Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

242 reviews

nicesideburns's review against another edition

mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The 3 is a nice gesture but overall im disappointed with the book. 

If you need to rely on DID to add to your horror/thriller as a non DID haver then the story is null. There are parts where it even romanticizes the concept of DID. It was uncomfortable to read. It was obvious that author was infatuated with this disorder despite interviewing DID havers. It feels like this whole novel wasn't ran through them and labeled as a gift for the community.

Upsetting this has literally been broadcasted as a horror/thriller disturbing novel on booktok and reviews despite it being said its "not"

Literally everything fell apart when things pointed to this fact. Had DID been removed this would've been more promising. Im thoroughly disappointed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Blood, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

theublein's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book was super confusing and chaotic to follow until the end when everything was tied up very neatly. I typically can see twists of a mystery coming but this story had me guessing till the very end

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Animal cruelty

rabidmerk's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Death, Suicide, Blood, and Death of parent

zeldazonks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

It got to a certain point when I was listening to this, that I thought I had it figured out but I was still curious enough to finish and see how everything played out. Well, more fool me, because this book took me completely by surprise on 2 or 3 occasions. Towards the end it was quite tough to get through, so check trigger warnings.

I will also say that I'm not 100% convinced about the mental health representation/portrayal in this. While in the afterword the author does clarify more about the disorder and the research they did into it, the fact of the matter is that you are led to believe a very specific narrative about Ted through most of the novel and while the book does catch you off guard, and challenge the preconceived notions you have about predators and good vs bad people, I just don't think the book carries it off well enough to completely avoid perpetuating stereotypes or harm. This was interesting and quite unique, but I think it almost undermines it's own point in how obviously you're walked down the garden path for the majority of the book. I respect the bold choices - the pov of a cat for example, and

I think I'll be mulling over this one for a little bit, but I don't know that it managed to fully pull off what it was trying to do. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

bxnnny's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

this is quite the sleeper hit. a bit of a slower start, somewhat hard to get into, but once you're in it, you can't stop. everything coming together piece by piece by the end is truly enthralling. every detail matters so pay attention! definitely go into it as blind as you can. heavy content warning with this one though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Addiction, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Stalking, and Death of parent

pretty heavy content warning.

mental disorders a main theme.

xkwright's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, and Alcohol

Moderate: Abandonment

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

ink_fiction's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

A re-read of this book as I wanted to listen to the audiobook after reading it physically a couple of years ago. 

I have no description of the plot for this one because as many others have said, you really should just go in completely blind. I will say experiencing this book for a second time was truly amazing, knowing the ending and being able to pick up on the exquisite detail placed throughout is something that I really enjoyed. I have to to give the biggest praise as well to Christopher Ragland for the performance of the audio book - he truly brings this story to life as it’s hard to remember that all narration is by just one person. 

This book is not really a horror, it’s a story that subverts the tropes you expect, and at its core it’s about survival. A truly beautiful piece of work that will always be one of my favourite books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, and Kidnapping

librarymouse's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed The Last House on Needless Street! There were a few false starts before I finally made it past the halfway point, and was hooked. I adore the gay and religious cat, Olivia!

this is one of the most sincere representations of disassociative identity disorder that I've ever seen! I'm really glad Ted didn't end up being a villain. It was interesting to have gotten Ted's point of view of events only to have those events later rewritten as explained by the consciousness that actually experienced them. I want more information about Ted's mom, tbh. Making Ted both a suspect and one of his mother's victims filled in the hanging questions in the story wonderfully. I also wanted more of an explanation on why the bug man is the way he is and what exactly he did to warrant the temporary loss of his license.
Rob feels like a good addition to the story, and I like the hints of possibility that Ted is gay.
The ending of this book was unexpectedly tender and comforting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

librarian_elle's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Child abuse and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

pvp_niki's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Body shaming and Homophobia