Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum

68 reviews

bgumlaw's review against another edition

challenging dark tense

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Excrement, and Grief

gizley0420's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Pedophilia, Excrement, and Car accident

djcarter's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

I’m not giving this book a full rating because of the content. I will say that this book kept my attention and I finished it in a few hours.

I was desperately rooting for Meg to somehow get away and be freed in the end.

The main character made me so mad that it was hard to read this book through his eyes. It was gruesome and disgusting. I liked the writing style and I would give some more of Jack’s books a chance. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Rape

gee_clev's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder

danimacuk's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Self harm, Excrement, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal cruelty, Fatphobia, Incest, Mental illness, Vomit, and Car accident

lunababybat's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This is by far one of the most disturbing fiction books I've ever read. Even though I don't believe it's classified as extreme horror or splatterpunk, it should be. But I understand why it maybe doesn't have those labels; because this story is based on real events, events even worse than what happened to Meg in this novel. The real case is the longterm torture and eventual murder of Sylvia Likens. What the real girl, Sylvia, experienced pales in comparison to even what Meg endured. And there was no David for Slyvia. No one had a change of heart or tried to help her in the end, aside from Slyvia's disabled sister.
I think Jack did a good job of trying to understand what would lead relatively normal people to participate in this type of extreme behavior against another human being. The slow dehumanization of someone led by an authority figure, how someone can become a proverbial punchingbag that's a stand in for all of life's failures. It also delves into how misogyny helps in this dehumanizing, letting Meg be seen as a "whore" and nothing but a piece of meat, even though the real issues is everyone else's inappropriate feelings towards her. Ruth is the ultimate villian and honestly got off too easy in the end. She hated herself and sought to find someone to project that hate onto, so she didn't have to face what a true monster she really was inside. 
There are some issues with the writing, and some of the language is definitely outdated, even for a book written in the 80s and set in the 50s. Overall, this is a chance for readers interested in true crime to dip their toes in the water before taking the plunge into the real cases. Because, at least in this instance, there is at least one person who does feel bad about what they did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Excrement, Death of parent, and Alcohol

247halloween's review

dark sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

natashasacks's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

ferrozm's review

dark emotional sad 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

5.0

Very disturbing read. The realism and mundaneness of the characters and their environment makes this sad book feel like this could just as easily be happening in any ordinary neighborhood. The violence deals a lot with issues of femininity and adult authority in relation to children. 

Could be very triggering. Beware.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

bookdeviant86's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail