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scytheria's review
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, and Suicide
Moderate: Car accident, Death of parent, Bullying, Toxic friendship, and Torture
Minor: War
bibliomich's review
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Listening to the audiobook for Head Like a Hole was *quite* the experience. This book felt like Stranger Things meets Final Destination with a hint of M. Night Shyamalan thrown in at the end. I absolutely flew through the book and then found myself stymied by the last 10%-15%, which I had to rewind and listen to multiple times to truly wrap my head around.
What I enjoyed:
- The exposition was fantastic. It was creepy and gory in all the right ways, and I was excited to see the "true crime podcaster investigating a story" device.
- I liked the nostalgic cult classic 90s/00s horror vibes, particularly throughout the first 2/3 of the book.
- This was a quick read, and I found that I could get lost in the book for long stretches of time without getting bored or distracted.
- Even though there were many characters and different timelines, I found it relatively easy to keep track of them all.
- The narrator, Tom Jordan, did an excellent job.
What didn't quite work for me:
- While several aspects of the book were gory and/or graphic, I didn't find the book to be particularly scary. I would have loved to see Van Wey introduce more elements of psychological horror into the book, as I think this could have really taken the book to the next level.
- The ending was both predictable and also super confusing. Too much happened right at the end, and a lot of it wasn't particularly clear. While I think this was probably intentional in a you-can-interpret-this-however-you-want sort of way, I mostly found it to be a disappointing resolution.
- The book suffered from not having a clear narrator. It was initially framed as though the protagonist were telling the story to the interviewer, but the narration was actually third-person omniscient and jumped around between multiple different characters. At the end you're left wondering if the narrator was a reliable narrator, but that doesn't really make sense because the story was being told *about* the characters, rather than truly from the point of view of the characters.
I would still consider reading more Andrew Van Wey, especially another book narrated by Tom Jordan.
What I enjoyed:
- The exposition was fantastic. It was creepy and gory in all the right ways, and I was excited to see the "true crime podcaster investigating a story" device.
- I liked the nostalgic cult classic 90s/00s horror vibes, particularly throughout the first 2/3 of the book.
- This was a quick read, and I found that I could get lost in the book for long stretches of time without getting bored or distracted.
- Even though there were many characters and different timelines, I found it relatively easy to keep track of them all.
- The narrator, Tom Jordan, did an excellent job.
What didn't quite work for me:
- While several aspects of the book were gory and/or graphic, I didn't find the book to be particularly scary. I would have loved to see Van Wey introduce more elements of psychological horror into the book, as I think this could have really taken the book to the next level.
- The ending was both predictable and also super confusing. Too much happened right at the end, and a lot of it wasn't particularly clear. While I think this was probably intentional in a you-can-interpret-this-however-you-want sort of way, I mostly found it to be a disappointing resolution.
- The book suffered from not having a clear narrator. It was initially framed as though the protagonist were telling the story to the interviewer, but the narration was actually third-person omniscient and jumped around between multiple different characters. At the end you're left wondering if the narrator was a reliable narrator, but that doesn't really make sense because the story was being told *about* the characters, rather than truly from the point of view of the characters.
I would still consider reading more Andrew Van Wey, especially another book narrated by Tom Jordan.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Suicide
Moderate: Car accident, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Racism and Drug use
superficialmells's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death
teaandtales1's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
𝓐𝓾𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓻: Andrew Van Wey
𝓟𝓵𝓸𝓽: Five young adults grapple with a dark secret from their past as a horrifying creature emerges from the sea.
𝓟𝓪𝓰𝓮𝓼: 382
𝓖𝓮𝓷𝓻𝓮: Horror, slasher
𝓑𝓮𝓬𝓱𝓭𝓮𝓵 𝓽𝓮𝓼𝓽: yes
𝓣𝓲𝓶𝓮 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓸𝓭: 90s
𝓞𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓫𝓸𝓸𝓴𝓼 𝓘'𝓿𝓮 𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮𝓭 𝓫𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓪𝓾𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓻: By the Light of Dead Stars
𝓕𝓸𝓻 𝓯𝓪𝓷𝓼 𝓸𝓯: I Know What You Did Last Summer...but more supernatural; classic slasher movies
𝓡𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I will admit that the beginning of this book didn't grab me and I almost DNF'd it. Fortunately, because I've liked Andrew's other work and have had a few pleasant exchanges with him on Tiktok, I persevered through the beginning and got to read a fun horror story.
There are two main story lines that weave in and out in this book. In the first, Megan Monroe is a struggling (sort-of former) college student that is trying to put the pieces of her life back together after a series of tragedies. After some strange events, she decides to reconnect with her friends from her former high school. Meanwhile, a fisherman has pulled what appears to be a severed head out of the water, and it is whispering some awfully naughty instructions to him.
This all results in a very creepy, supernatural-ish take on I Know What You Did Last Summer, and I enjoyed it. What did Megan and her friends do back in high school? And why can they only sort of remember one of their friends?
This book really hits you over the head with the fact that it takes place in the NINETIES, to the point where I did chuckle at some of the many, many references, but overall I had a fun time reading the book. The beginning does drag a bit, and there is an unfortunate animal death (luckily off "screen"), but I think it works up to a solid 4-star rating.
𝓟𝓵𝓸𝓽: Five young adults grapple with a dark secret from their past as a horrifying creature emerges from the sea.
