Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

10 reviews

daisywilkes's review against another edition

3.75

A slow start but I realise now it was building up to the absolutely Wild ending! Excited to see where SGJ goes with the rest of the trilogy 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Incest, Rape, Stalking, and Murder

shysheepys's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad 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

4.0

I love Jade Daniels and I want nothing but the best for her. 
I'm personally not a slasher fan, but I love horror and wrote a few college papers on slasher tropes and the theories behind slashers and why slashers are popular. I loved being able to read this without having to think to hard about the things Jade was talking about, because I already knew them too, and it all made sense. For someone that hadn't done research on slashers, though? I can't imagine them being able to read this easily. 

But anyway, I love Jade Daniels. I love this book. I can't wait to read the next.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Drug use, Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Classism

apestforwrens's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

SGJ is an incredible writer and the way he presents Jade really lets the reader ride along with her. I literally stayed up all night to finish this book because I could NOT put it down. It is a horror book, so there is a lot of genre-typical heavy content, but it did not feel gratuitous to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Death of parent, and Cultural appropriation

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Racism, Sexism, Vomit, and Stalking

Minor: Sexual assault and Fire/Fire injury

yaelaed's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, and Grief

Minor: Animal death, Rape, Sexual violence, Vomit, and Stalking

readundancies's review against another edition

dark funny 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? No

5.0

 Uhm, fuck me, cuz this was QUALITY. 

The slasher vibes were real, the trope subversion was immaculate and Jade was a fucking fantastic lead character with the Author Notes just validating that sentiment to me even more when I read them. 

I immediately went and purchased a copy for my own collection and will be waiting in avid anticipation for the sequel. 

This bloody delivered in every way I wanted it to and every way I didn’t know I needed it to. 

Go read this. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Incest, Rape, and Sexual assault

kitsune_kae's review against another edition

dark informative sad tense slow-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? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Vomit, and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Bullying, Mental illness, Racism, Grief, and Stalking

Minor: Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, and Classism

Trauma, childhood trauma,

bastieboi's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Abandonment, and Alcohol

house_of_hannah's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Well, this isn't what I was expecting based on the blurb. The first chapter starts off fantastic, and instantly had me hooked. However, we then spend the next 3/4 of the book hanging out in the mind of the main character, Jade, as she goes on tangents constantly, and tries to live out a slasher film fantasy. I honestly found her to be quite frustrating in the beginning, but she does get better as a character in the last 1/4.

Content Warning:

Jade tries to commit suicide in the first 30 pages of the book. It is obvious that she is struggling with a lot mentally and emotionally. The scene caught me a bit offguard.

I was a bit bored with the story until that last 1/4 where it sucked me back in. However, I then ended up disliking the ending. It just wasn't what I wanted, and left us with some unanswered questions such as

Why the hell was Letha's father killing people with a nailgun? It's not addressed after the climax, and left me quite confused.

Something else that bothered me a bit, is that the book makes it seem like you have to have some traumatic reason for watching/liking horror. It's personally my favorite genre, and has been for as long as I can remember. It's just a preference, and I don't believe you need to have some huge reason for enjoying it.

One thing that confused me about the book, is that for most of it the lake that everything takes place on seems rather small. However, during the climax this lake might as well have been an ocean ! I just couldn't wrap my head around how big this area was supposed to be in the end.

Overall I finished this book feeling a bit confused, and unsatisfied. It's definitely gory, but it takes so long to get into the meat of it (heh), that it's hard to care by the end. If you do not like slow-burns, and are not knowledgable at all about Slashers, then I would not pick this up. There are a ton of name drops, including movie titles, so you'll end up just skimming over a lot of the book if you don't get the references. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Death, Gore, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Vomit and Stalking

Minor: Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Rape

lilifane's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I have so many thoughts, but they are as chaotic as the last chapters of the book, so yeah....

The very first chapter was really interesting and creepy. It set up the story so well and got me hooked from the beginning... but with the second chapter the plot slowed down A LOT. And I mean it almost froze for probably 60% of the book. 

I had problems getting into the writing style and the protagonist, Jade, at first. I didn't like her, I thought she was annoying, and I didn't get her actions at all. Until something clicked. I started to understand the writing AND Jade, up to the point where I ended up loving both with all my heart. She is such a fascinating character and I couldn't stop reading even when nothing was happening. 

I also loved the setting, the small-town vibes are on point. The lake is beautiful but also creepy, the town history is super interesting. And I like how we had to piece the stories and hints together to get a full picture of the place. Absolutely adored some of the character dynamics, especially between the sheriff, Jade and Mr. Holmes. At the same time, Jade was such an unreliable narrator that I was constantly questioning if it was all just in her head or if there really was something sinister going on, and I basically became paranoid about every character, including Jade herself. Loved that! 

When it comes to the ending and conclusion, I would have hated it in a movie. But in this book it kind of worked for me. I think it was very fitting, and I really liked it a lot. 

The only reason, I'm not giving this 5 stars are the slasher references. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy slashers, I grew up with them. However, the ones from the 90s/early 2000s. This book references a ton of slasher movies from the 80s, though, and even older ones. And although I liked the idea and some parts of the Slasher 101 I had a hard time enjoying it when I didn't get 80% of the references. I bet they are amazing (because the ones that refer to the movies I've actually seen ARE great) but it was frustrating to read about movies and characters you don't know and honestly don't really want to know in depth. I got the idea and what it did to the story, but I wasn't a fan of the execution. Sadly.

But I can't wait to read more by the author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cultural appropriation