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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
fast-paced
slow-paced
4.5 this was really good and i felt the suspense the whole entire time. and i love the atmosphere a lot. the only thing i have was i wished we would’ve gotten a little more detail about the monsters but other than that i loved it.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence
Minor: Miscarriage
2.5 stars rounded down
I enjoyed reading this horror/thriller novel, but after it was over I felt let down. It's such a great premise--a young woman, Mattie, is trapped up on an isolated mountain, at the mercy of both her abusive husband and an unknown creature stalking the woods outside. It started off really strong, with hints about Mattie's past and her relationship with her husband, and glimpses of the beast's strange behavior that make it clear it's not like other animals. The arrival of a group of cryptid hunters on the mountain provides a trigger for Mattie's insular world to change, and for the action to kick off.
However, the pacing quickly becomes an issue. We are clued into Mattie's past much quicker than she puts it together, and there is a lot of repetition as Mattie works things through in her mind. Every encounter with the creature is also generally the same, and the middle-late sections of the book feel like one scenario repeated over and over. Additionally, it was frustrating how none of the characters ever really seem to sit down and try to come up with a workable plan--instead, they sit down and have a hearty cooked breakfast, wasting valuable daylight hours when they know they need to get moving. Just a lot of odd choices made by the characters that didn't strike me as realistic.
I also thought that the book desperately needed another editing pass to work out the pacing/repetition issues and some formatting issues. There were several places where time passed, but there was no spacing to indicate this, which was confusing.
In the end, the human villain comes off as cartoonishly evil, the creature is left largely unexplored and unexplained, and instead of having a satisfying pay-off, the abrupt ending made all the exciting and interesting parts that hooked me at the beginning deflate.
I enjoyed reading this horror/thriller novel, but after it was over I felt let down. It's such a great premise--a young woman, Mattie, is trapped up on an isolated mountain, at the mercy of both her abusive husband and an unknown creature stalking the woods outside. It started off really strong, with hints about Mattie's past and her relationship with her husband, and glimpses of the beast's strange behavior that make it clear it's not like other animals. The arrival of a group of cryptid hunters on the mountain provides a trigger for Mattie's insular world to change, and for the action to kick off.
However, the pacing quickly becomes an issue. We are clued into Mattie's past much quicker than she puts it together, and there is a lot of repetition as Mattie works things through in her mind. Every encounter with the creature is also generally the same, and the middle-late sections of the book feel like one scenario repeated over and over. Additionally, it was frustrating how none of the characters ever really seem to sit down and try to come up with a workable plan--instead, they sit down and have a hearty cooked breakfast, wasting valuable daylight hours when they know they need to get moving. Just a lot of odd choices made by the characters that didn't strike me as realistic.
I also thought that the book desperately needed another editing pass to work out the pacing/repetition issues and some formatting issues. There were several places where time passed, but there was no spacing to indicate this, which was confusing.
In the end, the human villain comes off as cartoonishly evil, the creature is left largely unexplored and unexplained, and instead of having a satisfying pay-off, the abrupt ending made all the exciting and interesting parts that hooked me at the beginning deflate.
I was hoping for more creepy crypto horror and less watch this women get horrifically abused by her “husband” for 300 pages
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This has some creepy elements and establishes a good set up: a woman isolated on a mountain with an abusive husband and there is a creature hunting them but it very quickly became repetitive and predicable. From a narrative perspective, the abuse and weak helpless ess of the main character was over the top from the start and that left it no where to go.