Reviews

Bad Things Happen Here by Rebecca Barrow

samreads788's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

hollyk's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

I think that there are a lot of really good elements explored in this book, but when they're combined it ended up quite messy. I'll try to go over some of the things that didn't work here:
-No closure:

only one death is "solved," and to make matters worse, when it is solved, Luca immediately abandons any notion of trying to get justice/answers for any of the other victims

-Shallow explorations of deeper topics:

like the police force blaming Whitney for a supposed drug habit, suspecting Luca because she's a fat, Black girl, white privilege/white people's stories being believed, parents not understanding mental health, being closeted in a homogenous society where standing out is bad

what happens then is that this book ends up with some great lines of prose, but they're overshadowed by the mentions of super serious topics that don't get the same treatment as say, Luca's musings on love. Not to say that every book about the Black experience has to deal with pain and suffering, but this book brought topics up only to drop them fairly quickly.
One thing this book nailed, though, was mental health rep. Luca doesn't outright say it, but she does seem to have a form of OCD--and it's depicted accurately!! I don't want to armchair diagnose her, but the intrusive thoughts/obsessions were very accurate to situations I've had, as someone with OCD.

I wanted to like this book more, but it was just not for me.

booklover56's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

aliciablack's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.75

ashleyreadstoomuch's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

melbsreads's review against another edition

challenging mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

3.5

Trigger warnings: death of a friend (in the past), death of a sibling, grief, murder, drug use, self harm, alcohol abuse, car accident (in the past), suicidal thoughts, mentions of vomit

I barely even read the blurb before picking this up, so it was a definite (pleasant) surprise when the main character turned out to be Black, fat and queer. Anyway, I enjoyed this but I also expected there to be more of an examination of the "curse" as a whole than just the focus on Whitney and her murder. Like, don't get me wrong. I appreciate and understand why Luca focuses so closely on her sister's murder. But given the prevalence the blurb puts on the number of girls who've died and disappeared over the years, I thought there would be more of a focus on that and, perhaps, some kind of more general resolution. 

Anyway, I absolutely flew through this. And while it wasn't always easy being in Luca's head, it was absolutely worthwhile. 

bettyalgar's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

1.0

mushiethesnake's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.0

darcey_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

shereadytoread's review against another edition

dark

2.0

This was a book that worked until the last 15% of the book. It tries to comment on socio-economic inequity but doesn't really say anything. The pattern of deaths remains unresolved and the main character doesn't even solve the mystery herself. It felt like it was really building to something and then all fell apart. 

Disclaimer: I received a gifted finished copy from the publisher.