Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

The Pledge by Cale Dietrich

5 reviews

jesthemess's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

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harveyjoy53's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

3.5

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emily_mh's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

2.0

I truly do not have a lot of good things to say about this book. The writing style was bad. There was so much telling and not showing, and it was flat, repetitive, and poorly edited. It completely turned me off the story. Apart from the first chapter, the plot is incredibly slow to start - as in, it doesn’t get going until you’re 1/3 of the way through which is an age for a thriller. And the book doesn’t even use that time to build side characters, so that as a reader you aren’t connected to the victims, nor do you see anyone as a compelling suspect, when the plot does get going. To top it off, the reveal was so anticlimactic. Sam just says who the murderer is when building up to a mask reveal would have been way more satisfying and slasher-like. And when his accusation is confirmed, the climax action lasts for two pages and then everything is over. Where was the final thrill?? Also, the killer is someone who is barely fleshed out as a character, and there is zero signposting to foreshadow their involvement. 

The romance was dull with no chemistry.
I honestly thought the LI was the murderer for a while as I couldn’t comprehend why such a poor romance was included.
Also, the dynamic was fresher/RA which is something I personally find weird asf. 

We get a kind of epilogue chapter which enraged me.
Essentially there’s yet another killer targeting Sam, but instead of Sam being in-character (not to mention REALISTIC) and being frightened by this prospect, he’s cocky and confident to the point where he smiles over getting a death threat. This made zero sense for Sam’s character seeing as he spent the whole novel understandably deeply traumatised from his encounter with a killer.
It just felt like a lazy way to write the novel out. 

I do have a couple of positives among this sea of negatives. The first is that the book moderately entertained me in the end. The second is that having third person chapters where the killer targets a new victim was a good choice for the book. I could finally get a glimpse into who the victims were as characters, and it added some much needed tension. 
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pey333's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

4.5

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danileah07's review

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dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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