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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
I really enjoyed this! It was creepy, I loved the mixed media aspect! I was engaged and loved the reveal that they thought re-enacting the same day would make The First One think it had just culled the island and leave them alone.
It was a creepy horror story that also explored the idea of grief and the stagnant nature of it for people. I genuinely had a fantastic time.
My only issue is that it did drag a bit. Once we got the reveal, we just kind of rehashed things for a while. But it was really enjoyable and I'm so sad for Willow.
It was a creepy horror story that also explored the idea of grief and the stagnant nature of it for people. I genuinely had a fantastic time.
My only issue is that it did drag a bit. Once we got the reveal, we just kind of rehashed things for a while. But it was really enjoyable and I'm so sad for Willow.
What a weird, interesting, strange novel. I loved it all. A town stuck in 1994, a murder, and a weird connection between the murder and a small island. This was a great book to tuck into.
Willow Stone grieves the loss of her 11-year-old sun, and life stops for her. She keeps his room stuck in the time from the day he died. She hears movement in the night and believes it’s her son trying to connect with her, but when she finds the words Clifford Island in her son’s room, Willow decides to find Clifford in an effort to connect with her dead son.
Enter Clifford Island, a strange place where people do the same thing every day with no variation, and everything is stuck in 1994. This town has no modern technology, no cell phone, and the style of dress is also stuck in 1994. Residents watch the O.J. car chase every day as if it’s still happening. Everything seemed odd, especially Pastor Rita, who is the patriarch of the Island.
Willow would begin to get closer to the residents in an effort to understand what connection the Island has with her son, but maybe she got too close. When Willow disappears without a trace, her brother Harper decides to investigate what happened to his sister and pay a visit to Clifford Island.
Harper doesn’t have a plan or anywhere to stay and wonders why Clifford has no hotels. He finds everything and everyone on the Island to be off. All the old cars, a guy carrying around a boombox, no modern music, and an eagerness to reassure him that everything is fine.
Everything would not be fine as Harper (with the help of an unlikely source) would find the clues and begin to unravel something sinister in Clifford.
Willow Stone grieves the loss of her 11-year-old sun, and life stops for her. She keeps his room stuck in the time from the day he died. She hears movement in the night and believes it’s her son trying to connect with her, but when she finds the words Clifford Island in her son’s room, Willow decides to find Clifford in an effort to connect with her dead son.
Enter Clifford Island, a strange place where people do the same thing every day with no variation, and everything is stuck in 1994. This town has no modern technology, no cell phone, and the style of dress is also stuck in 1994. Residents watch the O.J. car chase every day as if it’s still happening. Everything seemed odd, especially Pastor Rita, who is the patriarch of the Island.
Willow would begin to get closer to the residents in an effort to understand what connection the Island has with her son, but maybe she got too close. When Willow disappears without a trace, her brother Harper decides to investigate what happened to his sister and pay a visit to Clifford Island.
Harper doesn’t have a plan or anywhere to stay and wonders why Clifford has no hotels. He finds everything and everyone on the Island to be off. All the old cars, a guy carrying around a boombox, no modern music, and an eagerness to reassure him that everything is fine.
Everything would not be fine as Harper (with the help of an unlikely source) would find the clues and begin to unravel something sinister in Clifford.
1 full star for the audiobook narration alone, I genuinely don’t think I would have enjoyed this nearly as much had I read it any other way.
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Extremely bored and writing is very repetitive.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A mix between Twin Peaks vibes and Salem’s Lot pacing and feeling of dread.
That is what I keep saying. That is how this book made me feel.
Go into this knowing as little as possible and strap on for a slow burn horror/mystery set on a weird small town island in Wisconsin.
I loved the mixed media format and the dread that built in each chapter.
One of the best horror books I’ve read in a while and definitely a favorite of 2023.
That is what I keep saying. That is how this book made me feel.
Go into this knowing as little as possible and strap on for a slow burn horror/mystery set on a weird small town island in Wisconsin.
I loved the mixed media format and the dread that built in each chapter.
One of the best horror books I’ve read in a while and definitely a favorite of 2023.
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This would have been an incredible novella, but it was too long, with a central mystery that just fizzled out by the end. The journey there was excellent though, and I'm eager to see if the author can tighten things up down the road
dark
mysterious
slow-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 love cult-island horror (a la Wicker Man, Midnight Mass, King Tide, etc) but this book was so slow. Every "twist" and reveal was so slowly delivered and drawn out that nothing felt surprising, and I was not endeared enough to any of the characters to make me care what happened to them. Swing and a miss, in my book.
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I often did not know exactly how this book was going to end. It waffled between two obvious endings though and did turn out to be one of those endings. The first chapter was the best one. The rest of the book was okay.