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kathryn1193's review against another edition
4.0
Trying to decide how I feel about this book. The beginning is very, very slow, but once I got to the 35-40% mark, I flew through it. I was incredibly uncomfortable while reading this book. My anxiety was super high and I felt myself in the place of the narrator and their fear was very real. I somewhat guessed what was going on about 50% of the way through, but was pretty off on some of the details, enough so that I had to look up an explanation of the ending. Looking back at the book, the explanation puts a lot into perspective, enough so that I definitely would have continued misinterpreting the ending if I hadn't looked it up. I'm giving it 3 stars because the beginning dragged on so much and maybe the rest of the book could have been executed a little better, or it could have been my fault as the reader. Overall, very creepy and very uncomfortable. It will take me a minute to fall asleep tonight.
destinyvanburen's review against another edition
5.0
Eek!
This author just doesn’t disappoint! If you like psychological thrillers - Reid is the way to go.
The creeps set in early and you’re not entirely sure why - still trying to make sense of what I just read….
Mind f*ckkkk.
This author just doesn’t disappoint! If you like psychological thrillers - Reid is the way to go.
The creeps set in early and you’re not entirely sure why - still trying to make sense of what I just read….
Mind f*ckkkk.
ilman002's review against another edition
4.0
Let there be no mistake - the story is phenomenal. It was a bit predictable at times, but holy shit, did this story intrigue me! And the 3rd act, which some might say, is the hardest part of writing any story lived up to my high expectations.
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After 2nd reading, I have to bump up the rating to 4 stars. This novel begins with Jake and his girlfriend driving to meet his parents on their farm. Immediately the reader senses that something isn't right here. The girlfriend is thinking about ending things with Jake. Then, why is she traveling to meet his parents? There are more questions that arise as you're reading this novel, but it's best to go into this book without knowing much about the plot, so I won't say anything else.
After my first reading my main issue was the prose. The book is written using very short sentences and for some reason it bothered me the first time. Knowing how this book ends, it didn't bother me at all the second time around. The writing is not the book's strength and that's ok. The main strength of this novel is its brilliant and unusual construct which should appeal to the fans of psychological thrillers and horror fiction. It's a very dark and bleak story and it's hard to put it down. And that ending... Iain Reid sure knows how to write an ending that will stay with his readers for a long time.
I would recommend this book to the fans of psychological suspense and horror. Get ready for an intricately-plotted storyline and an unforgettable unreliable narrator. If you're in the mood for something creepy and psychologically bending, you cannot go wrong with this book. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and the Netflix adaptation isn't too bad either. But I would definitely read the book first before watching the movie.
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After 2nd reading, I have to bump up the rating to 4 stars. This novel begins with Jake and his girlfriend driving to meet his parents on their farm. Immediately the reader senses that something isn't right here. The girlfriend is thinking about ending things with Jake. Then, why is she traveling to meet his parents? There are more questions that arise as you're reading this novel, but it's best to go into this book without knowing much about the plot, so I won't say anything else.
After my first reading my main issue was the prose. The book is written using very short sentences and for some reason it bothered me the first time. Knowing how this book ends, it didn't bother me at all the second time around. The writing is not the book's strength and that's ok. The main strength of this novel is its brilliant and unusual construct which should appeal to the fans of psychological thrillers and horror fiction. It's a very dark and bleak story and it's hard to put it down. And that ending... Iain Reid sure knows how to write an ending that will stay with his readers for a long time.
I would recommend this book to the fans of psychological suspense and horror. Get ready for an intricately-plotted storyline and an unforgettable unreliable narrator. If you're in the mood for something creepy and psychologically bending, you cannot go wrong with this book. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and the Netflix adaptation isn't too bad either. But I would definitely read the book first before watching the movie.
charliemoo's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
vishalancyrus's review against another edition
5.0
Made me anxious and lose my sanity in the best way possible. I also highly recommend pairing it with the audiobook as it was uniquely narrated and brilliantly produced. The last few chapters made me lose my mind! Would also recommend the film adaptation, it was really good too.
_kristinsworld's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
“You will be scared and you won’t know why…”
A series of odd events with a jaw dropping ending. You just gotta read it for yourself.
A series of odd events with a jaw dropping ending. You just gotta read it for yourself.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide
lindseyrinehart's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The author builds all this atmosphere up and then wastes it. I won’t spoil the ending but I will say I wish he’d written that they’d all been ax-murdered at the farmhouse. That would have been a better ending.
emmabeckman's review against another edition
3.0
First 30 pages: terrifying.
Next 150 pages: boring and confusing, too many cliches (which may have been the point now that I've read the ending, but I still didn't like reading them) including basements, dead cellphones, and going into the creepy building.
Last 30 pages: confusing and terrifying.
I think part of this is on me, in the sense that I should have read all of the events in the last setting all in one session, rather than in bits and pieces. I think the writing did a fairly good job of showing how frantic the character was feeling.
Some things were easy to see coming. Other twists were just confusing. Usually I don't mind an open ending, but this one I think was too open ended, and I don't have enough interest to read the whole book again just to figure it out. There were just way too many loose ends by the time you read the last page.
So, three stars because parts of it were definitely creepy and I did get the chills at one bit in the end, but overall it wasn't THAT compelling for me.
Next 150 pages: boring and confusing, too many cliches (which may have been the point now that I've read the ending, but I still didn't like reading them) including basements, dead cellphones, and going into the creepy building.
Last 30 pages: confusing and terrifying.
I think part of this is on me, in the sense that I should have read all of the events in the last setting all in one session, rather than in bits and pieces. I think the writing did a fairly good job of showing how frantic the character was feeling.
Some things were easy to see coming. Other twists were just confusing. Usually I don't mind an open ending, but this one I think was too open ended, and I don't have enough interest to read the whole book again just to figure it out. There were just way too many loose ends by the time you read the last page.
So, three stars because parts of it were definitely creepy and I did get the chills at one bit in the end, but overall it wasn't THAT compelling for me.
adinadwd's review against another edition
4.0
This felt like a fever dream.
Wow, I'm always amazed when an author can build such a suffocating/creepy/skin crawling/uncomfortable tone and setting throughout the book.
Wow, I'm always amazed when an author can build such a suffocating/creepy/skin crawling/uncomfortable tone and setting throughout the book.
kristen_rouge's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.25