highly recommend to all readers! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Self harm, Alcohol, and Murder

ffj's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

kcelena's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Torture, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Dysphoria, Fatphobia, Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Gore, and Mental illness

chupacobbruh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Alcoholism

Minor: Body horror

sophiefreeman's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

An overall enjoyable book, the writing style is surprisingly poetic in places. I thought the quick succession of twists at the end was exciting, but I sort of wish they had been more evenly interspersed throughout the novel to develop them better. More psychological than a horror, I like that the author humanised all the characters and didn't play into outdated tropes about mental illness, instead it seems lovingly researched and portrayed. I also always appreciate a talking cat. Definitely a good book to read in autumn.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Blood, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, and Animal cruelty

aardwyrm's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

It's fun to read, and the genre is full of works that are great atmosphere 90% of the way through and then don't stick the landing. If you just want spooky eeriness, it's not a bad choice. It's just ultimately got nothing it's actually about. The setup seems to promise a situation where lots of cliche genre stuff seems to be true, and then the big twist is all the cliche stuff is in fact true, just obfuscated. It's definitely going for twisty and intricate, but a twist and just changing the story partway through aren't really the same thing. Exactly the sort of book I think ought to have a warning sticker you can optionally peek under so you can know before you get invested if the supernatural is just a bad metaphor. When the big reveal is nothing interesting has really happened, then it's hard to care about what comes before. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Classism, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Murder, Self harm, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Ableism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Animal death, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

kshertz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I don’t really know what to even rate this book. Or what I read. Or if I liked it. The book is one big mind fuck. You can never guess what’s going to happen. Then you’re mad about all the tricks the author is playing on you. But you’re kind of like, “yeah that was a good one.” So who knows? Try it out if you want something unlike anything else you’ve read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Child death, Violence, Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Physical abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Death, Child abuse, and Kidnapping

kate_m's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Murder, Grief, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, and Death