Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Devil Takes You Home: The Acclaimed Up-All-night Thriller, by Gabino Iglesias

31 reviews

mcordell's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Torture

Moderate: Child death

nithya_natalya's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

True to the descriptions, this book was genre-bending, and I loved that. It wasn’t a typical horror novel, but sort of naturally blended horror elements into hyper-gritty realism. None of the supernatural elements felt out of place. I thought that at times the points that the author made about racism were heavy handed. But maybe being heavy handed is a good thing. One star deducted for his depiction of women. I felt like most of the women were not multidimensional at all. I think that might have been part of the point. The character sort of mythologized the women in his life, rather than seeing them as real people. But sometimes it was hard to tell whether it was intentional or just the authors own biases leaking through? 

One note: there is a good amount of Spanish mixed into the novel, although it is mostly written in English. I would recommend not trying to translate those sections if you don’t understand them. Writing parts of conversations in Spanish was an artistic choice. Imo, non Spanish speakers are not meant to know what’s being said. That’s part of the experience of it. Spanish speakers will catch everything and non-Spanish speaker will miss things, feel lost, or not fully understand. And to me, that is part of the point of the artistic choice that was made. If not understanding what’s going on makes you feel uncomfortable, sit with that! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Torture, Child abuse, Body horror, Child death, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, and Cannibalism

book_creature's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Cancer, Death, Toxic relationship, Body horror, Child death, Racial slurs, Suicide attempt, Violence, Drug use, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Grief, and Gun violence

Moderate: Transphobia and Child abuse

Minor: Animal cruelty

rojo25's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Child death, Drug abuse, Murder, Racial slurs, Torture, and Violence

othersociologist's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse

Minor: Child death and Cancer

rhadden's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

An incredibly gripping and intense horror noir from an exciting new Puerto Rican author. Firmly entrenched in Trump's America, it tells the story of a father who becomes a hit-man to deal with the medical debt brought on by his daughter's pediatric cancer. On his way to a huge final score, he 

encounters many monsters, from drug-addled allies, to bigoted Proud Boys, to things beyond the realm of human understanding. Tragic, violent and freaky... an absolutely unique and excellent horror thriller.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Gun violence, Child death, Drug abuse, Child abuse, and Torture

lafocareta's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Murder, Gun violence, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Drug abuse, and Racism

victoriaharris001's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide attempt, Torture, Vomit, Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Addiction, Gaslighting, Gore, Trafficking, Transphobia, Violence, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Body horror, and Suicidal thoughts

mplsmysteryreader's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug abuse, and Torture

doomluz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I like the mix of Spanish words and phrases, though I’m not sure how much non-Spanish speakers might be able to understand some of them.
It starts sad, but then it gets really intense. It has some supernatural elements, but for the most part it's gritty and realistic, in a gory and violent way.
Overall, it was a great book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Murder, Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Addiction, Death, Gore, Racism, Violence, Child abuse, Gun violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Child death, Misogyny, and Cancer

Minor: Transphobia