Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Theme Music by T. Marie Vandelly

9 reviews

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

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

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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.

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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

clairebonney's review against another edition

dark tense

3.25

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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)

mary_stormageddon's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

3.75

It had me guessing until the end. It's very dark, very descriptive, and very disturbing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

gumbo's review against another edition

4.0

main character suffers from being annoying disease sometimes (in terms of when she is herself, not relating to the story) but the author makes up for it with how brilliantly written all the spooky stuff is written. however,

i found it to be glaringly obvious from nearly the get-go that is was ford. no idea if the level of obviousness was intentional or not

, but i still really enjoyed the experience. i couldn't put the book down for the last third of it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

miralute's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting