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ashley_books_cats_judo's review against another edition
3.0
Thank you to Netgalley, Midnight Point Press and the author Brandon McNulty for allowing me to listen to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
I'm a recent convert to audiobooks and I don't know why it took me so long since I love podcasts! The narrator of Bad Parts - Ellie Gossage - had an enjoyable voice to listen to. I however wish they had allowed her to either just speak in one voice the entire time or had multiple readers. I was thrown off in the beginning when she was speaking in different voices for different characters.
Into the book, this was listed as a horror but it's fairly cheesy - maybe the extra voices the narrator was using added to this effect. This is also listed as book #1 but I don't see how there would be a follow up as I felt everything was wrapped by the end.
The story begins with Ash Hudson who is a 30 year old guitarist in a rock band called... you guessed it - Bad Parts. They're at a show and her hand gets mangled which would end her career. She needs to find a way to fix her hand and quickly before their next show. Which leads her to returning to her hometown of Hollow Hills, Pennsylvania. There's a demon called Snare that lives in the creek that will exchange "bad parts" for good ones. This involves a secret group of people referred to as Traders. Ash talks to Snare and gets offered a deal that sounds too good to be true but she wants to trust the demon. She has to convince estranged family members to help her if the deal with Snare is going to work.
I found parts of this like a murderous fog completely comical and not really a horror but overall it was an enjoyable listen.
I'm a recent convert to audiobooks and I don't know why it took me so long since I love podcasts! The narrator of Bad Parts - Ellie Gossage - had an enjoyable voice to listen to. I however wish they had allowed her to either just speak in one voice the entire time or had multiple readers. I was thrown off in the beginning when she was speaking in different voices for different characters.
Into the book, this was listed as a horror but it's fairly cheesy - maybe the extra voices the narrator was using added to this effect. This is also listed as book #1 but I don't see how there would be a follow up as I felt everything was wrapped by the end.
The story begins with Ash Hudson who is a 30 year old guitarist in a rock band called... you guessed it - Bad Parts. They're at a show and her hand gets mangled which would end her career. She needs to find a way to fix her hand and quickly before their next show. Which leads her to returning to her hometown of Hollow Hills, Pennsylvania. There's a demon called Snare that lives in the creek that will exchange "bad parts" for good ones. This involves a secret group of people referred to as Traders. Ash talks to Snare and gets offered a deal that sounds too good to be true but she wants to trust the demon. She has to convince estranged family members to help her if the deal with Snare is going to work.
I found parts of this like a murderous fog completely comical and not really a horror but overall it was an enjoyable listen.
ethanrstories's review against another edition
3.0
Bad parts is anything but boring. The book is very gripping from its earliest moments, a skill Brandon seems to have mastered, and the plot and characters are emotionally compelling throughout most of the story. However, I do have problems with it. These are:
1. There are many parts that feel contrived, and generally the characters go through SO much struggle to complete any simple task that it feels really unrealistic (yes I know it's a book about a creek demon I'm talking about a different kind of unrealistic). While Brandon does a great job of weaving the story together and it definitely reads like he had a ton of fun making the book and a passion for writing, I think he got too excited with some ideas and ran with them even if they made for a less compact, slick and satisfying story. The absolutely breakneck pace makes for many things to happen that clutter up the story and I could do without much of it. This problem isn't helped by the fact that the entire book takes place over the course of a very short time span. His other novel, Entry Wounds, has the same thing going on but in a much better way because there is a much more natural sense of urgency and characters still rest, get fatigued, and have normal human needs like eating and sleeping and drinking in that novel. Here, instead of a natural sense of emergency from the very premise of the situation, the thing that makes things move so fast is just the fact that Snare said so. I think the story could've benefited from a longer time limit, as it would've made for much better opportunities for downtime, which this book largely lacks with a couple exceptions, more believable scenarios and characters, and character development. Speaking of characters...
2. The characters are unlikable, unbelievable and average. I liked Ash at first, but I also think she became MUCH less tolerable over the course of the book. I'll come back to this Ash point later, and to avoid spoilers I won't be specific, but basically every single surviving character by the end is a bad person. This is not to say the ending sucks, but it could've been better. The characters also do not change. Characters with flaws are great, but when they never learn from their flaws and just have them for the sake of it instead of for a purpose, such as being relatable or used as a narrative device, it can become very irritating. If there is learning or growth by the surviving characters at the end, it is not stated, and I do not trust those characters to do so because again, they are not good people.
