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solouncapitulomas's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
first of all I have to say it, I fucking love long book but this book DID NOT need to be that long, a solution? removing most of the main and secondary characters, let's be honest ashley and cordova where the best characters and all the additional ones we never saw again.
I was so bored with McGrath's story but I did appreciate the parallels between him and cordova and their daughters, but the other to characters? unbearable, the author could've focused on the lore of cordova and on Ashley (a character like rebecca from daphne du maurier more interesting in death and with the power to eclipse every other character without even trying) instead of fucking introducing two boring people (nora and hopper) with no business being there and maybe if those two stayed like another one of the additional people we met along the way they would've been bearable but no, they had to join the hunt and be useless
wtv, I finished this book before the end of October and that was that
I was so bored with McGrath's story but I did appreciate the parallels between him and cordova and their daughters, but the other to characters? unbearable, the author could've focused on the lore of cordova and on Ashley (a character like rebecca from daphne du maurier more interesting in death and with the power to eclipse every other character without even trying) instead of fucking introducing two boring people (nora and hopper) with no business being there and maybe if those two stayed like another one of the additional people we met along the way they would've been bearable but no, they had to join the hunt and be useless
wtv, I finished this book before the end of October and that was that
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Death, and Transphobia
Moderate: Racism, Forced institutionalization, and Cancer
Minor: Car accident
phantomgecko's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
An ending just ambiguous enough to really make the novel great. Are the questions really answered or ???
idk, this was an interesting read. Long, but it wouldn't have been as satisfying shorter. I saw someone put this on a list of books they weren't smart enough to read, and I kinda get why. There're layers here, but it's enjoyable even at a high level.
Characters annoyed me at first, but they grew on me.
idk, this was an interesting read. Long, but it wouldn't have been as satisfying shorter. I saw someone put this on a list of books they weren't smart enough to read, and I kinda get why. There're layers here, but it's enjoyable even at a high level.
Characters annoyed me at first, but they grew on me.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, and Terminal illness
kristareads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-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
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Transphobia, Misogyny, and Racism
Moderate: Child death and Sexual assault
Minor: Forced institutionalization, Cancer, Chronic illness, and Fire/Fire injury
judassilver's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Transphobia, Misogyny, Death, Alcohol, and Sexism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Cultural appropriation, Ableism, Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Racism, Addiction, and Stalking
Minor: Car accident, Forced institutionalization, Cancer, Fire/Fire injury, and Trafficking
kylieqrada's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book was creepy AF and I liked the themes and the ambiguous ending. I just couldn't get behind some of the language.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Transphobia, and Suicide
Moderate: Racism, Forced institutionalization, and Cancer
Minor: Car accident
dielesemotte's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Forced institutionalization, and Cancer
wrestleacademic's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Addiction, Abandonment, Body horror, Chronic illness, Transphobia, Alcohol, Blood, and Car accident
Moderate: Child death, Cancer, and Child abuse
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Trafficking
cossenbeck's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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: Suicide and Transphobia
Moderate: Forced institutionalization
erinbarton's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
3.5
so many mixed feelings on this
brief summary: scott mcgrath is an investigative journalist who begins investigating the apparent suicide of ashley cordova, who is the daughter of a reclusive and controversial director stanislas cordova. prior to the beginning of this book, scott had previously become obsessed with the idea that cordova is hiding a dark secret and committing crimes involving child abductions, which led to him being sued for slander and false reporting and his reputation ruined. scott is convinced ashley’s suicide is actual a murder, and begins investigating along with hopper, a drug dealer who has a childhood connection to ashley, and nora, a coatroom attendant who was one of the last people to see ashley before she died.
first of all, i loved the concept of the director with a cult following and his films’ contents having clues that tie in to the plot’s mystery. the descriptions of each of cordova’s films throughout the book make you wish you could watch those films and get swept up in the easter eggs and hidden clues throughout them too. this was a really detailed plot that took a lot of different turns — is there foul play, or dark magic, or possession, or mental illness, or child abuse happening here? the story keeps you guessing with where it’s heading too. this book also has various pictures and newspaper articles that add to the immersion of the story.
however, the issues i have with this book is mainly two points: characterisation, and convenience of clues. in terms of characterisation, for a book of over 600 pages the main three characters still felt fairly flat, and the relationship between them all never felt very developed. i did really like nora’s character but she didn’t feel fleshed out enough and was limited to her past trauma. there could’ve been so much more depth in their relationship changing from reluctantly working together to becoming friends. their final scene together where they say goodbye and get emotional seems somewhat out of place since they didn’t seem to have much of a bond to begin with. nora’s confession that she loves scott also comes out of the blue. <\spoiler>
scott’s motive for investigating also seemed unclear, and the gang quickly progresses to breaking laws to gain information. when meeting hopper and nora for the first time scott tells them their info can be off the record, but never tries to get any info on the record for any other sources throughout the book. was he actually planning on writing a piece about ashley? how would he be able to include any facts without sources?
scott’s motive for investigating also seemed unclear, and the gang quickly progresses to breaking laws to gain information. when meeting hopper and nora for the first time scott tells them their info can be off the record, but never tries to get any info on the record for any other sources throughout the book. was he actually planning on writing a piece about ashley? how would he be able to include any facts without sources?
furthermore, clues throughout seemed a bit too convenient - everyone they spoke to gave them a plethora of useful info even when they seemed supposedly reluctant to help, such as the hotel employee or the security guard from the psychiatric unit. there were never really any dead ends or new leads cropping up, the investigation seemingly moved from one helpful witness to another. the mystery and tension in a thriller comes from the unanswered questions - what is this person hiding? are they telling the truth? what else do they know? etc - this book probably had about 10 different key witnesses/people of interest the main characters talk to and all of them give exactly enough detail to advance to the next person.
overall, this definitely was a fun thriller and worth the read as long as you are prepared for the slow burn of it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Suicide
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Child death, Child abuse, and Sexual assault
kermit_the_wrong's review
Disappointingly didn't finish due to the blatant transphobia and racist stereotypes. The story was interesting, but was not as dark or gripping as I had hoped.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia and Suicide
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Racism, and Drug use