Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

Below by Laurel Hightower

11 reviews

petite_madeline's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

3.5 Stars

Deep in the mountains of West Virginia, Addy finds herself in a dark and horrifying reality.

This novella is not at all what I expected. I went into this book looking for a spooky story steeped in Mothman lore and horror. What I got was a spiraling dark and confusing trip through subterranean terror. I enjoyed it, but it's just not what I expected. 
Initially, I was annoyed that all of Addy's internal dialog and advice was coming from the various men in her life. I kept thinking, "Why does she need these men to guide her? Why can't her character be strong on her own." But, without going into to much spoiling detail, by the end I realized that was the point of this story.
We love horror that has a deeper message!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Death, Body horror, Blood, and Car accident

Moderate: Toxic relationship

stephanieluxton's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book is about a woman travelling alone at night who has to make the decision whether or not to help a truckdriver who had helped her earlier after he has an accident the causes him to drive off a bridge. Also there's some supernatural shit going down.

I heard about this book on instagram reels and I picked it up because it was a short. My expectations were that it'd be a mothman type creature feature but it was so different from what I expected. It's not a traditional creature feature in which our characters are plainly stalked by a cryptid - it's more complex than that.

The ambience in this book is excellent. It reminded me a lot of the movie Barbarian in the sense that our protagonist is travelling alone and doesn't know whether or not to trust this man who is being kind and accomodating to her obvious skepticism.

What this book delivers is a wild ride. For sucha short book, it delivered some excellent little twists. Totally subverted my expectations.

Something this book does well is creating characters you care about in a short period of time.

The writing and dialogue was good. There were times where I felt a little confused regarding the characters surroundings but its a dark night so I suppose it's meant to feel disorienting.

It is a scary book. I almost finished it in one sitting just because I was nervous to go to sleep part way through. It's also fast paced and exciting and I was investing it what the hell was going on.

The first three quarters of the book are the best. The ending isn't bad. I think in horror it's often best to be left not understanding what happened rather than getting a big exposition dump but also I HAVE QUESTIONS. I WANT TO KNOW MORE.

Did she enter a portal to hell? Was Mads dead on impact? Wtf was up with the bodies in the truck?!!! Was Parker a real person or was that just the winged creature playing games? What was with the cryptic warning in the end by the smiling man and why didn't his warning have any bearing? Was this all a trial by a god to make her take control over her life more?

 

I want to know the answers to the questions but I also love speculating. The fact that we don't get all the answers ensures that the reasonings for the events of the book aren't stupid, I guess.

I would definitely recommend this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

Moderate: Gaslighting

Minor: Vomit

I don't recommend reading the spoilers because it'll take all the excitement out of the book and it's actually way cooler in the book than it sounds when I write it out. This is not an extreme horror novel.

This book is about a transport truck driving off a bridge and basically falling to it's doom. The driver of the truck gets eaten by humanoids - we mostly see the aftermath but it's gory. There's autopsied bodies in the truck for an undisclosed reason. Our protagonist has to navigate a dark cave setting avoiding humanoids and mind-games by a godlike entity. It's gory when the protagonist smashes in a humanoid head. She also gets bitten by a humanoid and the wound on her stomach is described but it's not that explicit.

dogearedbooks's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Toxic relationship, Sexism, and Car accident

Moderate: Vomit

the_vegan_bookworm's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Blood, Vomit, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Misogyny, Violence, and Gore

xwritingstoriesx's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

4.5 stars. I rarely come across horror books with mimicry used as a theme. Something appearing not as it seems/posing as something else is such an interesting and rather untapped concept within horror lit. I really liked that the creature wasn't fully explained and that as the reader, we didn't even know what it was capable of. The imagination can really run wild and that's scarier than being spoon-fed and given all the answers. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Car accident, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Trafficking

mermaidsherbet's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Car accident, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking

Minor: Vomit and Medical content

gssll_lpz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Body horror, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

howlinglibraries's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

 

"Came outta nowhere, didn't it?"

There are four things that I love, all of which are present in this book: cryptids, feminist horror, Laurel Hightower's writing, and a story so action-packed I have to devour it in one sitting.

I love cryptid stories in general, and like many cryptid lovers, I have a soft spot for Mothman. (I'm a diehard member of the "Mothman isn't bad, actually, he's just trying to help" club, in case you were wondering.)

When I heard Laurel was writing a story involving him, I was immediately sold, though I did force myself to patiently wait a little while to read this because I knew one of my favorite bookish groups was planning to read it in October. It was so worth the wait!

I loved Addy's character and how angry and full of spite and pain she was over the misogyny she'd faced throughout her life, especially from her ex-husband. When we meet her, she's already jaded and mistrusting of men she meets, and honestly, it was very easy to relate to her concerns and wariness. But that element of the story takes a backseat pretty quickly because let me tell you, shit hits the fan fast in this novella, and once it does, it never lets up until the end.

I was totally captivated and loved every second of this. It would make such a fun horror movie adaptation (*cough cough, side-eyes streaming services*), and I absolutely recommend it to anyone who likes cryptids, creature features, and/or horror with badass, tough feminist heroines. I can't wait to see what Laurel comes out with next! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Car accident, Misogyny, and Gore

Minor: Domestic abuse

babydog420's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Gore

Minor: Trafficking and Panic attacks/disorders

mfrisk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

As a fan of cryptids and psychological terror this book is a great quick read. Our main character delves deep into her own experiences and existence through being challenged to survive and take on the unknown. Highly recommend this read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Body horror, Violence, Car accident, and Confinement

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, and Vomit