3. SPOILER WARNING! From here on I will be discussing the parts I wasn't before to avoid spoilers. First, I want to mention Trent and Candace, because I have significant problems with both of them. Trent is a horrible person. I hate him so much that I was significantly happier when he died even compared to Candace. And I don't think I should've hated him, not because of him, but because he should've learned something before he died. He died a much worse person than he began, but not in an interesting or satisfying way, just a "Wow, I didn't know Trent was THIS MUCH of a piece of shit!" way. This is because he was never really an antagonist. He became one during the very long climax of the story (or maybe by that point the climax had already happened-- I'm not sure) but I think that was the completely wrong way of going about it. I think he should've made terrible decision like the one with the creek water much earlier and then had time to regret it and grow before he died. Next, I really don't like how Ash's character ends up being handled. It feels like Brandon took the philosophy of maximizing drama and tension, which isn't always bad, but it comes at the very high cost of almost every character being someone I hate. This detracts from the drama because I care significantly less about the events concerning characters I don't like than ones I do. When Ash was driving Lauren outside of the zone, it was an extremely gripping and pretty genius plot point, but the decision wasn't justified enough to make me feel anything stronger than the thought, "I hope the police get a hold of her." So, when the fog covered the town and the police died, I just thought, "Oh. So she just gets away with this." This wasn't an isolated case, either. Just a bit later when she finds Cheeto dead, I wanted to be sad because he's one of the few good people in the book, but I was just kind of passively bummed out that I wouldn't see him again and angry at Ash for causing his death (which I didn't know yet but it was pretty clearly Snare's doing.) This kind of thing happens many times throughout the book, where my dislike for characters gets in the way completely of causing an emotional response from me.
Score: 67/100.
Good book, again, it was not boring. I just think it needed some more time in the oven and a more experienced version of Brandon, because Entry Wounds is an upgrade in every way. Even with all my criticism, good stuff!
1. There are many parts that feel contrived, and generally the characters go through SO much struggle to complete any simple task that it feels really unrealistic (yes I know it's a book about a creek demon I'm talking about a different kind of unrealistic). While Brandon does a great job of weaving the story together and it definitely reads like he had a ton of fun making the book and a passion for writing, I think he got too excited with some ideas and ran with them even if they made for a less compact, slick and satisfying story. The absolutely breakneck pace makes for many things to happen that clutter up the story and I could do without much of it. This problem isn't helped by the fact that the entire book takes place over the course of a very short time span. His other novel, Entry Wounds, has the same thing going on but in a much better way because there is a much more natural sense of urgency and characters still rest, get fatigued, and have normal human needs like eating and sleeping and drinking in that novel. Here, instead of a natural sense of emergency from the very premise of the situation, the thing that makes things move so fast is just the fact that Snare said so. I think the story could've benefited from a longer time limit, as it would've made for much better opportunities for downtime, which this book largely lacks with a couple exceptions, more believable scenarios and characters, and character development. Speaking of characters...
2. The characters are unlikable, unbelievable and average. I liked Ash at first, but I also think she became MUCH less tolerable over the course of the book. I'll come back to this Ash point later, and to avoid spoilers I won't be specific, but basically every single surviving character by the end is a bad person. This is not to say the ending sucks, but it could've been better. The characters also do not change. Characters with flaws are great, but when they never learn from their flaws and just have them for the sake of it instead of for a purpose, such as being relatable or used as a narrative device, it can become very irritating. If there is learning or growth by the surviving characters at the end, it is not stated, and I do not trust those characters to do so because again, they are not good people.
3. SPOILER WARNING! From here on I will be discussing the parts I wasn't before to avoid spoilers. First, I want to mention Trent and Candace, because I have significant problems with both of them. Trent is a horrible person. I hate him so much that I was significantly happier when he died even compared to Candace. And I don't think I should've hated him, not because of him, but because he should've learned something before he died. He died a much worse person than he began, but not in an interesting or satisfying way, just a "Wow, I didn't know Trent was THIS MUCH of a piece of shit!" way. This is because he was never really an antagonist. He became one during the very long climax of the story (or maybe by that point the climax had already happened-- I'm not sure) but I think that was the completely wrong way of going about it. I think he should've made terrible decision like the one with the creek water much earlier and then had time to regret it and grow before he died. Next, I really don't like how Ash's character ends up being handled. It feels like Brandon took the philosophy of maximizing drama and tension, which isn't always bad, but it comes at the very high cost of almost every character being someone I hate. This detracts from the drama because I care significantly less about the events concerning characters I don't like than ones I do. When Ash was driving Lauren outside of the zone, it was an extremely gripping and pretty genius plot point, but the decision wasn't justified enough to make me feel anything stronger than the thought, "I hope the police get a hold of her." So, when the fog covered the town and the police died, I just thought, "Oh. So she just gets away with this." This wasn't an isolated case, either. Just a bit later when she finds Cheeto dead, I wanted to be sad because he's one of the few good people in the book, but I was just kind of passively bummed out that I wouldn't see him again and angry at Ash for causing his death (which I didn't know yet but it was pretty clearly Snare's doing.) This kind of thing happens many times throughout the book, where my dislike for characters gets in the way completely of causing an emotional response from me.
Score: 67/100.
Good book, again, it was not boring. I just think it needed some more time in the oven and a more experienced version of Brandon, because Entry Wounds is an upgrade in every way. Even with all my criticism, good stuff!
yogicath's review against another edition
5.0
This is book one of the Dark Parts series and follows the main character, rock guitarist Ash Hudson, after they suffer a career ending injury to their hand. Her band were playing a Battle of the Bands competition, but one of their band members was badly beaten before they went on stage. They have to play without him, only for the crowd to push up against the safety barriers too much, leaving those at the front getting squashed. Ash calls out for people to back off, but everyone is too carried away with the music. She does the unthinkable, in an effort to stop the crowd, and walks off stage, leaving them out of the running for a guaranteed win and some long needed funds! After the gig, Ash is chased by someone in a balaclava, who turns out to be a music fan who hates their music and wants her to stop playing, forever! He strikes her repeatedly on her hand, breaking every bone!
The start of the story shows an old man being driven out of the Hollow Hills, Ash’s old hometown, and begging the driver to turn back. He has received kidneys, which if he leaves the town boundaries, he knows will kill him. The sheriff is called to his dead body, left in the back of a car. Only it turns out the body isn’t quite dead yet! Candace, the woman who called him out for a bear attack, tells the officer to sort it out before she does. They have a secret to keep in town and sending mac to a hospital without any kidneys and no sign of any incisions, is going to raise a lot of questions. There are over sixty other Traders, as they call those people who have made trades for body parts, who have made a deal with the devil, or demon in this case. Only problem is, there is only one of each body part available and it can only be made available again, if the recipient leaves town or dies!
Knowing all of this, Ash’s first thoughts after being given the bad news after her surgery, is that she needs to go back home! Her band have a big gig coming up on Friday and she needs to be able to play her guitar. She heads off to a certain creek called Snare Creek, hoping to follow the tale her own father told her when he made a trade. What she does, will affect everybody in town, not just the Traders themselves. When you make a deal with the devil, you should expect some surprises and not those of the good kind! The Snare Creek demon is getting antsy and wants out of the creek, using Ash to finalise the parts it requires, for completion. Lots of twisting, dark shocks and surprises to come in this book, as the demon and the head organiser of the Traders, Candace, have their own plots in the offing. Definitely not what you might expect at the end of the tale! A good read for all who like a bit of a dark tale, mixed with the supernatural. I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.
The start of the story shows an old man being driven out of the Hollow Hills, Ash’s old hometown, and begging the driver to turn back. He has received kidneys, which if he leaves the town boundaries, he knows will kill him. The sheriff is called to his dead body, left in the back of a car. Only it turns out the body isn’t quite dead yet! Candace, the woman who called him out for a bear attack, tells the officer to sort it out before she does. They have a secret to keep in town and sending mac to a hospital without any kidneys and no sign of any incisions, is going to raise a lot of questions. There are over sixty other Traders, as they call those people who have made trades for body parts, who have made a deal with the devil, or demon in this case. Only problem is, there is only one of each body part available and it can only be made available again, if the recipient leaves town or dies!
Knowing all of this, Ash’s first thoughts after being given the bad news after her surgery, is that she needs to go back home! Her band have a big gig coming up on Friday and she needs to be able to play her guitar. She heads off to a certain creek called Snare Creek, hoping to follow the tale her own father told her when he made a trade. What she does, will affect everybody in town, not just the Traders themselves. When you make a deal with the devil, you should expect some surprises and not those of the good kind! The Snare Creek demon is getting antsy and wants out of the creek, using Ash to finalise the parts it requires, for completion. Lots of twisting, dark shocks and surprises to come in this book, as the demon and the head organiser of the Traders, Candace, have their own plots in the offing. Definitely not what you might expect at the end of the tale! A good read for all who like a bit of a dark tale, mixed with the supernatural. I received an ARC copy of this book from BookSprout and I have freely given my own opinion of the book above.
crushcritiques's review against another edition
1.0
The premise of this book sounded interesting, however the execution left a lot to be desired.
None of the characters are likable whatsoever and therefore you really don’t care one way or another what happens to them, which is unfortunate because then you’re never truly invested in the stakes. The main character Ash is obnoxious, self-absorbed and entitled; unfortunately everyone seems to pander to her and make excuses for her behavior, so she learns nothing at all.
“She expected him to coddle her and tell her it was okay, but he didn't. Nor did he pat her shoulder, offer a hug, or deliver any of the other consolatory gestures she'd received through the years.”
I don’t know if the author is actually ableist or not, however this book comes across as such. There’s zero compassion in anything related to disabilities or health issues. A character with a leg injury is described walking with their cane as “stumbling like a three-legged giraffe.” While many disabled people think of their mobility aids as extensions of themselves to describe their mobility in that way is distasteful.
Then there’s a scene where another character repeatedly fondles the residual limb of another character’s missing hand out of nowhere to apparently show that it doesn’t bother them. Actual dialogue: “With his thumb he rubbed her stump. Kept rubbing. Wait, was he massaging her? It might've felt good if not for how perverted it was.” After the character asks for their arm back and gets into a slight struggle trying to free themselves, the other character starts kissing their residual limb prompting this thought, “She wanted to smack him, but she felt paralyzed.” They again clearly say no and to stop, yet the other character continues to kiss their residuum before it incredulously switches to a consensual sex scene.
Fetishizing disabled people is not how you show that you’re an ally!! Disabled people are three times as likely to be sexually assaulted than able bodied people. To have a character repeatedly say “no” and be met with “just wait a second” and a continuation of the offending behavior is making it seem like “no really just means convince me” rather than being a full sentence. It’s not okay.
Speaking of the sex scenes, they are all uncomfortable. You either have characters keeping their relationship quiet because they don’t want others to know which comes across in these instances as a racial issue, or you have that fetishized foreplay scenario that results in the most juvenilely written sex scene I’ve read in a while. “She reached down and felt him sprout within her grasp.” Sprout as a verb either relates to vegetables or things appearing suddenly in large numbers. Neither definition works in that context.
Then we have this, “Like drunken memories, their clothes vanished. Wearing nothing but their tattoos, they wrestled one another to the cold plastic floor. The chills didn't stop them. They fought to get on top of each other before she playfully beat him down with her empty wrist. He laughed, submitting to the blows.” Just…ew.
As I stated before, the premise is good even if the name of the eldritch
being that resided in the town creek is named “Snare”. You know, snare as in “something by which one is entangled, trapped, or deceived”… what could possibly go wrong with having a blatantly obvious name like that when you are offering townspeople body part exchanges?! But subtlety isn’t McNulty’s strongpoint.
Neither are metaphors and similes, as “Bad Parts” is full of ones that made me cringe. Music related similes and metaphors abound; the book even ends randomly with a lyric from The Doors.
Here are a just a few so you can get an idea of the writing:
“He lay there, a bug waiting to be squashed.”
“She sat there, a head waiting to pop.”
“With each step, the balancing act grew more demanding, like a guitar solo just beyond her skill level.”
“Snare grabbed him by the jacket and flipped him over, strength beyond strength.”
I would have been much more interested in actually reading about Snare and their previous life rather than it being solely reiterated in a few paragraphs at the end.
It seemed like it was forgotten about and randomly shoved in to tidy things up a bit.
“Beneath her, his breath floated hot in her face. She feared it might melt her, so she put her mouth over his. When she pulled her lips away, she pressed her hand to his chest. Their eyes met, and she nodded to him like she did during their shows—during those moments when she wanted to up the intensity. At first they were clumsy. Out of sync. Much like their first time onstage together, they couldn’t find their rhythm. But once they did, it was music.”
There’s so many more examples and some are much worse. I just don’t understand how an editor let it slide.
The ending is preposterous; apparently the dad doesn’t care about his son/Ash’s twin because he comments that the two most important people to him are alive.
But I mean he did try to trade his skin color without actually making it known that he wanted the color changed & not for it to be free of scars. It comes across as being black is detrimental as is being disabled and is something to be changed in order to be happy.
I honestly haven’t hated a book like this in a very long time. 1/5 stars because lower isn’t an option.
None of the characters are likable whatsoever and therefore you really don’t care one way or another what happens to them, which is unfortunate because then you’re never truly invested in the stakes. The main character Ash is obnoxious, self-absorbed and entitled; unfortunately everyone seems to pander to her and make excuses for her behavior, so she learns nothing at all.
“She expected him to coddle her and tell her it was okay, but he didn't. Nor did he pat her shoulder, offer a hug, or deliver any of the other consolatory gestures she'd received through the years.”
I don’t know if the author is actually ableist or not, however this book comes across as such. There’s zero compassion in anything related to disabilities or health issues. A character with a leg injury is described walking with their cane as “stumbling like a three-legged giraffe.” While many disabled people think of their mobility aids as extensions of themselves to describe their mobility in that way is distasteful.
Then there’s a scene where another character repeatedly fondles the residual limb of another character’s missing hand out of nowhere to apparently show that it doesn’t bother them. Actual dialogue: “With his thumb he rubbed her stump. Kept rubbing. Wait, was he massaging her? It might've felt good if not for how perverted it was.” After the character asks for their arm back and gets into a slight struggle trying to free themselves, the other character starts kissing their residual limb prompting this thought, “She wanted to smack him, but she felt paralyzed.” They again clearly say no and to stop, yet the other character continues to kiss their residuum before it incredulously switches to a consensual sex scene.
Fetishizing disabled people is not how you show that you’re an ally!! Disabled people are three times as likely to be sexually assaulted than able bodied people. To have a character repeatedly say “no” and be met with “just wait a second” and a continuation of the offending behavior is making it seem like “no really just means convince me” rather than being a full sentence. It’s not okay.
Speaking of the sex scenes, they are all uncomfortable. You either have characters keeping their relationship quiet because they don’t want others to know which comes across in these instances as a racial issue, or you have that fetishized foreplay scenario that results in the most juvenilely written sex scene I’ve read in a while. “She reached down and felt him sprout within her grasp.” Sprout as a verb either relates to vegetables or things appearing suddenly in large numbers. Neither definition works in that context.
Then we have this, “Like drunken memories, their clothes vanished. Wearing nothing but their tattoos, they wrestled one another to the cold plastic floor. The chills didn't stop them. They fought to get on top of each other before she playfully beat him down with her empty wrist. He laughed, submitting to the blows.” Just…ew.
As I stated before, the premise is good even if the name of the eldritch
being that resided in the town creek is named “Snare”. You know, snare as in “something by which one is entangled, trapped, or deceived”… what could possibly go wrong with having a blatantly obvious name like that when you are offering townspeople body part exchanges?! But subtlety isn’t McNulty’s strongpoint.
Neither are metaphors and similes, as “Bad Parts” is full of ones that made me cringe. Music related similes and metaphors abound; the book even ends randomly with a lyric from The Doors.
Here are a just a few so you can get an idea of the writing:
“He lay there, a bug waiting to be squashed.”
“She sat there, a head waiting to pop.”
“With each step, the balancing act grew more demanding, like a guitar solo just beyond her skill level.”
“Snare grabbed him by the jacket and flipped him over, strength beyond strength.”
I would have been much more interested in actually reading about Snare and their previous life rather than it being solely reiterated in a few paragraphs at the end.
It seemed like it was forgotten about and randomly shoved in to tidy things up a bit.
“Beneath her, his breath floated hot in her face. She feared it might melt her, so she put her mouth over his. When she pulled her lips away, she pressed her hand to his chest. Their eyes met, and she nodded to him like she did during their shows—during those moments when she wanted to up the intensity. At first they were clumsy. Out of sync. Much like their first time onstage together, they couldn’t find their rhythm. But once they did, it was music.”
There’s so many more examples and some are much worse. I just don’t understand how an editor let it slide.
The ending is preposterous; apparently the dad doesn’t care about his son/Ash’s twin because he comments that the two most important people to him are alive.
But I mean he did try to trade his skin color without actually making it known that he wanted the color changed & not for it to be free of scars. It comes across as being black is detrimental as is being disabled and is something to be changed in order to be happy.
I honestly haven’t hated a book like this in a very long time. 1/5 stars because lower isn’t an option.
tiffanyxcc's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoyed the creative idea in this novel, an entity that dwells in a creek making trades with people for their broken, damaged or diseased body parts. As with most deals of this nature though, it doesn't come without cost. The cost to those that trade is that they are stuck in Hollow Hills. If they try to leave, the traded part vanishes, quite painfully it seems.