𝓟𝓪𝓰𝓮𝓼: 382
𝓖𝓮𝓷𝓻𝓮: Horror, slasher
𝓑𝓮𝓬𝓱𝓭𝓮𝓵 𝓽𝓮𝓼𝓽: yes
𝓣𝓲𝓶𝓮 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓸𝓭: 90s
𝓞𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓫𝓸𝓸𝓴𝓼 𝓘'𝓿𝓮 𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮𝓭 𝓫𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓪𝓾𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓻: By the Light of Dead Stars
𝓕𝓸𝓻 𝓯𝓪𝓷𝓼 𝓸𝓯: I Know What You Did Last Summer...but more supernatural; classic slasher movies
𝓡𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
I will admit that the beginning of this book didn't grab me and I almost DNF'd it. Fortunately, because I've liked Andrew's other work and have had a few pleasant exchanges with him on Tiktok, I persevered through the beginning and got to read a fun horror story.
There are two main story lines that weave in and out in this book. In the first, Megan Monroe is a struggling (sort-of former) college student that is trying to put the pieces of her life back together after a series of tragedies. After some strange events, she decides to reconnect with her friends from her former high school. Meanwhile, a fisherman has pulled what appears to be a severed head out of the water, and it is whispering some awfully naughty instructions to him.
This all results in a very creepy, supernatural-ish take on I Know What You Did Last Summer, and I enjoyed it. What did Megan and her friends do back in high school? And why can they only sort of remember one of their friends?
This book really hits you over the head with the fact that it takes place in the NINETIES, to the point where I did chuckle at some of the many, many references, but overall I had a fun time reading the book. The beginning does drag a bit, and there is an unfortunate animal death (luckily off "screen"), but I think it works up to a solid 4-star rating.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal death and Murder
ghoul_girl's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, and Death
Minor: Animal death
atleastelise's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, and Murder
Minor: Car accident
minimicropup's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Calamitous, nostalgic, gruesome.
We open with a famous, exploitative podcaster chasing their latest story involving an artist and now mother with a tragic past from College days. We also get the POV of the detective that worked with the young artist to investigate a slew of murders, a down-on-their-luck crabber enraptured by an unconventional catch, and a mysterious exchange student from Ukraine.
🇺🇸 Set in various locales in mid-1990s Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York, USA
🍂 Autumn/Thanksgiving time for the 90's parts
🐺🐕Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags:
🍂 Autumn/Thanksgiving time for the 90's parts
🐺🐕Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags:
👌All the POVs are third party objective, but combined we almost get omniscient feels where we know more than any one character. They all hold clues as to what is really happening...
🤔 Except the narrative, though told in typical novel form, is actually Megan's recollection of what happened as told to the podcaster. It isn't transcript/epistolary form, we get a full novel written with flash forwards to her interview with the podcaster who has access to the case notes from the detective that worked with her back when her former College friends started showing up brutally murdered. It adds an unreliable narrator energy that comes from another unreliable narrator.
🕵️ We get a semi-retired detective's POV, but there is no police procedural trope. Just him trying to figure out what is going on with support from his department and he gets wrapped up in the overall case in a fairly organic way.
🥴🤢 The creature feature elements could have been laughable if not written well. But they were. Sometimes I'd start off imagining it cartoonish, and as the paragraph progressed it became full body (or lack thereof) horrific.
🤞I want this to be a movie.
🤔 Except the narrative, though told in typical novel form, is actually Megan's recollection of what happened as told to the podcaster. It isn't transcript/epistolary form, we get a full novel written with flash forwards to her interview with the podcaster who has access to the case notes from the detective that worked with her back when her former College friends started showing up brutally murdered. It adds an unreliable narrator energy that comes from another unreliable narrator.
🕵️ We get a semi-retired detective's POV, but there is no police procedural trope. Just him trying to figure out what is going on with support from his department and he gets wrapped up in the overall case in a fairly organic way.
🥴🤢 The creature feature elements could have been laughable if not written well. But they were. Sometimes I'd start off imagining it cartoonish, and as the paragraph progressed it became full body (or lack thereof) horrific.
🤞I want this to be a movie.
Mood Reading Match Up:
- Splattering of investigative and exploitative podcast journalism
- Mishmash of '90s true crime, dark cozy detective mystery, marine-hybrid creature feature, body horror, dark academia, unreliable narrator (memory loss), and amateur sleuthing with police and PI pal
- Slightly open-to-interpretation ending about who was telling the truth
- "I know what you did last decade" murder mystery/slasher
- Speculative creature feature horror with ecological and evolutionary biology sci-fi elements
- Hit of surreal action-adventure fight-for-their-lives escape from international assassins
- Touch of "monsters everywhere?" woven through the plot
Content Heads-Up: Body horror. Dog death (kind of done out of desperation like in the sacrifice/food realm. We don't know about the dog prior to the incident). Car accident (single-vehicle drunk driver). Fatal house fire (off page). Death of parents (off page).
Format: Kindle Unlimited
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Violence
Minor: Animal death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, and Car accident
kier__'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Car accident, Confinement, Torture, Toxic friendship, Animal cruelty, Self harm, Violence, Bullying, Cursing, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Abandonment, Alcohol, Child death, Death, and Murder
sarah984's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Some of the scares in this had real promise but overall this book annoyed me. The podcast setup felt pointless (half the chapters could not have been told by the character as they're presented to us or Anwar's reactions make no sense) and the "twist" partway through was ridiculous. Very few of the characters were really interesting enough to make the things that happened to them land. In the end a lot of this book was boring and the rest made me angry.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Car accident, Death of parent, Racism, Stalking, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Xenophobia, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Murder, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Mental illness
Minor: Emotional abuse, Cancer, Child death, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Drug use, and Gun violence
shadowspinner's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Gore, and Body horror
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Animal death
Minor: Racism and Sexual content