Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - Sixteen Horses

The writing and the unusual, slightly disorienting style were well executed, but I can't help but feel like the plot was an absolute mess from start to finish. It's a crime novel that never properly explains the crime, the end is unbelievably wishy-washy when what you want is the nitty gritty explanations. It feels like the author had some 'cool' ideas and didn't bother to tie them together. When I finished the book and started to think about it too many things were simply never addressed or explained or drawn to a satisfying conclusion.

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isobelheatxn's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

2.0

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lifexlindsey's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

This was a hard read. The idea is fascinating and the idea makes sense in terms of animal abuse moving to human abuse but it’s painful to read. Also, I think it’s supposed to be a lead into book two but I couldn’t tell you. The characters didn’t feel developed so when they died I didn’t really care.

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lizzyconnor94's review against another edition

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dark mysterious slow-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

2.0

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onegirlandtheworld's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

3.0

I found this book rather confusing at times and then it all wrapped up rather quickly. I think I might need to read it again to fully appreciate it. I can't say I liked any of the characters but I'm not sure you're supposed to? This wouldn't be my usual go to kind of book so it was good to branch out but I'm not sure I'd be recommending it to many people.

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elissapoletti's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

I’m being pretty generous giving this 3 stars. When I read the blurb to this book I thought I had picked a winner, however I didn’t feel that way for long. For a premise that sounded so promising, this was quite a disappointing read. I hate giving critical reviews, but this book was disjointed and confusing right from the get go. I felt like the author was trying too hard to make it something it wasn’t, I wasn’t sure if I was reading a movie script, an anthology or what. Sentences and chapters are cut short with no explanation. The ending doesn’t make sense, so much of the plot, the build up of these string of crimes, the finale disregards most of it. I’m not even sure half of the characters who were apparently involved in the crimes where even connected? I so wanted to like this, and I think the author had some good ideas, they just weren’t executed well. I hope he writes another, because there is a lot of potential there, just maybe needs to try a little less, a good mystery doesn’t have to be a literary brick. As someone who works in the veterinary industry, I was of course drawn to this plot line, and one thing that I thought was good was how it confronted animal abuse, and the lack of punishment for those crimes.

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