The residents do their own policing of the creek, keeping cameras on the area so no one sneaks in a deal behind their backs. Snare won't make her presence known if the cameras are on or anyone else is watching.
The trades are kept secret apart from one member. (Can't have people killing each other over body parts of course).
What I was disappointed in is that we didn't get much backstory on Snare. Snare is very interesting and I would have loved to learn more. None of the characters really had much of a backstory. Things were mentioned here and there, but a complete picture was never really painted for any of them. Considering the length of the book, I would have expected more about the characters.
As far as the narration goes, it was not my favorite. It seemed to be read very slowly, and the voices for the characters were sometimes extremely distracting.
Overall, it's a well thought out concept and unique idea that I don't regret reading at all.
I received a copy of this audiobook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
The residents do their own policing of the creek, keeping cameras on the area so no one sneaks in a deal behind their backs. Snare won't make her presence known if the cameras are on or anyone else is watching.
The trades are kept secret apart from one member. (Can't have people killing each other over body parts of course).
What I was disappointed in is that we didn't get much backstory on Snare. Snare is very interesting and I would have loved to learn more. None of the characters really had much of a backstory. Things were mentioned here and there, but a complete picture was never really painted for any of them. Considering the length of the book, I would have expected more about the characters.
As far as the narration goes, it was not my favorite. It seemed to be read very slowly, and the voices for the characters were sometimes extremely distracting.
Overall, it's a well thought out concept and unique idea that I don't regret reading at all.
I received a copy of this audiobook through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
stephanieluxton's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
2.0
This book might be the most prime example of a BRILLIANT concept that was absolutely destoryed by the execution. It pains me to say it because I love the authors youtube channel.
This book is about a town in which there's an entity/force living in snare creek in the woods. If you have a sick or injured body part, it will take your bad part and give you a new fully heathy/functional part. The catch is that it will only give one of each part at a time and if you leave the town, the part will disappear from you forever. This concept is fantastic because small town horror is basically the best genre and there's so many directions the story could go.
The story follows Ashlee who is a guitarist in a small band who is starting to gain traction. She's physically assaulted after a show one night near her hometown. Her only injury is that her left hand is destoryed. She goes to town hoping to trade her hand but things get complicated when she learns about the catch. The snare demon makes a deal with her that she will give her a new hand and let her leave if Ash helps the demon get the last 5 parts it needs.
I need to vent now because there's a lot of things I wish were different. I will lightly venture into spoiler territory.
This book isn't exactly a horror book. It starts out as more of a mystery/thriller/small town drama. In the very end it ventures into horror but it's not scary and it could have been. There was a lot of opportunity to use atmosphere to create a sense of unease and danger - especially around the creek and the entity. There was zero atmosphere. The author did all the telling and no showing. The entity wasn't very scary or mysterious in appearance for the most part.
I keep saying entity but in the book they refer to it as the demon or Snare. Both of these bother me. Snare bothers me because they say her name too often - it feels unnatural. Referring to her as a demon bothers me because I think that at the strt of the book the townspeople should have referred to her as a God. She literally have the power to give life by healing - yes, there's a price to pay but most of the townsfolk are more than happy to live their lives within the radius of the town. Calling her a demon right away makes it feel stupid for people to trade. I also wish the demon wasn't a "her". It should have been an "it".
I think the townsfolk should have been more cult-like. There should have been almost a religion surrounding the demon.
There's a lot of info dumping. The demon tells Ash quite a bit about it's backstory which we really didn't need. More mystery would have been better. For example, before Macready dies, we are experiencing the story from his point of view in which we learn that he traded his kidneys and hippocampus. Then later in the story, the main characters are trying to figure out what "hip" stands for in macreadys file but the audience already knows so there's no Aha! moment for us.
The characters in this book are insufferable. The only semi-likeable character is Ash's adoptive dad, Karl and the vocalist in her band, Cheeto. Everyone else sucks and most characters aren't fleshed out very well. We don't get to know them enough to care about them or understand all their motivations. Some of the characters do and say things that made me severely roll my eyes.or example, Trent implies that Cheeto is stupid right after Cheeto was the one to figure out Macready traded his hippocampus. Trent also becomes totally okay with murdering anyone who stands in the way of getting new eyes for his blind kid, Jake.
