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savvyrosereads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
3.5
Huge thank you to Grand Central Publishing and the author for providing me a gifted copy!
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Ellie, a grad student, and her English professor boyfriend Steven, head off for a romantic six-month-anniversary getaway in a rural snow-covered retreat. But the trip quickly takes a dark turn—and one of them won’t make it back alive.
Nobody But Us has so many of my favorite tropes and themes—snowbound suspense, elaborate revenge, and buried secrets, all layered under a dark academia atmosphere. I believe it’s also a story that deserves to be told, with an important theme that deserves to be explored, and the writing is beautifully done, with multiple sentences and turns of phrase that caught and impressed me.
If you pick this one up, do be warned that, in addition to the heavy topics involved (please check CWs before reading), this isn’t the kind of thriller where you’re going to be kept guessing and gasping until the very last page (I figured out most of the “why” by the halfway point or so), and as a result of this structure the story felt a bit repetitive at times. But, because this is primarily a literary suspense read (as opposed to a pure psychological thriller), the resolution delivers a good dose of creeping tension that upped my enjoyment, and definitely kept me turning the pages to find out how it was all going to end! I’ll definitely be checking out whatever this author does next.
Recommended if you like: snowbound thrillers; literary suspense; dark academia vibes.
CW: Sexual assault/rape, including statutory rape; blood/injury; suicide; animal death.
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Ellie, a grad student, and her English professor boyfriend Steven, head off for a romantic six-month-anniversary getaway in a rural snow-covered retreat. But the trip quickly takes a dark turn—and one of them won’t make it back alive.
Nobody But Us has so many of my favorite tropes and themes—snowbound suspense, elaborate revenge, and buried secrets, all layered under a dark academia atmosphere. I believe it’s also a story that deserves to be told, with an important theme that deserves to be explored, and the writing is beautifully done, with multiple sentences and turns of phrase that caught and impressed me.
If you pick this one up, do be warned that, in addition to the heavy topics involved (please check CWs before reading), this isn’t the kind of thriller where you’re going to be kept guessing and gasping until the very last page (I figured out most of the “why” by the halfway point or so), and as a result of this structure the story felt a bit repetitive at times. But, because this is primarily a literary suspense read (as opposed to a pure psychological thriller), the resolution delivers a good dose of creeping tension that upped my enjoyment, and definitely kept me turning the pages to find out how it was all going to end! I’ll definitely be checking out whatever this author does next.
Recommended if you like: snowbound thrillers; literary suspense; dark academia vibes.
CW: Sexual assault/rape, including statutory rape; blood/injury; suicide; animal death.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Grief, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, and Misogyny
thatswhatshanread's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
3.75
In the end, I was pleasantly surprised by this one! I had some trouble getting into the first half of the book despite my favorite secluded setting trope—stilted, impersonal dialogue and some monotonous buildup that didn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.
BUT!! I’m glad I stuck with it because the second half was great!! It had some “Promising Young Woman” themes to it which I appreciated as it’s one of my favorite movies. I don’t want to spoil anything, but ultimately loved the feminist and vengeance themes that came through. The twists were somewhat predictable though still satisfying. While the plot itself isn’t especially groundbreaking, ultimately I did like how it was executed. Important issues that, unfortunately, plague many women and girls were discussed powerfully and realistically.
Of course, the writing at first bored me, but when the action picked up I enjoyed it more as it became quite fast-paced. One of the better cat-and-mouse game novels I’ve read in recent memory.
Thank you to #NovelSuspects and Grand Central Publishing for sending me an ARC of this book to read and review!
BUT!! I’m glad I stuck with it because the second half was great!! It had some “Promising Young Woman” themes to it which I appreciated as it’s one of my favorite movies. I don’t want to spoil anything, but ultimately loved the feminist and vengeance themes that came through. The twists were somewhat predictable though still satisfying. While the plot itself isn’t especially groundbreaking, ultimately I did like how it was executed. Important issues that, unfortunately, plague many women and girls were discussed powerfully and realistically.
Of course, the writing at first bored me, but when the action picked up I enjoyed it more as it became quite fast-paced. One of the better cat-and-mouse game novels I’ve read in recent memory.
Thank you to #NovelSuspects and Grand Central Publishing for sending me an ARC of this book to read and review!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Rape
Moderate: Blood, Murder, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Infidelity
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