Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Theme Music by T. Marie Vandelly

27 reviews

throwback682's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Usually if I finish a book and don’t know how I feel about it, scrolling through other people’s reviews helps me process and solidify my feelings. Not this time. I’m still really on the fence. It definitely seems like a love it or hate it book but somehow I just don’t feel either. I didn’t find it horribly predictable nor breathtakingly shocking. Some twists I guessed, some I didn’t. It did have some of my least favorite horror tropes -

bad guy with a facial difference,

mentally ill murderer,

random sexual assault thrown in.

But it kept me very interested, that’s for sure. I don’t know. Very mixed feelings. Sometimes I thought it was going to be a five star, but then… it wasn’t. I liked the epilogue better than the final chapter. Should you read it? Solid maybe. Shrug. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal death, Fatphobia, Infidelity, and Pregnancy

Casual usage of a slur for Romani people, as a synonym for “shortchanged”

stephanieluxton's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This book started out super strong and was able to carry on that momentum basically all the way through. The characters were interesting, the mystery unfolded at a pace slow enough to create atmosphere, mystery, and spooks - but fast enough to not be boring.

There was a couple points in the story where the plot took a twist and I thought to myself - "I hope xyz happens", and then it played out exactly how I was hoping.

This book is essentially about a young woman trying to solve the murder of her family. Dixie was the lone survivor of a horrific axe murder - her father slaughtered her mother and 3 brothers in their kitchen one morning then cut his own throat, leaving his only baby daughter as the lone survivor. Now an adult, Dixie moves back into her childhood home, hoping to feel a connection with the family she never knew.

Overall, this was a really good book. It was so close to being a 5 star read. There were just a few things that bothered me enough to lower the star rating. I don't totally hate that you could probably guess a large part of the ending fairly early on. - in fact, it's great when authors sprinkle clue in.

The part that I hated was

that Rory actually knew the whole story and just never told anyone. There's literally no reason for that. It makes no sense.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

killmoore_'s review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad 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

4.0

Despite predicting the ending very early on, I thoroughly enjoyed Theme Music. It's a wild ride from start to finish. Check your trigger warnings, it gets gruesome.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

noraestelle's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I think overall it’s a really good book and I would be open to reading other things from this author. I will say it wasn’t perfect, I feel like it could have been cut in half. I don’t think this is a spoiler, but you’re following an unreliable narrator that you find out something is off very early on so by the end of the book you’re kind of just feeling like “can someone please just tell me what’s going on?”. While the climax is good, you’ve already been through like 4 other instances that you thought was the climax. I just felt like it was kind of just repetitive and at one point it literally was a whole scene that was repeated. 
Like I said it was a really good book, I just want others going into it to know so it’s a better experience for them. Also, I highly suggest getting the audiobook. The voice actress did a phenomenal job! I really felt immersed because of her. 
Now this might be a

so watch out, but the ending while sweet I don’t know how I felt about the paranormal aspect of it. I’m conflicted on that. Kind of cheesy but 🤷🏻‍♀️

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

disguisedposer's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

zabeth1021's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

A grotesque, sometimes overly-detailed book in which the main character is a unique mixture of impulsive, silly, and gruesome. The end “scene” plays out for entirely too long, and large swaths of the book require suspending belief that anyone is competent or has morals.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

alexandraloveee's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

nminst's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.0

This book definitely took an unexpected spin towards the end. It was very slow for me but, some chapters did capture my attention. If you enjoy eerie, mysterious, books with gore then this is the story for you!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

clairebonney's review against another edition

dark tense

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal death and Alcohol

Ch. 7 - mention of Pepper the dog having to be put to sleep the night before (off the page)

pjsans's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Alcohol