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toofondofbooks_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I put my physical TBR in a randomizer and let it choose for me, and it chose spooky apparently - and in terms of spookiness, this book delivers on all fronts. I loved the gothic apartment building setting. To me, it felt extremely vivid and claustrophobic. The gargoyles, the colors, the faces in the wallpaper, I felt like I could see it all. I loved that every single person in the book was suspicious as hell. There wasn't just one person I was side eye-ing - I was side eye-ing them all, even the MC's parents who were dead when the book began. I would compare this to American Horror Story: Hotel, but less unhinged because the writing is better. As a whole, the story was compelling and kept me guessing what direction it was going in.
There are parts, however, that had me scratching my head or made me uncomfortable - and not in the way that you hope to be uncomfortable when reading a thriller. There was some casual homophobia within the inner monologue of the main character that really took me aback, it didn't serve the story at all and it was the kind of casual homophobia that queer people like myself pick up on very easily. Additionally, there is some queer "rep" in the history of the Bartholomew, but it is all negative rep that does not serve the story. Speaking of the MC, Jules, she was incredibly annoying, and not to be mean, but she was dumb as rocks. I didn't care about her breakup, I barely cared about her life, I wanted to know more about the Bartholomew building and its history. This next critique is petty, but I'm wondering if Sager really needed to use the word "meager" as many times as he did while writing this book. It got to a point where I had to roll my eyes every time I saw it. Please open a thesaurus, for the love of God.
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Self harm, Stalking, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Homophobia and Lesbophobia
stellabyproxy's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
What I got was a decent book that was well written but didn’t live up to the expectations that all the reviews I’d read had built up. It was, sadly, rather dull and nothing about it made me feel like I knew the characters in any way. Sager managed to write the most tragic of character backstories while making the reader constantly feel like the Jules was just out of reach. There was barely any emotional connection built with the characters and maybe that was intentional, a way of truly depicting Jules’ trust issues. But it didn’t feel like I was observing a story unfold in real-time, but rather like I was hearing it relayed by someone who was neither there, nor knew the characters personally. Like the entire story was neighbourhood gossip.
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, and Medical trauma
Minor: Blood, Chronic illness, Infidelity, and Suicide
horizonous's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Moderate: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Self harm, and Suicide
Minor: Car accident, Chronic illness, and Infidelity
◦ Chronic illness = non-hodgkin's lymphomanickoliver's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Trafficking
Moderate: Sexual content, Suicide, and Violence
Minor: Alcoholism and Self harm