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3.07 AVERAGE
3.07 AVERAGE
I enjoyed a lot of this story until it got to the end. To be honest, when books end the way this one did I end up feeling like what was the point then? Why was it literally straight up lies for the majority of the book? So strange.
mysterious
medium-paced
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Some notes about the book:
I've read another one of the author's books, Eat Your Heart Out, and I will say that she has a very specific style when it comes to writing. I enjoy it, so far, I like her uses of tropes and narratives to help push the ideas of themes of the book! However, both Eat Your Heart Out and Go Hunt me have suffered from a fatal flaw: terrible, just terrible endings.
The book is also easily mistaken as a vampire-based urban fantasy, considering they are literally within a vampire castle, talking about vampires, filming a vampire movie, and vampires are heavily hinted at within the description of the book, the cover, and even the story itself, to be involved. No. It's a murder mystery, no fantasy monsters to be found. That would be alright, if it wasn't for the fact that the supposed 'monsters' we do get were the least impressive reveal I've seen in a book ever.
You should also know that book thinks it's a feminist message board, speaking about misogyny in the film industry and the likes. It's not. By the end, it has done more to contribute to misogynistic values and media than it has to take away. A somewhat spoilery metaphor I can use to describe the book's psuedo-feminist message is this:
You cannot spend all day telling me there's no cake at home, and then when we get home, say, 'There's cake!', then refuse to tell me where it is or let me see it, and after all that, expect me to thank you for the cake. Where's the cake, Kelly.
MAJOR Spoilers ahead.
Even if the book's message was, as I suspect, to play into the conversations and ideas present that women must work harder, and be victims, that women have to dumb down their stories and not 'call out' misogynists by showing them what misogyny is and does, and that you can't be a strong woman BECAUSE it makes misogynists mad, and they won't support you, essentially saying that if you want to do anything as a woman, you have to fit into a box misogynists want you?
IT DOESN'T WORK.
IT DOESN'T WORK IF YOU ONLY DEDICATE A BLURB TO IT.
A page or two of, 'haha #girlboss' doesn't CHANGE that you've still contributed to the narrative of women being helpless and simple, feeble creatures for 10 full hours and however many pages! One page and maybe 10 minutes doesn't UNDO the 10 hours of harm!
Worse, it doesn't recontextualize the book, either because we don't SEE what actually happened, the MC just quickly goes, 'and then I was actually pushed her and killed him and him, and then him and her, and that was it!', leaving the entire book a collage of watching women be hurt, not taken seriously, be weak, and need a man's help, with a tiny bit at the end saying, 'oh, but that's not what happened!' before you run off without saying in any real detail what DID happen. It feels more like a part on the back for delivering a lukewarm feminist story about how (ahem, white) women will do anything, and you shouldn't underestimate us, rather than anything of merit or substance to talk about actual genuine misogyny.
And that's not even going into how I feel about the MC supposedly being portrayed as the winner here, maybe even someone we should root for?
She killed her closest friends in the world! Including TWO other young girls who had their whole lives ahead of them, who had hopes and dreams and also dealt with misogyny and who knows what else, and their lives were thrown away, disposed of, for nothing else than the MC's gratification. That turns the entire book away from anything remotely feminist, and instead into something horrifying that says, 'see, all you have to do is betray other women, play into misogyny, and do it all for your own gain, and then you're a #girlboss'.
Even if that was supposed to be the point, that it was so utterly ridiculous, and contradictory, and that the MC lost herself in pursuit of power by becoming a misogynistic tool herself to be used by men, it still doesn't negate the fact that for 320 pages, the MC only contributes to misogynistic tropes, ideas, and beliefs, over and over and over, and the other girls are consistently used as canon fodder for those same tropes to chew up and spit out. You still have done nothing, nothing of merit in FAVOR of women by regurgitating the same stories of them being abused and harmed without anything further to say for it.
Where's my cake, Kelly.
I've read another one of the author's books, Eat Your Heart Out, and I will say that she has a very specific style when it comes to writing. I enjoy it, so far, I like her uses of tropes and narratives to help push the ideas of themes of the book! However, both Eat Your Heart Out and Go Hunt me have suffered from a fatal flaw: terrible, just terrible endings.
The book is also easily mistaken as a vampire-based urban fantasy, considering they are literally within a vampire castle, talking about vampires, filming a vampire movie, and vampires are heavily hinted at within the description of the book, the cover, and even the story itself, to be involved. No. It's a murder mystery, no fantasy monsters to be found. That would be alright, if it wasn't for the fact that the supposed 'monsters' we do get were the least impressive reveal I've seen in a book ever.
