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rediswriting's review
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Sexual content, Car accident, Death of parent, and Medical content
Minor: Body shaming, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Stalking, Adult/minor relationship, and Deadnaming
nickoliver's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.75
I had zero expectations when I started reading - partly because it has generally bad reviews and partly because a book blogger I admire had rated it 1 star (though I didn't read their review until I was finished; should've done that before, because it would've saved me a lot of trouble). So I'm really not that surprised, albeit a bit disappointed, that I didn't like it.
The thing is, it wasn't completely bad! The start was great, because it reminded me of a horror movie - it was told from the perspective of the first victim -, and just generally, the book was a very fast read. Even if some of the characters, especially the main character Makani, were infuriating sometimes, it never made me want to put the book down for an indefinite amount of time. It did suck me in sometimes. And it did get action-packed towards the end. But that's all the good things already.
My main gripe was the fact that this wasn't really a horror book. It was a romance between Makani and Ollie, with the murders happening in between and especially at the beginning taking a backseat to it. It was really annoying, because I didn't pick this book up to read about two horny teenagers (which was confusing enough; how the fuck do you even get in the mood for sex when your classmates are getting brutally murdered left and right??). I wanted a gory, possibly scary story about a deranged serial killer.
And while there was certainly gore - the murders were pretty brutal -, it seemed staged in a way? There was no explanation as to why exactly the killer mutilated the victims, especially why they mutilated them all differently. And of course, the actions of serial killers don't always make sense, but the killer was portrayed as someone with a lot of anger that they'd suppressed for too long and now burst out; so why would they take the time to cut off body parts or take out organs seemingly at random?
The killings themselves weren't very scary, either. First of all, you always knew that a character was about to die, because Perkins would start the chapter out from their perspective. Like I mentioned above, that was great for the first chapter, it set the tone! But doing it for the rest of the book took the tension out of it, because it was never a surprise or a shock when someone died; it was always immediately clear when a chapter started in the head of someone who wasn't Makani.
Secondly, none of the murder victims, except one during the climax, was significant to the plot. Sure, some of them had gotten mentioned before, but for the most part, there was no attachment to them, neither from the reader nor from Makani. They were just random classmates, which made it so much less scary and suspenseful. I never truly got scared that something would happen to someone that mattered to Makani. And while Perkins offered an explanation as to why they specifically were chosen to be murdered by the killer, it made little sense and only came towards the end, almost as an afterthought.
Lastly, and what surprised me the most, was that the identity of the killer wasn't actually part of the mystery. It was revealed a little over halfway through the story, which was so early that I was convinced there had to be a second killer. But there wasn't. It was just this one person, a character that, just like their victims, was chosen completely randomly. It's not quite so scary to read about a killer doing horrible things when you know their identity.
Then, I had a bit of a problem with the characters themselves. I'm someone who doesn't necessarily have to like a character in order to like a story, nor do I tend to rate books low just because I don't vibe with the main character (especially if the protagonist isn't even meant to be likeable). And I didn't hate Makani! But there were a few things she did that made me raise my eyebrows.
For example, how on earth did you know that there was a serial killer on the loose, and you'd still want to be home alone with your boyfriend and have sex with him? This ties back to my annoyance that the romance was so focal in the story. Maybe this was just Makani being a teenager - I wouldn't know, I didn't have to deal with a real life serial killer at her age -, but the way she would spend hour after hour thinking about Ollie instead of being shocked at the murders was really weird to me.
Makani also got to the weirdest conclusions sometimes when she did end up trying to figure out the killer. In the first half of the book, it was revealed that Makani had done something bad back in Hawaii, and she had moved to her grandmother in Nebraska to get away from the vitriol she'd received for it. She'd changed her name, so none of her friends or classmates knew what had happened before she came here. It was odd to me that she'd think all the killings happened because of her. She was a bit conceited sometimes and thought the world - or at least the murders - revolved around her, without even entertaining other motives.
