Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Theme Music by T. Marie Vandelly

7 reviews

bleaksalad's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Theme Music was so much fun to read. This book is like if the craziest unsolved true crime case you know got crazier 20 years later. The plot is crafted to make sure you never know what’s gonna happen next and every reveal leaves you questioning what you thought you knew. Even though for 75% of the story Dixie is an incredibly unlikable character, she’s the realest protagonist I’ve read in a horror novel in a while. If I thought I was being haunted by my gruesome dead family I’d be delusional too. Some of the more bloody scenes were kind of hard to follow logistically and the “final battle” was a little corny, but that didn’t negatively affect my understanding of the story at all. If you’re looking for gore with a heartfelt plot, Theme Music is definitely worth a read. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Sexual assault

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

rosebuddd's review against another edition

dark funny reflective sad 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual assault and Alcohol

gssll_lpz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Stalking and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

kerrygetsliterary's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Suicide, Terminal illness, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

powerpuffgoat's review

dark emotional mysterious

2.5

The easiest way for me to sum up this book is "not good enough". That's not to say there were no good aspects, but there weren't enough.

The premise of the book is captivating, and it doesn't pull any punches from the very beginning... or so I hoped. After the gripping first chapter, it slows right down and turns into mush.

The main character, Dixie, is an unreliable narrator, but in the worst way. There is no subtlety to it, it's all very ham-fisted, and it just doesn't work. Additionally, she is impulsive and does many things with no rhyme or reason. Her sense of self-preservation is basically absent in favour of processing the strange plot. 

Other characters aren't much better. Dixie's partner, initially acting like any reasonable adult would in his situation, does a 180 and just enables her behaviour. The villain's motivation is such a stretch, I think I pulled a muscle just reading it. Also, I cannot stand "bad guy monologues". Truly, how does this trope still make an appearance?

Finally, the plot and pace of this book are all over the place. The twists either come completely out of nowhere, or you can see them from a mile away. Again, zero subtlety. Zero finnesse. The entire book is just clunky, and reading it was more hard work than I am willing to do for entertainment. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders and Stalking

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

kermit_the_wrong's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Suicide attempt

Minor: Sexual assault