After all the work they do to get new eyes for Jake, Jake's mom Lauren magically was able to get the demon to give her the eyes and no one seemed to notice? Also what sort of mom would steal that from her child - she just didn't want to wear glasses anymore? I know the story says that Lauren thinks her boy will be damned if he gets the eyes but no parent would do what she did and its made worse because she's had zero character development up until this point.
That being said - all the characters were selfish assholes. I wish they felt more remorse for their actions or experienced more of a struggle when they felt like they had to hurt other people to protect what they care more about. Everyone seemed strangely super okay with hurting or killing their neighbours or theirselves. Do people not experience physical or emotional pain or moral dilemmas here?!
The romantic subplot was horrible. I'm sorry but why would you name a character Cheeto? Yes, im sure its a nickname but it kills both the romantic parts and also any of the emotional parts because I cannot take a character named Cheeto seriously. Also Cheeto was the best character which is even worse.
One thing i enjoyed towards the end of the story is thatthe demon kills the rest of the town by giving them all the bad parts. It's quite an unsettling visual and i wasn't expecting it.
The thing that seriously ruined the ending for me was thatthere's no justice. After all the chaos Ash causes trying to get a new hand, she basically has to wreck her new hand anyway to be able to escape the town and save her nephew and dad. So in the end it was all for nothing. Everyone else dies. If Ash had just accepted that her hand was ruined, none of this would have happened.
I could keep complaining about how the demon made no sense but this is really long so I am going to stop now.
This book is about a town in which there's an entity/force living in snare creek in the woods. If you have a sick or injured body part, it will take your bad part and give you a new fully heathy/functional part. The catch is that it will only give one of each part at a time and if you leave the town, the part will disappear from you forever. This concept is fantastic because small town horror is basically the best genre and there's so many directions the story could go.
The story follows Ashlee who is a guitarist in a small band who is starting to gain traction. She's physically assaulted after a show one night near her hometown. Her only injury is that her left hand is destoryed. She goes to town hoping to trade her hand but things get complicated when she learns about the catch. The snare demon makes a deal with her that she will give her a new hand and let her leave if Ash helps the demon get the last 5 parts it needs.
I need to vent now because there's a lot of things I wish were different. I will lightly venture into spoiler territory.
This book isn't exactly a horror book. It starts out as more of a mystery/thriller/small town drama. In the very end it ventures into horror but it's not scary and it could have been. There was a lot of opportunity to use atmosphere to create a sense of unease and danger - especially around the creek and the entity. There was zero atmosphere. The author did all the telling and no showing. The entity wasn't very scary or mysterious in appearance for the most part.
I keep saying entity but in the book they refer to it as the demon or Snare. Both of these bother me. Snare bothers me because they say her name too often - it feels unnatural. Referring to her as a demon bothers me because I think that at the strt of the book the townspeople should have referred to her as a God. She literally have the power to give life by healing - yes, there's a price to pay but most of the townsfolk are more than happy to live their lives within the radius of the town. Calling her a demon right away makes it feel stupid for people to trade. I also wish the demon wasn't a "her". It should have been an "it".
I think the townsfolk should have been more cult-like. There should have been almost a religion surrounding the demon.
There's a lot of info dumping. The demon tells Ash quite a bit about it's backstory which we really didn't need. More mystery would have been better. For example, before Macready dies, we are experiencing the story from his point of view in which we learn that he traded his kidneys and hippocampus. Then later in the story, the main characters are trying to figure out what "hip" stands for in macreadys file but the audience already knows so there's no Aha! moment for us.
The characters in this book are insufferable. The only semi-likeable character is Ash's adoptive dad, Karl and the vocalist in her band, Cheeto. Everyone else sucks and most characters aren't fleshed out very well. We don't get to know them enough to care about them or understand all their motivations. Some of the characters do and say things that made me severely roll my eyes.
After all the work they do to get new eyes for Jake, Jake's mom Lauren magically was able to get the demon to give her the eyes and no one seemed to notice? Also what sort of mom would steal that from her child - she just didn't want to wear glasses anymore? I know the story says that Lauren thinks her boy will be damned if he gets the eyes but no parent would do what she did and its made worse because she's had zero character development up until this point.
That being said - all the characters were selfish assholes. I wish they felt more remorse for their actions or experienced more of a struggle when they felt like they had to hurt other people to protect what they care more about. Everyone seemed strangely super okay with hurting or killing their neighbours or theirselves. Do people not experience physical or emotional pain or moral dilemmas here?!
