Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum

42 reviews

lunahbee's review against another edition

dark 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

3.0

Listen. This book is a tough read. Not because of the writing but because of the subject matter. That said, I did enjoy this book because of how many emotions it brought up in me. Most of them not pleasant. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pedophilia

Listen to the warnings (Dead Dove Do Not Eat)

hailey_horror's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

callofthewild's review

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent

killmoore_'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? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I was very familiar with the Sylvia Likens case going in to the girl next door, and honestly, I was grateful that Ketchum took it upon himself to narrate the novel in a way that left the most gruesome details to the imagination - what happened to Sylvia was truly terrible, and to describe in detail what happened through a work of fiction would, in a way, be disrespectful.

However, despite being well written and truly gut wrenching, I feel that Ketchum missed the mark on painting a true monster in Ruth. I understand that this is written through the eyes of a child, but it really just skims the surface on what motivates a person to commit these atrocities, let alone the impact a trusted adults actions have on the children in their care. 

Girl Next Door is awful. It is a gruesome depiction of child abuse, grief and depravity, written in a way that is still palatable for the general public. Check your trigger warnings and prepare to have your heart broken. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

antonella_taylorsversion's review against another edition

llegué al 75% y no pude más, y me obligué a leer hasta ahí porque odio no terminar los libros. Agh, era necesario este libro? lucrar con una historia así?
No me entra en la cabeza que vivamos en un mundo donde las cosas escritas en este libro, si bien tienen parte de ficción, pasaron en la realidad y son cosas HORRENDAS que realmente le hicieron a una nena. Gente  enferma sí las hay.
Si pudiera le daría 0 estrellas, pero le doy una para que quede asentado que NO LO RECOMIENDO y que es nefasto 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

archaicrobin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

Honestly this was a hard one to rate. I wouldn’t say I enjoyed this, it’s not really a book you enjoy, but it was well written and truly disturbing. Especially if you’re familiar with the true crime case this book is based on, the torture and murder of Sylvia Likens.

From the perspective of one of the teen bystanders who is not necessarily completely innocent, the reader has an interesting perspective as the narrator explains why and how he was able to standby without intervening when such horrific things were being done. 

This is not for the faint of heart, or for anyone that’s looking for a happy ending. The Girl Next Door is very bleak, and exposes the horrors that are present in our neighborhoods which should be safe.  Definitely recommend this to horror fans or those interested in true crime, not for your everyday best seller reader!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

waverlyloyd's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

isabelatms's review

dark tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? No

3.75

Hard book to rate. Traumatized but couldn’t stop reading it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

pinotandprose's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

clarke's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No

3.0

Are we supposed to sympathise with David? I know this is based on the Sylvia Likens case, but every single one of them should've had a worse fate, IRL and in this book.

This also felt reaaaaally slow to get going, and didn't feel like it was just setting the scene or anything. I'm too desensitised to horror for the graphic scenes to bother me, but I'd advise checking out trigger warnings before reading even if you're familiar with the case.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail