A review by archaicrobin
Burn the Negative by Josh Winning

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

Burn the Negative is a horror thriller that starts off strong but slowly fizzles out. I was hooked when I started this horror/thriller. I loved the premise, I loved the homage to classic 80s horror like poltergeist, and I liked the fast pace writing that made the characters initially interesting. 

Unfortunately once I reached the halfway point this story began to feel dragged out with the same conflicts appearing with no growth. The mystery part of this was messy and there’s a lot of false culprits which gets a bit exhausting. Where I was at first struggling to put this down, I was now struggling to pick it up. 

Along with the lack of momentum, I also was very underwhelmed by the ending. It didn’t make much sense in my opinion and erased all the character growth that occurred making the novel somewhat pointless. This book reminded me of a horror film that starts off with such potential but ends up as a mid b flick. 

While I didn’t enjoy this novel all the way though, I did love the first half of this book and recommend to those looking for fast paced analogue horror who has a soft spot for old horror movies. 
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