Reviews tagging 'Death'

Freak by Jennifer Hillier

4 reviews

julienicole1106's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Cursing, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Gore, Torture, Violence, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Vomit, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

onemorepagecrew's review

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

In Jennifer Hillier’s second novel, Freak, we resume the storyline of her prior novel, Creep.  Let me say now that if you don’t want any spoilers for Creep, do NOT read the publisher’s description of Freak.  I’ll keep this review spoiler-free and suggest you read the books as a pair. 

 

In this sequel, the pace and format shifted a bit from a few central characters in a psychological thriller to a multi-character detective mystery with a serial killer on the loose.  The latter isn’t my favorite trope, so Creep was a more enjoyable read for me, however I know a lot of people love a tense detective storyline.  If that’s you, I suspect you’ll enjoy Freak quite a bit. 

 

In this one, the twist was predictable for me, but again, it didn’t detract from the story.  I was having fun validating my theory with the subtle clues along the way.  Based on yesterday’s comments, it sounds like others enjoy this too.  

 

Comparing Freak to Hillier’s other books I’ve read, this is on the disturbing side.  There are a few violent scenes that are described so well I was wincing.  I’d caution that it’s as unsettling as Jar of Hearts, albeit for different reasons, and has the same sociopathic chilliness.  The pace is on par with Creep and Little Secrets. 

 

It’s fun to go back into an author’s books and read their earlier works.  I can see how she arrived at Jar of Hearts, my personal favorite.  I’m certain I will be reading all of Hillier’s older books – if you have a suggestion for my next one, let me know! 

 

Content warnings: Death, Blood, Graphic violence, Body horror, Emotional assault, Sexual abuse, Abduction, Infidelity 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Death, Violence, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and Infidelity

fiftysoshay's review against another edition

dark tense

• 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

2.75

This book got a full extra star because

the murderers got away, that's how much I hated the "victims" they annoyed the living crap out of me.

Book 1 (Creep) was AMAZING though and I'm definitely gonna reread it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Torture, Violence, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Confinement

Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual violence, Rape, Child abuse, and Toxic relationship

birdieandthebooks7's review

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

This is a very complicated book to review I loved the first one in this duology or I don't know if there's any more planned but the second one just had so many issues

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Death