And when she did think outside of the box with her friends, it was always very arbitrary. They'd be like, 'Oh, the killer must be killing the most popular kids from each clique!', and immediately think that they were right and had figured out who the next victim must be. It was mind-boggling to me, to be honest.
The last thing about Makani I'd like to mention was the fact that she was biracial, and I really didn't like the way Perkins portrayed that. It honestly felt like it was done for diversity's sake, because it was barely acknowledged at all? There were a few things thrown around sometimes that alluded to her not being white, but for the most part, she could've just as well have been a white person and it wouldn't have changed a thing for the story.
Speaking about representation, one of Makani's friends was a trans guy, and the way Perkins revealed him being trans felt like a guide to how NOT to do it. She said he was "assigned female at birth" (which isn't problematic per se, but the word "trans" is right there, and it sounds way less clumsily?), and then he was also deadnamed twice in the story for no reason at all. I don't mean other characters deadnamed him; I mean Perkins herself was like, 'Yeah, so he hasn't changed his name yet, and his name is [deadname].' It's entirely possible to mention a character being trans and not having their name changed without actually mentioning their deadname. It had also so little significance to the story that he could've just as well have been a cis dude.
Last but not least, there were some serious topics thrown in here that weren't properly discussed or explored. There was a serious hazing incident (talked about after the fact, but shown pretty detailed), whose perpetrators were barely even mentioned afterwards, and Ollie also had a sexual relationship with a 23-year-old woman that could've been criticised way more. Sometimes, Perkins would start trying to go more into depth, but she always changed topics quickly again. It was a bit infuriating.
I've heard other people say that Perkins was better at writing fluff than horror, and yeah, you could clearly see that by her inability to keep the story actually focused on the scary parts. So overall, while this was a fast read and some of the gore was cool, it definitely wasn't good.
The thing is, it wasn't completely bad! The start was great, because it reminded me of a horror movie - it was told from the perspective of the first victim -, and just generally, the book was a very fast read. Even if some of the characters, especially the main character Makani, were infuriating sometimes, it never made me want to put the book down for an indefinite amount of time. It did suck me in sometimes. And it did get action-packed towards the end. But that's all the good things already.
My main gripe was the fact that this wasn't really a horror book. It was a romance between Makani and Ollie, with the murders happening in between and especially at the beginning taking a backseat to it. It was really annoying, because I didn't pick this book up to read about two horny teenagers (which was confusing enough; how the fuck do you even get in the mood for sex when your classmates are getting brutally murdered left and right??). I wanted a gory, possibly scary story about a deranged serial killer.
And while there was certainly gore - the murders were pretty brutal -, it seemed staged in a way? There was no explanation as to why exactly the killer mutilated the victims, especially why they mutilated them all differently. And of course, the actions of serial killers don't always make sense, but the killer was portrayed as someone with a lot of anger that they'd suppressed for too long and now burst out; so why would they take the time to cut off body parts or take out organs seemingly at random?
The killings themselves weren't very scary, either. First of all, you always knew that a character was about to die, because Perkins would start the chapter out from their perspective. Like I mentioned above, that was great for the first chapter, it set the tone! But doing it for the rest of the book took the tension out of it, because it was never a surprise or a shock when someone died; it was always immediately clear when a chapter started in the head of someone who wasn't Makani.
Secondly, none of the murder victims, except one during the climax, was significant to the plot. Sure, some of them had gotten mentioned before, but for the most part, there was no attachment to them, neither from the reader nor from Makani. They were just random classmates, which made it so much less scary and suspenseful. I never truly got scared that something would happen to someone that mattered to Makani. And while Perkins offered an explanation as to why they specifically were chosen to be murdered by the killer, it made little sense and only came towards the end, almost as an afterthought.
Lastly, and what surprised me the most, was that the identity of the killer wasn't actually part of the mystery. It was revealed a little over halfway through the story, which was so early that I was convinced there had to be a second killer. But there wasn't. It was just this one person, a character that, just like their victims, was chosen completely randomly. It's not quite so scary to read about a killer doing horrible things when you know their identity.
