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A review by house_of_hannah
The Little Red Phone by Henry Kane
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Wtf was that ? I picked this up at a second hand book shop, and was drawn in by the cover and the description. I was so excited to start reading this, and even though I went into it with no expectations, I'm still disappointed.
This book really could not figure out what it wanted to be. We didn't even get to the house that has the red phone until 50 pages in. A good chunk of it is simply a plot about a woman having an emotional affair. The description of this book feels so freaking misleading; that plotline doesn't really come to fruition until the last 20 pages, and it ends with the least climactic scene ever.
Content warning here for rape, and rape of a minor. This is where I almost DNFed the book. Click the spoiler if you want to know what happened.So I almost DNFed when the mom has a dream that her 12 year old adopted son has sex with her. It is heavily implied that it is not a dream, which is confirmed later when she ends up pregnant. In the last 30 pages of the book it is revealed that the 12 year old son's twin sister has also been experiencing these "dreams". I wanted to barf. There is also an 81 year old woman who is raped and murdered. Why in the fucking hell is this the plotline !?
This plot had nothing to do with an entity, and everything about traumatizing women repeatedly. The writing very much felt like 60s/70s crime novels, and was borderline boring. For being written in the 80s it felt incredibly dated, and there is some harsh language in here pertaining to mental illness. Henry Kane was a white man in his 70s when he wrote this book, and you can feel that in every word.
This book really could not figure out what it wanted to be. We didn't even get to the house that has the red phone until 50 pages in. A good chunk of it is simply a plot about a woman having an emotional affair. The description of this book feels so freaking misleading; that plotline doesn't really come to fruition until the last 20 pages, and it ends with the least climactic scene ever.
Content warning here for rape, and rape of a minor. This is where I almost DNFed the book. Click the spoiler if you want to know what happened.
This plot had nothing to do with an entity, and everything about traumatizing women repeatedly. The writing very much felt like 60s/70s crime novels, and was borderline boring. For being written in the 80s it felt incredibly dated, and there is some harsh language in here pertaining to mental illness. Henry Kane was a white man in his 70s when he wrote this book, and you can feel that in every word.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Death of parent, Incest, Murder, and Pregnancy