Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones

16 reviews

mfrisk's review

dark sad 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

2.0

As a few other negative reviewers have mentioned I’m perplexed that this has been hyped up the way it has as a slasher or even a creature feature. It is not that.

What we get instead is the delusions of a teenage boy with plenty of creepy comments about women too.

I don’t recommend this read and the only reason it’s getting 2 stars instead of 1 is because of the beginning and when there was a sense of mystery was interesting but it just goes downhill from there. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death of parent, Animal death, and Death

directorpurry's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Animal death

idroplungs's review

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.75

I want to give this book 5 stars so bad, but because of one line I can't.

'third day of forgetting meds' seemed unnecessary and forced to give it a negative mental health connotation that a lot of horror uses and really puts a lot of bad stereotypes about mental health in the minds of the general public. It would have been just as good without it

But otherwise, I read this, albeit short, book in one sitting without stopping, couldn't put it down.

The whole quote of "protagonist doesn't mean good guy just who the story is about" playing out but with Sawyer's perspective making you how people always see themselves as the hero, no matter how hard they have to twist it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Stalking and Animal death

traa's review

dark funny tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Car accident, Child death, Death, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Gore, Stalking, Grief, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gun violence

Minor: Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Mass/school shootings, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

r_o_s_e's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, Death, Mental illness, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Car accident, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Excrement

Minor: Gun violence, Animal death, and Vomit

diadoodle's review

challenging mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Mental illness, Death, and Murder

doomluz's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

I thought this was going to be more supernatural horror and creepier, but the twist made me think of the film Maniac.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Animal death

ehmannky's review

dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

I think once I understood that there was going to be a lot fewer mannequins than I thought there would be, I had a great time. I love Jones's storytelling and this was a really fun, fast read and maybe one of the few slashers I've ever really enjoyed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Child death, Vomit, and Violence

Minor: Animal death and Death of parent

becca_w_'s review

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Mental illness, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol, Bullying, Cursing, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, and Vomit

cheye13's review

dark emotional fast-paced

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

3.0

I think I took too long to read this one, and the tension slipped right through my fingers. I'm not typically a horror fan, but I didn't find this all that scary. I'd call it more of a psychological thriller.

I did go in without having read the full synopsis, which I think really helped. I quite enjoyed the front half, not seeing a lot of the reveals coming. I really appreciated the nuances within the content: Sawyer is very much an Indigenous teen boy with a very specific experience, but he also has a very Everyman vibe to him. He has parents, friends, hopes, dreams – just like everyone else. It feels like any of his friends could step into his role and the story would be the same, which brings the mannequin concept full circle, imo.

The writing style and voice is very unique; it fits the story so well and is very fun to read. It's very evocative of a film and also a campfire/sleepover story, but still takes moments to use written word to full effect. There are a few sentences that stopped me short to either send a chill down my spine or an ache through my heart.

I think the writing style was spectacular, but the brevity and predictability of the storyline crossed with the universailty of the main perspective didn't really let me sink my claws in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

Moderate: Gore, Animal death, Blood, Car accident, and Grief

Minor: Abandonment, Body horror, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Drug use, and Suicidal thoughts

There is an early line in which Sawyer mentions he "stopped taking his meds" but it is never revisited or explained. Treads a very thin line toward an ableist trope.