The romantic subplot was horrible. I'm sorry but why would you name a character Cheeto? Yes, im sure its a nickname but it kills both the romantic parts and also any of the emotional parts because I cannot take a character named Cheeto seriously. Also Cheeto was the best character which is even worse.
One thing i enjoyed towards the end of the story is that
The thing that seriously ruined the ending for me was that
I could keep complaining about how the demon made no sense but this is really long so I am going to stop now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gore, and Torture
Minor: Cancer and Sexual content
jess_mango's review against another edition
3.0
Ash is the guitarist in a rock band that is looking forward to a big upcoming show. And then she is attacked by an unknown assailant and is her left hand is mangled beyond repair. She is told she will probably never play guitar again. Ash can't accept this since her main aspiration in life is to be a rock star. So, she returns to her small hometown of Hollow Hills, PA. Hollow Hills has a mysterious, supernatural secret. For years, the towns folk have been making trades with a demon named Snare that lives in a local creek. They trade in their bad or damaged body parts for a new one. The only catch, they have to stay within a certain radius of the creek. If they try to leave town, their traded parts, disappear. Ash wants to trade for a new hand BUT she doesn't want to have to stay in Hollow Hills, so she makes a deal with Snare.
This book lies somewhere between supernatural thriller and horror for me. The story was an interesting concept but fell slightly flat for me. I liked the aspect of Ash being an aspiring rock star and how she found her way back to her estranged family. The concept of Snare was interesting and I haven't read anything like that before. I would've loved more development of the Snare "character" but perhaps that will happen in a follow-up book. This book was definitely an entertaining wild ride.
Thank you to the publisher for the audio book in exchange for an honest review!
This book lies somewhere between supernatural thriller and horror for me. The story was an interesting concept but fell slightly flat for me. I liked the aspect of Ash being an aspiring rock star and how she found her way back to her estranged family. The concept of Snare was interesting and I haven't read anything like that before. I would've loved more development of the Snare "character" but perhaps that will happen in a follow-up book. This book was definitely an entertaining wild ride.
Thank you to the publisher for the audio book in exchange for an honest review!
bergamotandbooks's review against another edition
4.0
4 STARS
When rock guitarist Ash Hudson suffers a career-ending hand injury, she seeks out the only thing that can heal it--her hometown's darkest secret. . . .
.
.
.
Although BAD PARTS is marketed as a "Supernatural Thriller", it definitely toes the line between thriller and horror. With thrills, twists and a good smattering of gore, this book is sure to please fans of both genres!
The story follows Ash (aka Ashlee) the bad-ass lead guitarist and manager for the rock band "Bad Parts." After a chance encounter with a back alley thug, she is forced to return home after a decade to seek out the help of Snare, the town's local creek demon, in hopes of "trading" her broken hand for a brand new one. The catch? Snare has her own agenda that will threaten to tear the small town apart.
I know I say this quite frequently, but I swear I could NOT put this one down! It completely sucked me in and wouldn't let me go (pun completely intended if you've read it.) I couldn't for the life of me figure out where this book was going and all of the twists completely took me by surprise! My only issue (and why it's not a 5 star read for me) is because I felt the build up to the finale took a little bit longer than I would have liked. However, I have to say that I fully enjoyed the ride and can't wait to find out where the author takes these characters in the follow up novel!
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for my ARC. BAD PARTS is out June 23!
When rock guitarist Ash Hudson suffers a career-ending hand injury, she seeks out the only thing that can heal it--her hometown's darkest secret. . . .
.
.
.
Although BAD PARTS is marketed as a "Supernatural Thriller", it definitely toes the line between thriller and horror. With thrills, twists and a good smattering of gore, this book is sure to please fans of both genres!
The story follows Ash (aka Ashlee) the bad-ass lead guitarist and manager for the rock band "Bad Parts." After a chance encounter with a back alley thug, she is forced to return home after a decade to seek out the help of Snare, the town's local creek demon, in hopes of "trading" her broken hand for a brand new one. The catch? Snare has her own agenda that will threaten to tear the small town apart.
I know I say this quite frequently, but I swear I could NOT put this one down! It completely sucked me in and wouldn't let me go (pun completely intended if you've read it.) I couldn't for the life of me figure out where this book was going and all of the twists completely took me by surprise! My only issue (and why it's not a 5 star read for me) is because I felt the build up to the finale took a little bit longer than I would have liked. However, I have to say that I fully enjoyed the ride and can't wait to find out where the author takes these characters in the follow up novel!
Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for my ARC. BAD PARTS is out June 23!