Reviews

I wasn't a big fan of this one, which is a shame because I enjoyed Penpal quite a bit and hoped this would be a similarly tight, creepy read. In this case, there were some good ideas mixed in with characters that were cartoonish in their flaws (one example being the cop, who goes as far as to accuse somebody of murder because that individual justifiably asked the cops to look into him after the little boy he aggressively tried to convince his brother to let him take to the bathroom went missing later killed himself after the cops found his weed plants, which screwed up his custody case). Another sizable bit of the book is just boring, with repetitive detailed descriptions of doing night stocking of a grocery store or having similar conversations with people over and over. I honestly almost put the book down a couple of times, only powering through because it was relatively short. The end was fun, as were the final twists, but ultimately even a satisfying ending didn't push the book up enough for me to recommend it to others.

i_am_a_goblin_riding_a_unicorn's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

cyisreading's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I can’t believe I wasted 17 hours of my life listening to this book. I thought it would be like a thriller. Ben searching for his brother and something weird going on at the store. Like is the town brainwashed? Were they covering up something? Is it all in Ben’s head? No. It was very boring and very very slow. I’m not sure I can even find a thing I actually liked about this book. The only reason I finished it was because I wanted to know what happened to his little brother and was hoping it’d be some huge twist at the end. And while I didn’t expect that particular person to be behind it, it still didn’t blow my mind. I also don’t think I’d recommend this to anyone.

aimlesscolleen's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

applelaney's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

kelli_jean_'s review

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3.0

I understand with horror there is a certain amount of "don't go in there" feeling where the audience seems aware of something the character isn't, but this book felt very long for a conclusion that seemed a little too obvious. It made it hard to sympathize with the characters deliberately looking in the wrong direction. The beginning and the end I really liked, I just lost it a little in the middle with the wild accusations and wrong turns. Great sense of dread throughout though!

smileysam's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-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

3.0

I liked this book but not as much as I liked Penpal by the same author. His visual descriptions always make the stories feel so real, and as someone who worked in a grocery store for years, Ben’s experience felt very very real.

The ending, in my opinion, was anticlimactic. It felt like it was very rushed in comparison to the rest of the story.

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