Reviews tagging 'Murder'

House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

231 reviews

moonylovesstars's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Death, Death of parent, Bullying, Blood, Grief, Violence, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Suicide

bloomingrose92's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

While horror isn't really my thing, this book was incredibly well written. I particularly liked the descriptions that Sutherland gave. They provided a strong sense of rotting darkness throughout the book with novel phrases I'd never heard before.

And the twist of them not be chased by something that hides in the dark, but being the thing that hides in the dark was excellent. That they killed the three little Hollow girls, stole their bodies, then left them, unburied, as they took over the Hollow sisters' lives. I especially liked the line that Grey called out to the Hollow sisters for help, and they listened, because Grey was a little girl too. And the masked killer haunting them is actually the Hollow's father, coerced by their unholy magic to suicide, and refusing to pass on so that he can finally bring down his children's killers? Chef's kiss. I loved the detail of him finding his children's discarded bodies in the Halfway place, and making graves for them to finally rest. I have a particular fondness for protagonists putting everything they have into fighting a big bad, just to find out that they were the bad they were fighting. And the characterization of our protagonist in this book as a mousy bookworm who just wants to escape the weirdness of her past adds to the twist.

A well-written book, with unlikeable characters that only adds to the ultimate payoff.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Torture, Biphobia, Blood, Body horror, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, Self harm, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexual assault

aseel_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. This was super eerie and creepy and even with all the vibes, the plot actually managed to close itself properly, which is really impressive 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Gore, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcohol, Bullying, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Child abuse, Suicide, Stalking, Death, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, and Child death

thebiblioboo's review

adventurous challenging 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Kidnapping, Vomit, Suicide, Death, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Sexual content, Stalking, Violence, and Child death

lucdiamant's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death, Murder, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child death

lovehavi's review

3.0

this was a really fun read, i enjoyed the second half a lot better. iris' pov was compelling and i think what stood out was how she's arranged past and present in order, which kept the mystery alive. appreciate that this actually attempted to get gore right and true, and had a cool supernatural world to introduce that usually you don't get so convincingly. sometimes the descriptions of characters was a bit overboard and corny as shit lol 'she smelled like the south of france and sex' what does that even MEAN. the characters were interesting as a concept but at times superficially trope-y. my problem was largely the pacing, weird incest-y vibes from the sisters (?????), and that at times characters lacked depth (really? comedy relief asian guy

who dies

? in this day and age?) but also that it's weirdly dismissive of consent to the point where it's jarring to watch blatant non-consensual kisses occur and have virtually no retrospection beyond 'whoopsie'. if this was the point the author was trying to make, i don't disagree but i think it fell short / could have used more attention.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Vomit, Murder, Sexual assault, Violence, Suicide, Stalking, and Injury/Injury detail

bzliz's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

Big trigger warning for body horror.

Ten years ago, Iris and her two sisters went missing for a month. Now her eldest sister Grey is missing again and has left clues for Iris and Vivi to be able to find her- or her body- because something from their forgotten past is coming back to haunt them. 

The only reason I can’t give this five stars is because of how easily I was able to predict the two major twists. The imagery was so beautiful and disgusting that I could really feel Iris’ fascination, obsession & revulsion. My favorite character ending up being Cate. Although she is a deeply flawed, haunted woman, I came to understand her controlling tendencies and her big heart. I’m not a mother but I believe only a mother could climb a mountain of trauma and still find love on the other side. 

I spent several hours after I finished this book thinking about it and how I would rate and review it. It’s been a while since I needed to sit with something for a while to gather my thoughts, which is a point in its favor. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Vomit, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Medical content, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Kidnapping

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Drug abuse, Alcohol, and Eating disorder

I’ve tagged eating disorder as a potential content warning. Although the behavior is caused by a different condition, the Hollow sisters (get it?) do engage in binge eating behaviors. Their continued description of being thin in defiance of how many calories they must consume daily could be triggering for someone struggling with their own disordered eating.

lujisa's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Child death, Murder, Blood, Kidnapping, and Body horror

Moderate: Gun violence

ashadaxa's review

mysterious tense medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Violence, Child death, Blood, and Gun violence

laurenmiller100's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

4.0

• Characters: 7
• Atmosphere/Setting: 9
• Writing Style: 7
• Plot: 6
• Intrigue: 7
• Logic/Relationships: 6
• Enjoyment: 6

This books is pretty gruesome. As the oldest of three sisters, I really enjoyed the relationships between each of the sisters. The early parts of the book are beautiful and scary, but as with many horror stories, it goes off the rails a bit as it explains what’s going on. The end of the book chooses to tell instead of show and I think it would’ve been better if they’d discovered the truth instead of had it explained.

It also bothered me that in the end, we didn’t find out who the sisters really are or why they were stuck in the first place.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, and Vomit

Moderate: Suicide