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himpersonal's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
As with most of the Crouch books I've read, it's full of high-tension action. I enjoyed this part. I liked less the parallel stories. I also am unclear as to why this book is categorized as horror. Definitely creepy, but nothing about it fit the horror genre for me - not that I was looking for that, but my brain was certainly ready for it based on the description. The only horror for me was what happened to Lana, and that was largely because the man who did it to her was evil.
I disliked every single character, including Abigail. The themes of greed and moral bankruptcy, crises of faith, oppressive patriarchy, taking advantage of the disadvantaged, what veterans deserve, etc. are all important things to explore, but it was all at the surface level. I guess when the action moves as fast is it does in Crouch's writings, it can get a bit difficult to delve while keeping events moving forward.
Overall, I enjoyed the book. I think I liked some of his others more than this one. It could make a good movie.
I disliked every single character, including Abigail. The themes of greed and moral bankruptcy, crises of faith, oppressive patriarchy, taking advantage of the disadvantaged, what veterans deserve, etc. are all important things to explore, but it was all at the surface level. I guess when the action moves as fast is it does in Crouch's writings, it can get a bit difficult to delve while keeping events moving forward.
Overall, I enjoyed the book. I think I liked some of his others more than this one. It could make a good movie.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
aseel_reads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.25
I liked the parts when the past and present mirrored each other and man, this really showed the depths people will go for greed. But otherwise it was really confusing to keep all the characters in mind and differentiate them. The reason for the whole town dying was so basic and ridiculous, it also had pretty bad pacing and for a town abandoned, why are there so many people visiting?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexism, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
cateyeschloe's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.75
“I wonder if this book is ever going to get interesting?” That’s a question I asked myself for the first 60% or so of this book.
“Lazy” is the best word I could use to describe the author’s writing style. A lot of tropes you can easily rattle off the top of your head are inside the pages. And the “foreshadowing” at the beginning of the book was so extremely blatant that I could do nothing else but hope they were all red herrings to deflect from the ensuing plot twist. Unfortunately, I hoped in vain.
One of the things that put me off the most was how clearly it is evident that the author is a man, writing a woman as his main character. At one point, someone is literally threatening the MC with torture and death and she thinks to herself that she could envision herself being attracted to him in any other setting.
She also mourns some injuries that happen to her feet, whining to herself - “Abigail loved her feet - small, feminine, exuding a slender, proportionate beauty her friends openly envied.” I don’t know about you, girls, but I always have conversations amongst friends about who has the most beautiful, feminine feet between us.
It definitely gives the idea that this man has never had a fleshed out whole conversation with a woman in his life.
This book has big focus on veteran’s and their mental health post-combat. Suicide rates among veterans is a major, very prominent issue in the real world. In this book, PTSD and suicide attempts among veterans is absolutely nothing more than a shabby and clumsy plot device. It’s honestly embarrassing and shameful.
The book describes veterans as unhinged, extremely over-the-top violent, cold, and completely unfeeling. It doesn’t offer a sympathetic view into the world of PTSD or post-combat coping methods. It simply villainizes veterans and creates a miopic, singular lens with which to view them as a whole.
I also really didn’t enjoy in the “1893” chapters that the book constantly refers to Indigenous peoples as “heathens” and “injuns” and simply “Indians”. Regardless of the time period setting, I found every instance uselessly irrelevant and distasteful, to say the least.
This author presents this book as a supernatural, spooky tale about a “ghost town” and there is basically nothing supernatural about this book, which was a huge disappointment to me, as that was exactly what I was looking for.
The “plot twist”, if you can call it that, is more of an explanation of events, and quite honestly was predictable long before it was explained.
The mystery element of this book was definitely there; there were plenty of questions to be answered. Unfortunately, many of them had obvious answers that fell flat when written out.
The characters are completely detached and hollow with a complete lack of character development or growth of any kind. There is a very feeble and clumsy attempt to build a subplot about Abigail’s relationship with her father but it is so uninteresting and tepid that any resolution that comes is almost boring.
The only moment in the book that resonated with me emotionally at all was Lana’s story arch, and truthfully she was only used as a plot device so her story doesn’t even get any kind of pay off she deserves.
I kept reading this book in the hopes that a major twist was coming that would upset all my disappointment and disinterest with the first three-quarters of the book. Unfortunately, the pay off just wasn’t enough.
If you want to read a mystery, sure this will fill the hours, but don’t expect any emotional investment in the characters nor any of the alleged supernatural elements.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Physical abuse
Minor: Animal death, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Cannibalism, and Colonisation