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kumara's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
maevehk23's review against another edition
challenging
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
3.5
An unputdownable, addicting, twisty, and ridiculous thriller. It was so bad that it was good, and as much as I wanted to give the story 1 star, I just couldn’t.
books_coffee_oxfordcommas's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
kcoby2192's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
4.5
the_joyful_book_club's review against another edition
5.0
Short backstory about this book: I saw this about a month ago at Barnes & Noble. As a book blogger, I tend to feel a little guilty when I buy new books since I almost always have new books in my pipeline to read. So I leave and don't buy the book. In the next month, the synopsis kept popping back into my mind. I can't remember the title, and I try googling it, which brings up nothing but past stories of when some one-off authors behaved badly in the past by being mad at reviewers, doctored-up reviews, etc. I finally go back to the bookstore, find the book and just buy it. And then proceed to read it in one day. A success.
Emma is house-sitting on Strand Beach, a remote area that while busy in the summer, is fairly deserted once it's the off-season. The author does an incredible job of making the reader feel the gloomy desolation of the Washington coast: it's stormy and windy, the days can be gray and foggy, and no one else is around. You can feel your own mind play tricks on you as you read this story, trying to guess what is real and what's not. This was an excellent execution by the author to keep the tension high while tempering it with logic, and the warring thoughts of rationalization and gut instinct.
Emma mainly reads books, walks her dog, Laika, and occasionally chats with her neighbor via whiteboards and telescopes. As a reader, we know Emma is grieving but we never truly know from what, as we see small flashbacks from memories with her husband, Shawn. But she does take a book recommendation from her neighbor for a book called "Murder Mountain" by H.G. Kane. The book is terrible, and Emma leaves a 1-star review for the book. The author actually replies to Emma's review, asking her to remove it, and she refuses. Then strange things start happening.
First, Emma wakes up and sees someone in her bedroom. When she turns on the light, no one is there. Later, she's walking on the beach and notices a second set of footprints by hers, but she never sees anyone else on the isolated beach. Then a figure in a mask is captured on a security camera.
The back half of this book is insane. There is really no way I can talk about it without giving away spoilers. I will say this: you'll think you've figured it out, or that something is final, and it gets turned around again and again. It was easily the most thrilling book I have read in a very long time.
I would absolutely recommend this book; I absolutely devoured it. It was atmospheric, tense, thrilling, and well-thought-out. It never became convoluted or confusing, especially impressive considering how fast-paced this story moves.
Emma is house-sitting on Strand Beach, a remote area that while busy in the summer, is fairly deserted once it's the off-season. The author does an incredible job of making the reader feel the gloomy desolation of the Washington coast: it's stormy and windy, the days can be gray and foggy, and no one else is around. You can feel your own mind play tricks on you as you read this story, trying to guess what is real and what's not. This was an excellent execution by the author to keep the tension high while tempering it with logic, and the warring thoughts of rationalization and gut instinct.
Emma mainly reads books, walks her dog, Laika, and occasionally chats with her neighbor via whiteboards and telescopes. As a reader, we know Emma is grieving but we never truly know from what, as we see small flashbacks from memories with her husband, Shawn. But she does take a book recommendation from her neighbor for a book called "Murder Mountain" by H.G. Kane. The book is terrible, and Emma leaves a 1-star review for the book. The author actually replies to Emma's review, asking her to remove it, and she refuses. Then strange things start happening.
First, Emma wakes up and sees someone in her bedroom. When she turns on the light, no one is there. Later, she's walking on the beach and notices a second set of footprints by hers, but she never sees anyone else on the isolated beach. Then a figure in a mask is captured on a security camera.
The back half of this book is insane. There is really no way I can talk about it without giving away spoilers. I will say this: you'll think you've figured it out, or that something is final, and it gets turned around again and again. It was easily the most thrilling book I have read in a very long time.
I would absolutely recommend this book; I absolutely devoured it. It was atmospheric, tense, thrilling, and well-thought-out. It never became convoluted or confusing, especially impressive considering how fast-paced this story moves.
kharlagrace's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
i kept reading deek as derek & i’m glad i got to repeatedly disrespect him in that way.
kota19's review against another edition
1.0
Amazon has the audacity to ask her to rate the book. Out of five stars? One. She makes sure zero isn’t an option.
Giving a bad review to a book about someone who gets terrorized because she leaves a bad review on a book feels almost ironic? I think it would only really be ironic if the author came to my house and reenacted this book, but whatever.
Emma is housesitting in a secluded home, trying to read her way through everything cheap and free on the Kindle store when she reads an absolute dud of a book called Murder Mountain and leaves a scathing one-star review -- the only review the book has thus far -- and goes about her day. When she notices that the author replied asking her to remove her review, she gets petty and responds back refusing, an act Emma will come to regret when a masked maniac is spotted on the house's doorbell camera later.
For me, this book had a fun premise and a slow but promising start and while I can see why so many people liked it, it just didn't live up to the hype for me. Much of the start of the book centered on Emma struggling with her mental health and missing her husband -- it's incredibly vague whether or not he's dead, what happened to their relationship, and why she's so desperate to escape her thoughts into so many mediocre thrillers and slashers. While I normally love these vague hints at something horrible in the main character's life because it leaves me wondering and it adds a nice plot twist once their past is revealed, it was hard to care this time? To me, it felt like the book was very heavily hinting that her husband had gotten sick and died and
Spoiler
it was later revealed she had caused a car accident using her phone while driving and lost her baby, which was tragic, but felt like it kind of came out of nowhere with the buildup. If I had found Emma more likeable or if I was a parent, it would have hit harder, but for me it was just... Not it.This book wavered pretty heavily between serious domestic thriller and almost being some kind of parody of what edgy horror bro authors are like. Everything was fairly serious and eerie, but it took me out of it when the author would randomly pop in and... Be himself.
And no offense, but you’re a female. I’m a nice guy, but I just have to shoot straight here on this—females generally don’t like action or horror. It’s just biology. Why are you even reviewing it?
*.*.*.*.*
“I mean, obviously I know breasts aren’t like sumo citruses. I have a lot of experience with breasts. That was a metaphor. ..."
I feel like if the author had chosen to go the dark comedy route, a la [b:Yellowface|59357120|Yellowface|R.F. Kuang|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1687082673l/59357120._SY75_.jpg|93525972], then the sections with the author wouldn't have been quite so cheesy because it would have been more obvious that he was supposed to be the joke, but when put in an otherwise pretty typical, creepy thriller, it felt like it was out of place and hard to take him at all seriously or feel like Emma had any reason to be so worried about him.
For the most part, the situations that Emma was in when she was trying desperately to outwit and escape the author were a little ridiculous. Again, this may have been on purpose and been the author trying to show the dark irony of Emma leaving a review calling the book unrealistic and absurd, only to find herself living out a similarly ridiculous situation to save her own life, but nothing about the author's writing revealed that it was supposed to be humorous or a parody. So, was the book an ironic take on bad writing or was this book just bad writing? It's hard to say because it seemed like both at once.
The twist was pretty obviously fairly quickly -- again, it felt like something that was supposed to be a funny take on the obvious twists in thrillers, but the author's writing didn't match that tone -- but the motivation was shaky at best and added to the disjointed feeling of a lot of the rest of the book.
marissamshoemaker's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
All I can say is WOW
nadira_shabbir's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.0