Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon

19 reviews

brookey8888's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I really enjoyed this! Honestly it wasn’t as creepy as I thought it was going to be. It has an interesting premise that I wanted to find out what happened. I liked seeing how everything came together in the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Violence, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child death, Grief, Kidnapping, and Murder

miacorkum's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Murder

sshpurple1's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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

5.0

A dual timeline story about two generations of women and how one’s life affects the other: located in Vermont in a farmhouse, there are secrets and deep sadness. JM does a beautiful job of describing and making you feel the emotions and atmosphere. Love and grief and heartbreaking consequences. It is bleak and chilling, and I enjoyed this book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death and Murder

youweremycrown's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

4.5 so spooky so fun.. i got a little confused in the beginning bc i felt some of the characters in the past weren’t introduced well so i didn’t know how to place them within the story and in relation to the characters so that let to a lot of flipping back and forth when i finally pieced it together later on. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Miscarriage

mflynn8908's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Perfect story to read during winter. Reading it at night added to the creepy atmosphere and kept me on edge. Several times this story had me turning on the light and closing my closet door. Perfect story telling! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Murder, Death, Child death, and Terminal illness

Minor: Cancer, Gore, Car accident, Animal cruelty, Violence, and Gun violence

space_funk's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Miscarriage

phantomgecko's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

A novel labeled "horror" that is actually horrifying. Kind of a slow burn horror in a lot of ways. When a story is told nonchronologically, there needs to be delicate unveiling of plot points to build tension well. This book does that well. What happens in the past gently (hauntingly) informs what happens in the future and vice versa.

The spookiness of the story is not a new idea, v Pet Sematary. But the inclusion of

Spoiler

a non-supernatural antagonist

is really delightful. Like, chef kiss. Also a fan of the dual but intertwined mysteries: how did Gertie die? And where's Alice?

Spoiler

Also, although a supernatural evil is heavily implied, I felt like it wasn't the only option. Martin going crazy was a strong possibility in my mind. Definitely one of the most tense bits for me was centered on the barn. I legit thought Martin had accidentally killed and skinned his daughter in a delusional state. Chilling.

Overall, I'd say the ending was frustrating, though. Ruthie deciding not to go to college? Bleh. Destroying the pages? Yeah! A certain someone going ahead and sharing all those pages anyway? C'mon, dude.

Frustrating ending, but it doesn't ruin the book for me. Delicious resolution before the frustrating bits.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Murder

Moderate: Blood, Miscarriage, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, and Suicide

julienicole1106's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Grief, Gun violence, Infertility, Pregnancy, Self harm, Suicide, Cursing, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Confinement, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Violence

michaelat21's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

The ending of this book sucked. I loved the book and was on the edge of my seat and then it just kinda ended in the most meh way and fell flat. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Death, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, and Child death

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, and Confinement

Minor: Alcoholism, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Gore, Suicide, Violence, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

jjjreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Grief, Gore, Racism, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Misogyny, Confinement, Stalking, Violence, Car accident, Classism, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Alcoholism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Religious bigotry