Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

Theme Music by T. Marie Vandelly

15 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. 

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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.

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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.

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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

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.

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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

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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

yamsfortsukki's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I was really enjoying it at first. The first few chapters were great and I could see how the big reveal was organized and there definitely was an attempt. However, it was kind of hard to follow near the end, I felt like the  

killer was kind of random and only hinted at the beginning with the Axe or whatever

...or maybe I didn't read into the lines enough. Something that didn't sit right with me was  

Garett's sudden change in character? First he didn't want anything to do with the house but near the end my guy is basically an accomplice to the whole thing, he knows the truth about Erin and Leah but he didn't ever bother telling authorities?

Also I wanna rant soooooo bad about Dixie, but she's funny so it makes up for her absolutely psychotic behaviour. I could totally see this as a Netflix show or an episode of black mirror and you best believe I'd eat that sh*t upppp. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

_alyssabrown's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

erica_reads_things's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

Wow this book was a wild ride that I thoroughly enjoyed and could NOT put down. Loved the plot, guessed *some* of the twists, but not all! The dialog was sometimes a bit....sitcom-y sometimes?? And it sort of threw me off a bit, but I eventually got used to it and let the story take me away. Was gory but not the most so that I have ever read. For this author's first novel it was very well done! 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Suicide, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Drug use, Fatphobia, Sexual violence, and Pregnancy

musings_marginalia_miscellanea's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Stalking and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence