A review by stephanieluxton
Audition by Ralph McCarthy, Ryū Murakami

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book starts out a little slowly and then definitely builds up a sense of dread. A friend once told me that you don't know if you're in a horror story or a romance until you've already made at least one bad decision and that idea really summarizes this book. The end is very violent and intense. I would have rated it harder if

there wasn't a very graphic and unnecessary torture and murder of an innocent dog. </Spoiler>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Torture, Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child abuse and Emotional abuse

Minor: Alcohol, Death of parent, Drug use, and Grief

There's a very graphic scene of a

dog being tortured and killed, and a man having his foot cut off.

There's one sex scene and it's reasonably graphic.