Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

243 reviews

lauranaidenov's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

effaly's review against another edition

Couldn't finish it because 1) short and choppy sentences, 2) graphic animal cruelty and animal death.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

thebasicbookworm's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense 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

3.5

This one is not for everyone, particularly because of the writing style and/or the subject matter. There were some difficult, graphic bits to get through. And once you reach the end, it’s realization after tough realization, a series of gut-punch reveals that will definitely stay with me. It’s worth the attempt, in my opinion, if you can stick with it past the halfway mark. But I understand why this may not land with everyone.

Spoiler warning: I have to mention this has DID representation. I can’t speak on whether it was done accurately, but I do think it was done well in terms of how it’s weaved into this story, and judging by the afterword, it seems the author took time to research and speak with real people about this experience, which is worth something, I think.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty

Minor: Animal death

amandalachelle's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

leffel's review against another edition

challenging

This book really fucked me up. And maybe it’s due to the nature of my job, but I felt genuinely upset after finishing it. So if horror and thriller is your thing, I think you would love it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

dan_tee's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

3.75

This is an interesting book. Less horror than psychological thriller, we follow Ted, a seemingly nice slow guy, and learn more about his life and how he might not be as nice as he seems. 

I went into this completely blind, so the twists and turns worked for me. Took a little time to get going, but the last third had me speeding through it. 

Spoilers below:

Ted is a person with DID. I had no clue that this would be a thing, and so this kept the mystery working for me. Dee, the missing girls' sister was also interesting; it was nice having someone to root for, and empathise with without feeling guilty..until you realise she was wrong about Ted. Ted's alters come from trauma inflected by his mother. You're led to believe she is..well, mildly abusive, but also caring and scared for Ted and what he is. Again, it's not until the last portion of the book we are shown his mother was more than a little abusive, and was in fact a serial killer and incredibly abusive both physically and psychologically.

So yeah. If you guess the twist, or have seen a lot of discourse around this, you probably won't get as much out of it. I enjoyed it as I was a blank slate. 

Not the most beautiful writing, but an interesting premise reasonably well executed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

christinaanna's review against another edition

dark tense

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Suicide, Torture, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder

bookswithlauren's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

dananana's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious

4.0

bruh. 😵‍💫😵‍💫

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death and Homophobia

jellyfists's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

One of those books I wish I could forget and read again. I love the unreliable narrators and the twists and turns so much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicide, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Homophobia