Reviews - Where He Can't Find You

1.08k reviews for:

Where He Can't Find You

Darcy Coates

3.93 AVERAGE

mikomor's review against another edition

2.25

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

constancepsych's review against another edition

3.25

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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: No

I have read most of Darcy Coates novels and this was one of my least favorites. I adore the characters and there definitely was enough story to fill the pages. I feel like most of the book was creeping about and at the end it dragged with not much to go on thankfully for a short period of time. Very unusual storyline and very much kept you guessing. Good read all-in-all, just not as good as her others for me.

zuzuup's review against another edition

3.75

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

kaylaben's review against another edition

3.0

dark 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

The idea of this story was fantastic - a small town on the cusp of failure plagued by missing people sometimes returned as remade bodies is an amazing horror concept. The Stitcher was truly a terrifying villain and the rules to survive in Doubtful, written as though cautionary nursery rhymes and playground songs was well done. The depictions of the bodies found were truly unsettling, far more than typically found in YA, and the suspense throughout the book was artfully done.

Where the story lost me, however, was in the blandness of the characters. There was an ensemble cast of teen protagonists but for the most part, they felt interchangeable and more caricature of what is expected in a YA horror book than actual characters. The reveal of what exactly is going on was a letdown, for me, mainly because there was no real surprise to it. A lot of the paranormal is not explained - it just is. This would be fine in a shorter book, but this is long for a horror story and there was plenty of opportunity to flesh it out more.

I was never bored of this book, it is definitely a page-turner with a good amount of suspense and action, but I feel ultimately let down by the promise of the book's plot and the actual execution. This book is an example of something that may have been a much better movie/show than book. It's good for people who want a fun horror story. (Cross-posted on goodreads)