You should also know that book thinks it's a feminist message board, speaking about misogyny in the film industry and the likes. It's not. By the end, it has done more to contribute to misogynistic values and media than it has to take away. A somewhat spoilery metaphor I can use to describe the book's psuedo-feminist message is this:
You cannot spend all day telling me there's no cake at home, and then when we get home, say, 'There's cake!', then refuse to tell me where it is or let me see it, and after all that, expect me to thank you for the cake. Where's the cake, Kelly.
MAJOR Spoilers ahead.
IT DOESN'T WORK.
IT DOESN'T WORK IF YOU ONLY DEDICATE A BLURB TO IT.
A page or two of, 'haha #girlboss' doesn't CHANGE that you've still contributed to the narrative of women being helpless and simple, feeble creatures for 10 full hours and however many pages! One page and maybe 10 minutes doesn't UNDO the 10 hours of harm!
Worse, it doesn't recontextualize the book, either because we don't SEE what actually happened, the MC just quickly goes, 'and then I was actually pushed her and killed him and him, and then him and her, and that was it!', leaving the entire book a collage of watching women be hurt, not taken seriously, be weak, and need a man's help, with a tiny bit at the end saying, 'oh, but that's not what happened!' before you run off without saying in any real detail what DID happen. It feels more like a part on the back for delivering a lukewarm feminist story about how (ahem, white) women will do anything, and you shouldn't underestimate us, rather than anything of merit or substance to talk about actual genuine misogyny.
And that's not even going into how I feel about the MC supposedly being portrayed as the winner here, maybe even someone we should root for?
She killed her closest friends in the world! Including TWO other young girls who had their whole lives ahead of them, who had hopes and dreams and also dealt with misogyny and who knows what else, and their lives were thrown away, disposed of, for nothing else than the MC's gratification. That turns the entire book away from anything remotely feminist, and instead into something horrifying that says, 'see, all you have to do is betray other women, play into misogyny, and do it all for your own gain, and then you're a #girlboss'.
Even if that was supposed to be the point, that it was so utterly ridiculous, and contradictory, and that the MC lost herself in pursuit of power by becoming a misogynistic tool herself to be used by men, it still doesn't negate the fact that for 320 pages, the MC only contributes to misogynistic tropes, ideas, and beliefs, over and over and over, and the other girls are consistently used as canon fodder for those same tropes to chew up and spit out. You still have done nothing, nothing of merit in FAVOR of women by regurgitating the same stories of them being abused and harmed without anything further to say for it.
Where's my cake, Kelly.
challenging
dark
mysterious
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
I wanted to like this. I like the author’s last novel, Eat Your Heart Out, and was expecting a fun thriller/YA slasher. But this didn’t live up to my expectations. It’s way too slow paced for a thriller. The characters are not compelling and we never learn to care about them. The prose wasn’t great. It reads as young YA, which is totally valid, but maybe doesn’t fit the tone of the story.
I did appreciate the themes of sexism in Hollywood, though I wish they were better fleshed out. And I did like the Romanian castle setting! The student film set stuff was very accurate and reminded me of my days in film school.
I wasn’t loving it by the end, but I was prepared to give it maybe 3⭐️ and accept that I am just not its target audience. But that ending. I won’t spoil anything, but, in order for the twist at the end to work, there needed to be major changes to the narration, voice, and POV. As it is, it’s ineffective and makes the ending hard to believe.
This one was just a miss for me :/
I did appreciate the themes of sexism in Hollywood, though I wish they were better fleshed out. And I did like the Romanian castle setting! The student film set stuff was very accurate and reminded me of my days in film school.
I wasn’t loving it by the end, but I was prepared to give it maybe 3⭐️ and accept that I am just not its target audience. But that ending. I won’t spoil anything, but, in order for the twist at the end to work, there needed to be major changes to the narration, voice, and POV. As it is, it’s ineffective and makes the ending hard to believe.
This one was just a miss for me :/
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Cancer, Gore
Figured out the twist pretty quickly, but it was still a quick page turner.
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
An interesting YA mystery thriller with a sprinkle of slasher mixed in. Very readable and the short chapters kept the book flowing well. Loved all the film and TV show mentions in it and the spooky crumbling castle added to the atmosphere. A great idea for the Scooby-Doo or Tucker & Dale fan
I think I’m a so-so because this wasn’t what I expected. I don’t want to spoil anything, but if I would briefly summarize this I would say Teen Slasher. There are fun moments and it was a fast read. 3⭐️
dark
mysterious
medium-paced