Take a photo of a barcode or cover
bookishkb 's review for:
The Mean Ones
by Tatiana Schlote-Bonne
dark
emotional
medium-paced
📖 Bookish Moments:
Sinister, eerie, and spooky—The Mean Ones sucked me in asap! Sadie has done everything to distance herself from her traumatic childhood. Her boyfriend really pushes them to go to a couples trip to a remote cabin, and things start to spiral.
Once they’re at the cabin, everything starts slipping. Sadie keeps flashing back to when her best friends were murdered, and it’s disorienting. I felt so bad for young Sabrina, what she went through was horrifying! The tension between her and Lucas starts building, especially once Sadie begins seeing someone. He gets mad anytime she brings things up, even in front of the other couple. Not going to lie though, I did laugh when she kept comparing things to The Descent movie!
As you get more of the flashbacks, it becomes even more clear how disturbing that event was! And the aftermath of the murders was awful for her as well. From those flashbacks, it’s clear her mom was definitely not winning mother of the year.
I will say that I was surprised by how it all wrapped up. It didn’t go the way I expected, but I lowkey loved the ending. There was a feminist feel to it and Sadie was finally free. But it was graphic and disturbing. The comparison to Midsommar is 100% accurate!
Sinister, eerie, and spooky—The Mean Ones sucked me in asap! Sadie has done everything to distance herself from her traumatic childhood. Her boyfriend really pushes them to go to a couples trip to a remote cabin, and things start to spiral.
Once they’re at the cabin, everything starts slipping. Sadie keeps flashing back to when her best friends were murdered, and it’s disorienting. I felt so bad for young Sabrina, what she went through was horrifying! The tension between her and Lucas starts building, especially once Sadie begins seeing someone. He gets mad anytime she brings things up, even in front of the other couple. Not going to lie though, I did laugh when she kept comparing things to The Descent movie!
As you get more of the flashbacks, it becomes even more clear how disturbing that event was! And the aftermath of the murders was awful for her as well. From those flashbacks, it’s clear her mom was definitely not winning mother of the year.
I will say that I was surprised by how it all wrapped up. It didn’t go the way I expected, but I lowkey loved the ending. There was a feminist feel to it and Sadie was finally free. But it was graphic and disturbing. The comparison to Midsommar is 100% accurate!
🖤 What You Can Expect:
• Childhood trauma
• Creepy cabin trip
• Unreliable narrator
• Voices in her head
• Feminist Horror
• Childhood trauma
• Creepy cabin trip
• Unreliable narrator
• Voices in her head
• Feminist Horror
📅 Release Date: September 30, 2025
Thank you to Amanda Manns and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy. All thoughts are my own.