Reviews tagging 'Car accident'

Penpal by Dathan Auerbach

53 reviews

hailey_horror's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Kidnapping, Animal death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Murder, Bullying, Death, and Stalking

nagisasigh's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

this book broke my heart, but it was also gripping and well written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Child death, Stalking, Car accident, Gore, and Body horror

Moderate: Kidnapping, Dementia, Grief, Medical content, and Pedophilia

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

aidareads's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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? No

4.75

this was exactly what i’ve been looking for all october!! it was so creepy and unsettling. the ending made me tear up though

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Death, Grief, Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Stalking

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Child abuse

_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Stalking

Moderate: Pedophilia, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Child death, Car accident, Child abuse, Dementia, and Kidnapping

maggieoc_x's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Stalking, and Car accident

Moderate: Murder, Animal death, Dementia, and Kidnapping

Minor: Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Confinement, Car accident, Grief, and Medical content

bashsbooks's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

What an eerie book. I was not expecting a horror that could, more or less, be real. I liked that aspect of it. I think that the jumping around in the timeline mostly works, but the sections where

the main character spent time with Veronica and then she died, felt kind of random and disjointed compared to the rest of the story. I know it was to reconnect him to Josh but I just felt like she appeared out of nowhere just to die.

That said, I really enjoyed most of this book, and while I feel like I guessed a lot of what was going to happen, that didn't really ruin the experience of watching the mystery unfold. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Car accident, Grief, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Child death

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Cursing, Animal death, and Bullying

isobelthefrog's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, and Stalking

Moderate: Pedophilia

Minor: Kidnapping

killmoore_'s review

dark sad tense medium-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.5

1000Vultures (Dathan Auerbach) has been one of my favorite nosleep authors for years, so going in to Penpal I was very familiar with the stories within, and I was thrilled to not only be able to support a wonderful author, but to have one of my favorite collections of nosleep stories on my shelf.

Penpal is a story that takes us on a journey into the past as a man works to unravel the mystery of his lost friend and the unsettling experiences of his childhood. It is dripping with dread, and each story leaves you feeling like maaaybe you should check to make sure the doors are locked one more time before heading to bed.

What makes Penpal successful for me is what we are left without. We never see the monster. In fact, there is a significant section of this book that works to shut down the idea of our villain as the Boogeyman - he's just a man. 

On its own, Penpal is horrific, but as a parent myself with 2 boys in the age range of our MC, it is absolutely gut wrenching. 

I'm not giving this 5 stars simply because of the format - it reads very much like a nosleep post (which it is) and tends to be a bit wordy and disconnected at points. However, if nosleep is your jam, or maybe you just want to read something that will leave you sick to your stomach, Penpal is the perfect novel for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Child death, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Stalking, Bullying, Grief, and Pedophilia

ivymaew's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Blood, Car accident, Child abuse, and Dementia

Moderate: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, and Murder

Minor: Torture, Murder, Violence, and Pedophilia

gabforshort's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Stalking

Moderate: Car accident