Reviews tagging 'Murder'

What Stalks Among Us by Sarah Hollowell

21 reviews

blewballoon's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Excellent! Spooky teen corn maze book! The power of friendship! Wow, I really enjoyed this. The audiobook narrator does seem to over-enunciate the dialogue and their range of voices was limited, but I was still quite immersed in the story. It was tense, mysterious, spooky, and funny in a balanced way. I appreciated the way it approached subjects like toxic relationships, neurodiversity, and fat phobia. The best part of the book for me was the pure friendship between Sadie and Logan.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Biphobia, Fatphobia, and Misogyny

harpyhellion's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Abandonment

Moderate: Murder

ghouligann's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

RATING: 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4.0 / 5.0 

 

REVIEW: 

I’ll be perfectly honest. The first few chapters of this book, I was not having a good time. The writing style is simple and straightforward, but the main character’s constant use of references from popular media really got under my skin. However, around the halfway point, I actually grew to like Sadie’s inner monologue. Not sure what it was in the beginning, but after that little roadblock, I realized that it was sort of endearing. 
 
The book, besides being full of creepy corn monsters, deals with a lot of heavy subjects. The toxicity of various relationships that most people, unfortunately, have to go through. The pain of not being able to fully move on from those past traumas. As well as the societal struggles of being overweight, which is something most books don’t shine any light on. 
 
I went into this expecting just a simple horror story and got hit by serious emotions. Sadie and Logan’s friendship was so sweet. This is the first book I’ve ever read by Sarah Hollowell and I would love to read more of her work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, and Fatphobia

rorikae's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

'What Stalks Among Us' by Sarah Hollowell is an exceptional, creepy story about two teenagers trapped in a corn maze. 
Sadie and Logan skip out on their class trip to the amusement park and decide to drive through the countryside instead. When they find a corn maze, they decide to check it out. But the corn maze appears far bigger than it looked from the outside and then corpses begin showing up, corpses that look a lot like them. What is truly going on in this corn maze and will they ever be able to get out? 
Hollowell has crafted a near perfect book that delves into a myriad of topics through a horror-filled corn maze. Sadie and Logan are easy to sympathize with as we slowly come to know them through their interactions with and reactions to what they find in the maze. Hollowell creates an underlying simmer of tension and mystery that carries the story through each twist and turn. As we learn more about the maze and our protagonists, the tension continues to increase. Without spoiling anything, Hollowell discusses some difficult subjects through the maze in a thoughtful and fascinating way. The audiobook narration was great and I highly recommend that experience. If you are looking for a creepy YA novel that delves into friendship, abuse, and creating your own future, then please pick up 'What Stalks Among Us.' 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Miscarriage

sierrabowers's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was a very cool but also very confusing read. It was like Maze Runner met Children of the Corn. If you like fantasy, thrillers, and time traveling, this could be the book for you! It also includes LGBTQ+ characters but that isn’t their entire personality which I think is nice. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

library_kb's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I don't read a ton of horror, but the corn maze setting really intrigued me from the pitch, and I did enjoy the way this book was atmospheric but pulled it's true horror from gaslighting and emotional abuse. Plus, the author recognizes that there is true horror potential in a Midwestern goodbye. This is a good option for YA horror--would recommend for 8th grade and up!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, and Gaslighting

ezwolf's review

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

This is 10/10 fat girl rep, I have hardly ever felt as seen as a fat person as I have when reading this book. And I will now immediately go read this author's other books. 

It was surprisingly funny! One moment it's creepy as all get out and then I'm laughing at a Supernatural joke. Which is another thing that was surprising, usually I find pop culture references annoying and unnecessary, but that wasn't the case with this book. 

The only reason this doesn't get five stars from me is because it kind of dragged a bit at the end, but everything else was fantastic! 

Also the title's play on words is hilarious!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Biphobia, Cursing, Misogyny, Self harm, and Dysphoria

Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Infidelity, and Car accident

aceofknaves88's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Body horror, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, and Blood

suzanna_gg's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful reflective slow-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

4.0

Really interesting metaphor for trauma and abusive (romantic) relationships

I get the complaints on this book. Sure, it’s repetitive at times, but that’s how the brain works. You have triggers and symbols and loops and you ride the wave and you survive. Things change and you move on. You choose the next door, and you make an exit

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Violence, and Murder

eruanna317's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Self harm, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Fatphobia and Misogyny

Minor: Miscarriage