Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Naomi's Room by Jonathan Aycliffe

15 reviews

giulia_sioux's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Child death

Moderate: Torture and Murder

Minor: Sexual violence

kaitd97's review

dark mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Very spooky. I liked the combination of horror and true crime aspects.

i definitely suspected the dad from the beginning but over time i thought the mom was the killer too. I was not expecting him to kill his sister and niece tho

jomojobo'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Body horror, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, and Murder

yelena27's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Rape

stephanieluxton's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• 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

3.0

The first act of this book was perfect. I was scared, intrigued, paranoid, sad, and excited to read more.

Then things just got ridiculous. I don't quite understand "the rules" for the paranormal in this book. The info dumping got pretty ridiculous. Characters made questionable choices.

It got really dark. And that's not a bad thing, necessarily. But the author made one thing happen that really pushed me over the edge and made me super uncomfortable (which I'll include in the content warnings). It isn't a splatterpunk book so while some gruesome shit goes down, it's not all in excruciating detail.

The end wasn't satisfying or particularly scary either. It just made me feel worse than I did before I read it. If you want me to ruin the ending for you, I'll tell you what happens in the content warning section.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Obviously Naomi dies but we don't see it. We know her body is mutilated and it's sad. The thing that bothered my most was at the end when our main character gets basically possessed, slaughters his young niece, chains up his wife and sister and rapes them both for awhile before killing them too. It's all pretty icky but the incest was a huge NO from me. It just made everything worse. If you want to know more spoilers, the house was already haunted by a man who was a deranged doctor. He tortured and murdered his wife and two daughters in a secret room in the attic. They all haunt the house in present day. He possesses another guy to kill Naomi first before possessing the dad after awhile. The story ends with the dad moving out of the house and a new doctor moving in with his family, who will inevitably repeat the cycle again. Sad stuff. Not fun.

radtj's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.75

did make me a little tense when I read it home alone 👻

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Rape, and Murder

kklosowski09's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder

Minor: Confinement, Rape, and Suicide

ebonysbookshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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

3.5

This was such a fun, quick little read and I thoroughly needed something like this to get out of my reading slump (and to work with my crazy schedule!). I finished this within a day - it was very atmospheric and creepy. ⁣
⁣
The language is very flowery at times, and extremely heightened - but this does add to the charm and makes it feel like a proper old ghost tale. ⁣
⁣
I think the first half really hooked me. I couldn’t put it down, however as the conclusion drew nearer I did start to feel slightly disappointed. Not sure why completely, even upon reflection and taking my time to gather thoughts. I just loved that the first half was a true haunting and was super eery, and though it definitely remained ghost orientated it started to feel a little too forced maybe? I didn’t care for the build up and Charles’ arc - some 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 he did toward to the end really just felt gratuitous almost and there for the shock value instead of aiding the story. It swayed a little too into something more paranormal/possession-like than I would’ve preferred. ⁣
⁣
Naomi’s Room has definitely highlighted that I just want to read a proper good haunting ghost story. Looking forward to finding one - any suggestions welcome! ⁣
⁣

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Torture, and Murder

Moderate: Incest and Rape

teebe's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, and Death

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Incest, Sexual assault, and Kidnapping

kermit_the_wrong's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

book equivalent of edging without a satisfying payoff 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide