A review by brucewayne
The Waking That Kills by Stephen Gregory

1.0

Okay, so I really debated reviewing this because I read it awhile ago and the popular consensus about it is that it's horror "gold" but I keep thinking about it, and I just can't get it out of my head how much I absolutely hate this book. I spent 90% of the time begrudgingly listening to the protagonist talking about being sweaty, and the other 10% listening to him talk about having sex with an alcoholic MILF. The "antagonist" is the child he's tutoring, but both characters are so plain that I felt nothing with their interactions. There's little to no psychological horror to it. It all comes to a head right at the end of the novel, and it almost gave me whiplash because it felt like it came out of nowhere. Reading it was like reading a bird watching handbook with a dollar store romance novel stuck in the middle of the pages.

I really hate being harsh on books. Especially popular ones, but I just can't get over how much I dislike it. Maybe it's due for a re-read but I failed to see the horror and I definitely failed to have any connection or feelings for ANY of the characters. If it wasn't such a short book, I would never have finished it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