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haileymundell's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Sexual content, and Blood
Moderate: Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Suicide
morelikelibrarybooked's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
So, the premise is very cool and it was executed well. Like the concept of a ghost being sent to you to kill you for something that you have done is super interesting. My biggest concern for this entire book was the pacing. The pacing was so strange that it totally put me off. Like, the action starts the first 20 or so pages into the book. It starts so quickly and builds so quickly, that by the time you're like 100 pages in, you're almost immune to it. Like, it really plateaued for me. Where can you go when you've already built the action up so much? It just reached a point where I was becoming disenchanted with the book. There were just big sections of so much happening and then nothing at all. Plus, what's with all the blank pages in the book? Felt like a big waste of space. Over 30 pages are just blank. The writing was good, very agreeable. This book could be read and understood by everybody, which I think is a good thing. Overly complicated writing tends to get on my nerves. Hill is a lot like his father in the way that his writing is very plain/blunt, but descriptive. He described the characters and the environment very well, there was a general sense of foreboding and a creepy factor all throughout the book. The villain was very well-written. Craddock was an awful human being, and he was an even more formidable entity. Sometimes the characters' depth didn't quite match the situation. There is some death in the book, and the reaction to these deaths felt very shallow. Like it was almost like Jude didn't really care, when we know that he would've. I won't get more specific so I don't spoil anything. But like, can we hear it for Anna? She's probably my favorite character in this whole damn book, she really went through it and she felt like such a complex character. Bravo with her. The ending was a little meh, it felt appropriate, but I would've preferred if it had gone the other way (maybe an unpopular opinion).
In all, this was a fine horror novel. It accomplished what it set out to do: being creepy as hell. Clearly I had some problems with it, but it wasn't bad. I don't regret reading it. I think this was a fine foray into understanding Joe Hill's writing style.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Sexual assault
caidyn's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
4.0
What a quick read. This is a pretty short ghost story book, but one that takes turns I didn't expect. Years ago, I tried to read this and failed because I wasn't into Hill yet. And now I'm getting more into his work. This story follows Jude, an older rock star who has a thing for the occult. He buys a dead man's suit so he can have a ghost, but things don't go as he thought they would. It's a good read and Hill takes after his father (except, he's a bit better at endings so far). He shoves in a lot of tough topics that people deal with and has more modern pop culture references to pick up on. I wish that some things hadn't been included in the book, but it was a good one. The next on my list to try again is definitely Horns since I've tried it a few times and wasn't a fan.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Suicide
beetsnotbombs's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Torture, and Blood
Moderate: Animal death