Then, I had a bit of a problem with the characters themselves. I'm someone who doesn't necessarily have to like a character in order to like a story, nor do I tend to rate books low just because I don't vibe with the main character (especially if the protagonist isn't even meant to be likeable). And I didn't hate Makani! But there were a few things she did that made me raise my eyebrows.
For example, how on earth did you know that there was a serial killer on the loose, and you'd still want to be home alone with your boyfriend and have sex with him? This ties back to my annoyance that the romance was so focal in the story. Maybe this was just Makani being a teenager - I wouldn't know, I didn't have to deal with a real life serial killer at her age -, but the way she would spend hour after hour thinking about Ollie instead of being shocked at the murders was really weird to me.
Makani also got to the weirdest conclusions sometimes when she did end up trying to figure out the killer. In the first half of the book, it was revealed that Makani had done something bad back in Hawaii, and she had moved to her grandmother in Nebraska to get away from the vitriol she'd received for it. She'd changed her name, so none of her friends or classmates knew what had happened before she came here. It was odd to me that she'd think all the killings happened because of her. She was a bit conceited sometimes and thought the world - or at least the murders - revolved around her, without even entertaining other motives.
And when she did think outside of the box with her friends, it was always very arbitrary. They'd be like, 'Oh, the killer must be killing the most popular kids from each clique!', and immediately think that they were right and had figured out who the next victim must be. It was mind-boggling to me, to be honest.
The last thing about Makani I'd like to mention was the fact that she was biracial, and I really didn't like the way Perkins portrayed that. It honestly felt like it was done for diversity's sake, because it was barely acknowledged at all? There were a few things thrown around sometimes that alluded to her not being white, but for the most part, she could've just as well have been a white person and it wouldn't have changed a thing for the story.
Speaking about representation, one of Makani's friends was a trans guy, and the way Perkins revealed him being trans felt like a guide to how NOT to do it. She said he was "assigned female at birth" (which isn't problematic per se, but the word "trans" is right there, and it sounds way less clumsily?), and then he was also deadnamed twice in the story for no reason at all. I don't mean other characters deadnamed him; I mean Perkins herself was like, 'Yeah, so he hasn't changed his name yet, and his name is [deadname].' It's entirely possible to mention a character being trans and not having their name changed without actually mentioning their deadname. It had also so little significance to the story that he could've just as well have been a cis dude.
Last but not least, there were some serious topics thrown in here that weren't properly discussed or explored. There was a serious hazing incident (talked about after the fact, but shown pretty detailed), whose perpetrators were barely even mentioned afterwards, and Ollie also had a sexual relationship with a 23-year-old woman that could've been criticised way more. Sometimes, Perkins would start trying to go more into depth, but she always changed topics quickly again. It was a bit infuriating.
I've heard other people say that Perkins was better at writing fluff than horror, and yeah, you could clearly see that by her inability to keep the story actually focused on the scary parts. So overall, while this was a fast read and some of the gore was cool, it definitely wasn't good.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Body horror, Death, Medical content, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Stalking, Bullying, Grief, and Sexual content
Minor: Alcohol, Car accident, Deadnaming, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, and Drug use
bookishgoob's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
“People live through such pain only once; pain comes again, but finds a tougher surface.” the creepiness of this book starts IMMEDIATELY. some parts were slow but this book kept me entertained throughout. the reveal happens about a little more than half way through which i didn’t know if i liked, but i actually did enjoy reading about how they handled knowing who the killer was rather than having the book end after finding out who the killer was. this author is well known for romance, so there is a sweet aspect of romance between the main character and another. some of the scenes very truly captured the feeling off a crispy cold fall in the midwest and that made my heart happy. it’s a great read for if you want to read a scary book but aren’t too prepared to actually be fully scared. it’s got scary elements but it isn’t horrifying. overall, i’ll give it a 3.5/5. i didn’t hate it, i actually really liked it, but i don’t think i liked it enough to rate it a full 4.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Car accident, Cultural appropriation, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Violence
amih's review
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore
Moderate: Suicide attempt
Minor: Transphobia and Deadnaming
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