A review by minimicropup
Under This Red Rock by Mindy McGinnis

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I don’t know if I could have stuck this out without the audiobook. It was a compelling synopsis, but the execution didn’t work for me.  
 
Energy: Somber. Muddled. Restrained. 
 
🐺 Growls: Almost every character has a tragic backstory that’s mentioned in a way that came off a little trauma-dumpy without fleshed-out personalities. The pacing is super slow with repetitive introspection. 
 
🐕 Howls: I’m not sure how well the mental health challenges were represented – the ‘is it  supernatural or a delusion’ element plus how the MC managed her severe symptoms by just remembering they aren’t real seemed a little shaky. Spotlighting the twist (but that might be reading this as an adult). Still, The Big Bad reveal felt contrived in a bit of a personality transplant way.   
 
🐩 Tail Wags: The audiobook is easy to follow, and narration is good. 
 
Scene: 🇺🇸 A small town with underground caverns in Ohio, USA
Perspective: A 16-year-old with a family history of tragedy and traumas. They are struggling with their mental health and trying to hide it from their caregivers, while aiming to be independent and less of a burden on them. 
Timeline: 2010s or 2020s. Summer. Linear. 
🔥 Fuel: How will Neely do in her new job? Will she be able to befriend her crush? Can her brother’s friend help her heal? How will she navigate friendships, work, family, and her mental illness? What happened the night of the party and why can’t she remember anything? 
📖 Cred: Over-the-top
 
Mood Reading Match-Up:
Dinner table. Cavern tours. Voices. Cemetery. Sacrifice rock. Childhood bedroom. Dust bunnies. 
  • Direct, gritty, verbose writing style
  • Deep in a character’s mind (first person)
  • Sympathetic, unreliable, troubled characters
  • Hiding mental illness
  • Family tragedies, loss, grief
  • Angst, coming out, haunted by the past, life unraveling
  • Character-driven coming-of-age sadness and heartstring hits
  • Love at first sight, crushing on a coworker
  • First job workplace drama
  • Grandparent-child dynamics
  • Historical cavern settings
  • Descent into madness, distorted reality, guilty-or-innocent main character
 
Content Heads-Up: Alcohol, cannabis use (underage, partying). Animal death (dog, cat; described). Bullying (passive aggressive, rejection). Corpse (discovery of). Death. Fleas. Hallucinations (visual, auditory). Homophobia, transphobia (town protest; anxieties about; brief recalls). Incel (character opinions, online posts/agendas). Loss of parent (as child; witnessed). Loss of sibling (as teen). Mental illness (untreated). Mentally ill parent. Misogyny. Murder. Non-consenting sexual images (distributing). Potential false accusation. Sexual harassment (workplace). Rape (intoxicated, passed out). Schizophrenic symptoms. Suicide (graphic recall). Toxic relationship (brief recall). 
 
Rep: American. Cis. Lesbian. Hetero. Freckled, pale, and ambiguous skin tones. 
 
📚 Format: Library Audio
 
💖 Musings powered by puppy snuggles 🐶
Expand filter menu Content Warnings