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gertrude314's review against another edition
2.0
The characters are believable but I didn't connect to them emotionally. I'm not really into sci/fi, so this book was a bit of a bummer for me because I was hoping for a more realistic mystery. It was a good book until the dream stuff became more prominent.
wholewheatwhale's review against another edition
3.0
A good book, in my opinion, but not the stand out I was expecting from other reviews. Interesting but I didn't feel much tension as much of the foreshadowing actually revealed plot points much to easily. Though it was a short book it still felt as if the story wandered about needlessly.
carriethis's review against another edition
5.0
So great to find a book that I couldn't put down. Reminded me a lot of True Detective and all the really excellent BBC police procedurals. Best use of social media in a novel that didn't seem gratuitous or cheesy. Excellently creepy supernatural twists.
bluestarfish's review against another edition
4.0
I am surprised I picked up a horror book. I only did it though as it's by Lauren Beukes and I trust her I guess. It was scary and creepy, and at several times I had to put the book down for a while. But it is really well written, and Gabi and Layla are interesting people, and creepily the killer is also someone we follow, and the bad guys (even the really, really bad guys) seem to have glimpses of humanity. The major and minor plot lines weave in anxiety and funny, satirical moments and it was absorbing.
liketheday's review against another edition
4.0
I was completely entranced by this book, alternately worried about certain characters and whether they would be okay after doing not-terribly-smart things (spoiler: not everyone is okay) and really curious to see how all of this insanity could possibly come together at the end. I wasn't the biggest fan of the ending, which is just too weird for the tone of the rest of the book, but it was definitely exciting.
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wren_k's review against another edition
challenging
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
crimyami's review against another edition
3.0
Copy of book provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This thriller sort of threw me for a loop. I'm use to movie thrillers and psychological twists so this was a different experience in reading one. I'm still not too sure of how I enjoyed the book but the writing was well put together and flowed nicely. It does give you that creepy thrill of reading a Serial Killer novel. The story is written in different POV's from the Killer to the Detective, to the detective's daughter, and a blogger/journalist wanna-be and a homeless man. While switching to the POV's is done well it is also a bit annoying with some of the characters. There are character's you'll be annoyed with and some you'll love.
With the start you've got the typical Creepy serial killer who believes he's being controlled by evil. His mental stability isn't there and he believe's he's creating art with glueing a boy's top half with a deer's bottom half. You get some detective work and there are some sub-side stories along with the main case. I wasn't thrilled with the Pedophile side story, it seems like it was just put in there to add more pages to the book. The plot requires full attention and not half of it, and is not rushed. Part of me feels that it was a bit drawn out with all the POVS as your going around but I possibly didn't give the full attention to this book as I should of. The ending has an intense climax but it leaves you feeling unfulfilled. It gives you the ending of "think of it as you want" type of thing whether it is supernatural or not. It keeps you thinking and though I love movies they usually give you some sort of coverage for your psyche and this didn't.
As I said, the writing is well done, and flows wonderfully. It just wasn't what I expected with a thriller and perhaps I'll have to take a second look at it when I have more time to give it a bit more extensive look.
This thriller sort of threw me for a loop. I'm use to movie thrillers and psychological twists so this was a different experience in reading one. I'm still not too sure of how I enjoyed the book but the writing was well put together and flowed nicely. It does give you that creepy thrill of reading a Serial Killer novel. The story is written in different POV's from the Killer to the Detective, to the detective's daughter, and a blogger/journalist wanna-be and a homeless man. While switching to the POV's is done well it is also a bit annoying with some of the characters. There are character's you'll be annoyed with and some you'll love.
With the start you've got the typical Creepy serial killer who believes he's being controlled by evil. His mental stability isn't there and he believe's he's creating art with glueing a boy's top half with a deer's bottom half. You get some detective work and there are some sub-side stories along with the main case. I wasn't thrilled with the Pedophile side story, it seems like it was just put in there to add more pages to the book. The plot requires full attention and not half of it, and is not rushed. Part of me feels that it was a bit drawn out with all the POVS as your going around but I possibly didn't give the full attention to this book as I should of. The ending has an intense climax but it leaves you feeling unfulfilled. It gives you the ending of "think of it as you want" type of thing whether it is supernatural or not. It keeps you thinking and though I love movies they usually give you some sort of coverage for your psyche and this didn't.
As I said, the writing is well done, and flows wonderfully. It just wasn't what I expected with a thriller and perhaps I'll have to take a second look at it when I have more time to give it a bit more extensive look.
hank's review against another edition
5.0
Great payoff at the end! I was pretty sucked into the characters from the get go, they were all fairly different and evoked different emotions when reading about them. The middle part was just about to turn into one of those real life parallel type of stories that bore me to death but Beukes added some unrealism in the nick of time.
Parts of Leah's character didn't ring true to me, she was this uber aware and savvy teenager, luring pedophiles online and then she was doing some fairly obviously, stupd things. It was explained to some exctent after the fact but I never got the sense her character would actually do some of the things she did without thinking them through. Stealing videos from her detective mom's computer? Nobody is that dumb/desperate.
Jonno was highly annoying from the get go and I didn't like his insertion into the book until I realized, that is exactly why he was there, then he became an effective villain rather than someone I had no interest in reading about.
I love happy endings, maybe this one wasn't happy but it wasn't disasterous. 4.8 stars because of the almost distracting lull in the middle.
Parts of Leah's character didn't ring true to me, she was this uber aware and savvy teenager, luring pedophiles online and then she was doing some fairly obviously, stupd things. It was explained to some exctent after the fact but I never got the sense her character would actually do some of the things she did without thinking them through. Stealing videos from her detective mom's computer? Nobody is that dumb/desperate.
Jonno was highly annoying from the get go and I didn't like his insertion into the book until I realized, that is exactly why he was there, then he became an effective villain rather than someone I had no interest in reading about.
I love happy endings, maybe this one wasn't happy but it wasn't disasterous. 4.8 stars because of the almost distracting lull in the middle.