Reviews tagging 'Child death'

The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum

70 reviews

antonella_taylorsversion's review against another edition

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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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laniemax's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.5


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devinjai6655's review against another edition

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

4.0

This book is DARK. I was prepared going into it but please be aware of how absolutely gut wrenching this book is. Do not read this without checking trigger warnings. 

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reddarko's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-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? N/A

3.0

Was unsure about this one after reading Offseason and not enjoying Ketchum's writing style. Was pleasantly surprised by the vast improvement in this one! My only qualm is that the characters feel more like 14 at the earliest rather than 12. I know children are hard to write though, and I assume this is more difficult alongside writing them through MC's POV as an adult man, not to mention the trauma experienced.... And also Ketchum's misogyny. Please stop writing women characters.

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rojo25's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-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

3.0


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rachelunabridged's review

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challenging 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? Yes

4.25

god, this is probably the most horrific book i've ever read. i spent most of the book alternating between rage and being sick to my stomach. while this book is fictional, it's based on the true story of sylvia likens, and the events depicted are very close to what happened in real life. just an absolutely sickening story that will definitely leave you feeling less optimistic about humanity.

i actually went back and forth about this book for a while before deciding how i wanted to handle this review. i don't feel good about rating on the basis of content because this is basically a true story, so i've decided to rate based purely on the writing itself. i think the author did an amazing job with telling the story. he was able to capture the terrifying events without allowing it to creep into exploitation. it felt like he was very respectful of the source, and i liked that in the acknowledgements at the end, he seemed as infuriated about it as i did.

additionally, i really enjoyed his style. he writes in a very straight forward + to-the-point manner that reminded me a lot of stephen king. this was my first read by the author, but i'll definitely be checking out more of his work in the future!

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furiadc's review against another edition

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4.5


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archaicrobin's review against another edition

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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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mindysbookjourney's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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pinotandprose's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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