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maya_alicia's review against another edition
3.0
I'd give this one a tentative 3.5. I absolutely loved the voice this was written in, very matter of fact no ridiculous metaphors or useless fluffy filler. I also loved that this was set for a majority in the woods, at any given time there's few other places i'd rather be than on a hike to a lake. What I didn't love, now hear me out, is the number of absolutely asinine decisions that were made by all the characters. Now I know it's a thriller so I shouldn't expect good decisions to be made or the plot wouldn't go anywhere but I'm also not one of those people who likes to hate read.
Ya know like in Gone Girl how everyone hated the characters but then loved the book for it? I'm definitely not one of those people. After a certain moment right before the climax I decided that I really didn't care what would end up happening to any of the characters because they had all made their beds. There's probably a whole lot more hidden in this one that I'm missing about the struggle between right and wrong and what that really means or the fact that no one can save you but yourself but I just cannot get past my lack of concern for the characters. Having said all of that though I would definitely recommend this book and am currently adding more books by Stephanie Kuehn to my TBR.
*Thank you to Penguin First to Read for providing me this ARC for review.
Ya know like in Gone Girl how everyone hated the characters but then loved the book for it? I'm definitely not one of those people. After a certain moment right before the climax I decided that I really didn't care what would end up happening to any of the characters because they had all made their beds. There's probably a whole lot more hidden in this one that I'm missing about the struggle between right and wrong and what that really means or the fact that no one can save you but yourself but I just cannot get past my lack of concern for the characters. Having said all of that though I would definitely recommend this book and am currently adding more books by Stephanie Kuehn to my TBR.
*Thank you to Penguin First to Read for providing me this ARC for review.
helenblake13's review against another edition
2.0
this book was generally pretty decent. i guess to me it was just kinda... meh.
i mean, the plot is overall interesting and i think the characters were pretty fun. none of them were suuuper likable, except for the teacher and his wife, but that's not why i rated this a four out of five.
i think the main reason why i took off a star is because sometimes i feel like things just happened sequentially with no real connection. like it was just sort of like, "oh. i guess this is happening now. huh." and i think the beginning set it up to be like some huge deal? and then it was like lol he kills her lmao and i was like... oh. again, the ending was just another sequential thing that simply happened.
i don't know really how to describe it. i mean, it was a fine book, and kuehn is a fantastic writer, but i wasn't like, into it into it.. i guess.
either way, the teacher, his wife, and tomás were the best characters. everyone else was just kinda annoying.
also, why the hell is the teacher just sort of letting them off onto the mountain on their own???? like yeah they're high schoolers and they can take care of themselves, but uh, isn't that a liability? like what if they just fell off a cliff or something? or like what if they get lost or attacked my mountain lions or whatever and no one's there to help them? like yeah okay ben is a decent map dude. that's great. shouldn't there be someone... with him????? ie. a teacher?????? i mean, honestly, all the problems started because the teacher was just kinda like eh do whatever you want on this random mountain.
whatever. i still liked him.
i mean, the plot is overall interesting and i think the characters were pretty fun. none of them were suuuper likable, except for the teacher and his wife, but that's not why i rated this a four out of five.
i think the main reason why i took off a star is because sometimes i feel like things just happened sequentially with no real connection. like it was just sort of like, "oh. i guess this is happening now. huh." and i think the beginning set it up to be like some huge deal? and then it was like lol he kills her lmao and i was like... oh. again, the ending was just another sequential thing that simply happened.
i don't know really how to describe it. i mean, it was a fine book, and kuehn is a fantastic writer, but i wasn't like, into it into it.. i guess.
either way, the teacher, his wife, and tomás were the best characters. everyone else was just kinda annoying.
also, why the hell is the teacher just sort of letting them off onto the mountain on their own???? like yeah they're high schoolers and they can take care of themselves, but uh, isn't that a liability? like what if they just fell off a cliff or something? or like what if they get lost or attacked my mountain lions or whatever and no one's there to help them? like yeah okay ben is a decent map dude. that's great. shouldn't there be someone... with him????? ie. a teacher?????? i mean, honestly, all the problems started because the teacher was just kinda like eh do whatever you want on this random mountain.
whatever. i still liked him.
booksdogsandjess's review against another edition
3.0
If this book had a trigger warning it would be for ... all the things
All of them, domestic violence, miscarriages, suicidal thoughts, mercy killing and it goes on.
Ben has a troubled past, due to that past he suffers from debilitating migraines, he has a girlfriend named Rose and the books starts with their" meet cute" sort of story, where Rose basically informs him he should take her out on a date at that very moment. Rose is a very "drop whatever your doing and do what I want to do" kind of girl.
We get Ben's back story entwined with the current events which are the preparation and subsequent school trip to a mountain top. Ben is assisting his favourite teacher/sort of father figure on this expedition for extra credit. So the teacher, Ben and about seven other students leave for what will turn out to be the worst school trip ever and it goes off the rails right from the start, and on top of all the bananas stuff to occur a gigantic storm
cult like campers
maybe bank robbers
and half baked schemes
we also get teenage melodrama out the wazoo
I did not love how this was paced, we get a page about a memory Ben was having about something god awful probably, but then for present day action only a few sentences would be dedicated to what seemed like an important and exciting moment. There was drama on top of drama here and it just seemed like the story got lost in that.
All of them, domestic violence, miscarriages, suicidal thoughts, mercy killing and it goes on.
Ben has a troubled past, due to that past he suffers from debilitating migraines, he has a girlfriend named Rose and the books starts with their" meet cute" sort of story, where Rose basically informs him he should take her out on a date at that very moment. Rose is a very "drop whatever your doing and do what I want to do" kind of girl.
We get Ben's back story entwined with the current events which are the preparation and subsequent school trip to a mountain top. Ben is assisting his favourite teacher/sort of father figure on this expedition for extra credit. So the teacher, Ben and about seven other students leave for what will turn out to be the worst school trip ever and it goes off the rails right from the start, and on top of all the bananas stuff to occur a gigantic storm
cult like campers
maybe bank robbers
and half baked schemes
we also get teenage melodrama out the wazoo
I did not love how this was paced, we get a page about a memory Ben was having about something god awful probably, but then for present day action only a few sentences would be dedicated to what seemed like an important and exciting moment. There was drama on top of drama here and it just seemed like the story got lost in that.
anxietygirl89's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.75
bookmeabreak's review against another edition
1.0
Finished it finally it dragged. I hated it but forced myself to finished after how many months. It could have ended so many times and then just kept going. Finally. It ended. Lord.
jshettel's review against another edition
2.0
I suspect that teens will enjoy this story more than I did.
storiesandstitches's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars*
I enjoyed the way it was written and the story kept me captivated but some of the decisions the characters made were OUTLANDISH! And that's fine because you were supposed to think that way, but there a lot of parts of this book I don't think I understand. Was there even a point to the relationship between Rose and Ben or did it just go straight over my head? I'm still kinda scratching my head about what a lot the book is supposed to symbolize...maybe I'm thinking too hard about it.
I enjoyed the way it was written and the story kept me captivated but some of the decisions the characters made were OUTLANDISH! And that's fine because you were supposed to think that way, but there a lot of parts of this book I don't think I understand. Was there even a point to the relationship between Rose and Ben or did it just go straight over my head? I'm still kinda scratching my head about what a lot the book is supposed to symbolize...maybe I'm thinking too hard about it.
caledonia's review against another edition
4.0
The first 3 quarters was fucking amazing, like I was lured into reading it because it kind of told you things, but not really, it would give you something small and you would be like oh, oH, OH and then piece it together slowly only for a small piece of the story to come together and a bigger piece needing to be solved. Right? But then the ending. What the fucking was that ending. Im actually so disappointed. I feel like o was cheated out of something. Like okay woohoo full circle of shootings, but the After portion was just, ugh, men, bleh. Still gets 4 stars because it's only the last four chapters I am mad at.
heykellyjensen's review against another edition
This one reminded me a lot of [b:Complicit|18404113|Complicit|Stephanie Kuehn|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1383352823s/18404113.jpg|24573000], which is my favorite of Kuehn's books. But like all of her books, it promises and delivers upon being dark, twisted, and disturbing.
A bad trip through the mountains and a load of dead bodies pile up...and we get it all from the point of view of Ben, who killed his long-term girlfriend Rose, from juvenile detention. A delicious thriller.
A bad trip through the mountains and a load of dead bodies pile up...and we get it all from the point of view of Ben, who killed his long-term girlfriend Rose, from juvenile detention. A delicious thriller.