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megelizabeth's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.5
"Sometimes the signs were all there, right before something went terribly wrong. And the people who didn’t heed the warnings - who didn’t evacuate or board up their windows or brace themselves for the storm - were usually the ones who got swept away."
This is one disturbing, fucked-up, soul-destroying book.
I found this to be a pretty good thriller for the most part. There's a strong atmosphere from the beginning, and I appreciated the haunting autumnal setting. I was more intrigued by the present than the past timeline, but everything flows together well, and the pacing is decent. I was worried at one point that the story was going in a particular direction, one which is extremely overdone in thrillers and which would have highly irked me, so I'm very glad that didn't happen. I also feel like thrillers are often let down by their endings, but I liked the ending of this one.
My main issue with this book is that Heath's nightmares are supposedly the starting point for everything, and yet they don't really play much of a role in the story. I feel like the plot would've been stronger had this aspect been handled differently. There are also a few small niggly bits along the way that don't quite add up or are never properly addressed.
I also want to stress that this book is a lot. I don't know if it's necessarily more harrowing overall than your average thriller, but the sheer volume of different awful things that occur make it a lot to handle, and at times it felt a little much for me personally. It's definitely one to check the trigger warnings for, for sure.
This is one disturbing, fucked-up, soul-destroying book.
I found this to be a pretty good thriller for the most part. There's a strong atmosphere from the beginning, and I appreciated the haunting autumnal setting. I was more intrigued by the present than the past timeline, but everything flows together well, and the pacing is decent. I was worried at one point that the story was going in a particular direction, one which is extremely overdone in thrillers and which would have highly irked me, so I'm very glad that didn't happen. I also feel like thrillers are often let down by their endings, but I liked the ending of this one.
My main issue with this book is that Heath's nightmares are supposedly the starting point for everything, and yet they don't really play much of a role in the story. I feel like the plot would've been stronger had this aspect been handled differently. There are also a few small niggly bits along the way that don't quite add up or are never properly addressed.
I also want to stress that this book is a lot. I don't know if it's necessarily more harrowing overall than your average thriller, but the sheer volume of different awful things that occur make it a lot to handle, and at times it felt a little much for me personally. It's definitely one to check the trigger warnings for, for sure.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Murder, Eating disorder, Vomit, Child death, Violence, and Torture
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