Reviews

Kill River by Cameron Roubique

curiousintrovert's review against another edition

3.0

So critically, the characters are the familiar ones. At the start I wished they took a wee bit of time when they are doing these drawn out tension chapters, like Chp. 8 (girls sneaking out), to develop some more relationship nuance. I also wish they pushed the Zack/Cyndi vibe more during/prior the rafting adventure so that by the time they were in the park there was more tension and attachment there. Would have made her reasons for going on the boat trip in the firs place... a whole lot more clear. Plus I just love it when story has plot and character points layer on each other. This is the only part of the story where they seemed like naive 14 y/o because in the rest of the book and all the other characters seemed to have the development of a 17/18 year old.

In the end I would have loved an omniscient narrator to be in the killer's head more. It was a done a couple of times but not enough to justify it. The graphic kills that were in this book were brutal and tense and mesmerizing. I like them overall. Zack's was the best in my opinion and would have been even more devastating (might have brought me to tears) had I been more invested in the relationship between he and Cyndi.

Overall, really fun. If you are a fan of the slasher franchises i.e. Friday the 13th you will enjoy.

kelskcool's review against another edition

3.0

I love amusement park horror. I love a good slasher. I especially love them put together. 

stace_a's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

theboldbookworm's review against another edition

4.0

This was a really fun summer slasher read. I would recommend this book if you like 80's slasher films and campy reads. I will definitely be picking up the sequel!

riveting_reads's review against another edition

2.0

2.5-3ish stars. So so so much potential but it dragged soooo much.

trashgobby's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

maeebees's review

dark tense

• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

2.75

I enjoyed the first and last thirds of this book, but the middle where they were just lost and nothing was happening bored me a little. Nothing really happened until page 160 ish and even after that it took a  while to get to the horror aspect. The horror itself, the kills, were very well done and extremely hard to read, they were so gory. Overall I was just thinking throughout what a great movie this would make.  

I know there are two more books and so we'll most likely figure out who the killer is and why, but it felt like there was no resolution at all in this book - no satisfaction at the end as we have no idea who the killer is or why they were doing it.

2.75 stars, not sure if I'll be continuing the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gore, Vomit, and Violence

Minor: Pedophilia

coleman_matt's review

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

2.5

paperbacksandpines's review against another edition

2.0

A teen horror book set in the 80s taking place at an empty waterpark? Sign me up! The premise of this book drew me in immediately, especially since I got the impression it would be a final girl-esque kind of book.

Unfortunately, this book fell flat for me and I so wanted to like it. The prose was basic and juvenile. Roubique hasn't seem to have heard of the "show, not tell" writing style. Without telling us that characters were wearing leg warmers or off-the-shoulder tops or carrying around a Walkman, this book could have been set at almost any time.

Most of the characters were underdeveloped stereotypes. They were so often irritating that it was hard not to root for them to get picked off one by one. Cyndi's friend Stacy waited for the boys to make bail everyone out of trouble instead of taking charge herself. I know this book was set in the 80s but that doesn't mean girls couldn't step up to the plate and save the day.

The writing was so unrealistic. These teens get lost. They know they're lost. They finally admit they're lost. After risking their lives over rocky rapids and coming upon an abandoned water park, what do they do? They leave their raft and belonging and go explore. Even though they get the feeling something isn't right, they put their goal of getting home aside to go on a bunch of slides.

Spoiler

And when Brad disappears, what do they do? Continue to go on rides!

. Once they're at the park, it seems like the descriptions go from one slide to the other and back again. It got so monotonous and repetitive, I feel like I could have drawn a map of the water park myself.

The writing was just so bad, I can't even.

librarian_wenn's review against another edition

4.0

A fun and entertaining read while floating in my pool.