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sanguis_lilium's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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? Yes
3.25
I got this book almost 10 years ago from a giveaway and it got packed in a box and put into storage while I moved around for a while. If I had read it 10 years ago, I would have thoroughly enjoyed the book. Years of reading later, I found some plot points iffy and some that should have been explored better. The writing was done well, even though I felt there wasn't necessarily character development the author gives you a pretty good idea who the characters are and why they do what they do. I'd call this a nice palate cleanser to read in between books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
Minor: Sexual assault
hauntedantiqueshop's review
dark
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? Yes
2.75
I wanted to throw myself out of my window with this ending. Cue Kurt’s Turn (yes, it does have to be the Glee version) to play full blast because truly, all that work and what did it get me?! Ugh.
1. Echo was so insanely obvious and it made me want to bonk Lucas on the head with one of his own books. You’re a true crime writer, come on. And btw, fuck her mom. Whatabitch.
2. What was the significance of the deadline??? Guy was straight up like “yes this is the deadline DON’T ASK ABOUT IT”. Like, was it just “oh that’s the day he’s coming back but shh, it’s a secret he’ll never tell Lucas 🤫”?!
3. Why did Halcomb want to impregnate someone just to kill the baby?? What was the point of going through all that just to kill the baby if there wasn’t a purpose? Was it a secret ceremony that the readers were supposed to make up a scene for? I don’t need everything spelled out for me but the significance of The Sacrament isn’t even typed. Genuinely felt like the reasoning was just miraculously left out of the book.
4. I love when someone talks about cult leaders as being handsome and charismatic and then we see them and they’re just NormalBob RoundPants. It’s always that way, they’re never anything special. And I’m to believe this guy is a a young Johnny Depp lookalike with magical powers without ever reading about it? Like you can say it all day long but that don’t make it true. We really aren’t shown the how and why of anything. It just happens. I can understand when it’s ghostly stuff because well, ghosts. But there was nothing in the flashbacks to allude to this man’s magical powers.
5. Fuck that ending. For multiple reasons. But mostly what was the point of Vee dying? It didn’t accomplish anything. I think it would have been better for Lucas to kill Echo and sacrifice himself to save Vee, Audra’s ghost (why was she missing?!) magically gets rid of Halcomb’s ghost, Vee mends her relationship with her mom, and eventually finishes her dad’s book for him when she grows up. Dedicating it to Lucas and Audra. Like that cheesy ending would have been better than what we got.
1. Echo was so insanely obvious and it made me want to bonk Lucas on the head with one of his own books. You’re a true crime writer, come on. And btw, fuck her mom. Whatabitch.
2. What was the significance of the deadline??? Guy was straight up like “yes this is the deadline DON’T ASK ABOUT IT”. Like, was it just “oh that’s the day he’s coming back but shh, it’s a secret he’ll never tell Lucas 🤫”?!
3. Why did Halcomb want to impregnate someone just to kill the baby?? What was the point of going through all that just to kill the baby if there wasn’t a purpose? Was it a secret ceremony that the readers were supposed to make up a scene for? I don’t need everything spelled out for me but the significance of The Sacrament isn’t even typed. Genuinely felt like the reasoning was just miraculously left out of the book.
4. I love when someone talks about cult leaders as being handsome and charismatic and then we see them and they’re just NormalBob RoundPants. It’s always that way, they’re never anything special. And I’m to believe this guy is a a young Johnny Depp lookalike with magical powers without ever reading about it? Like you can say it all day long but that don’t make it true. We really aren’t shown the how and why of anything. It just happens. I can understand when it’s ghostly stuff because well, ghosts. But there was nothing in the flashbacks to allude to this man’s magical powers.
5. Fuck that ending. For multiple reasons. But mostly what was the point of Vee dying? It didn’t accomplish anything. I think it would have been better for Lucas to kill Echo and sacrifice himself to save Vee, Audra’s ghost (why was she missing?!) magically gets rid of Halcomb’s ghost, Vee mends her relationship with her mom, and eventually finishes her dad’s book for him when she grows up. Dedicating it to Lucas and Audra. Like that cheesy ending would have been better than what we got.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicide, Murder, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Infidelity, Misogyny, and Sexual assault
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Blood
ttatt's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Murder
daria_morgendorffer's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-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
4.75
Wow. My head is still spinning. I really enjoyed this book. While I had a hard time getting engaged at first, the slow burn paid off as the story progressed. I didn’t love Lucas’ character and found him irritating, but a good book is supposed to evoke strong emotion, right? The book leaves some unanswered questions, but I like a book that makes you think about it long after you read the last page. This is my first Ania Ahlborn book and I can’t wait to read more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
patchworkwitch's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Murder
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Pregnancy
_bxllxe_'s review
dark
mysterious
sad
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? Yes
2.0
This was an extremely boring haunted house/cult/ghost tale. The length didn’t make sense, seeing as almost nothing happened. The ending was predictable, cliche, YAWN. I’m afraid this is the straw that broke the camel’s back; I wish Ania Ahlborn success, but I won’t be picking up any more of her books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Suicide, and Murder
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Blood, Car accident, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship
kaitlinlovesbooks's review
dark
sad
tense
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, and Pregnancy
archaicrobin's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-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? Yes
1.0
I’ve been wanting to read something by Ania Ahlborn for a long time because I’ve heard such great things about her books. Hopefully her other books live up to the hype because this one did not.
It starts off with a very interesting premise. Down on his luck true crime writer Lucas, gets the opportunity of a lifetime when a Manson family type serial killer (Jeffrey Halcomb) contacts him via letter with an offer for an exclusive interview IF Lucas will agree to live in the house where the infamous Halcomb murders took place.
Despite the odd request Lucas agrees and is eager to let his soon to be former wife leave for Italy with another man while he takes their 12 year old daughter Virginia with him to live in this house. Obviously things don’t go as planned and soon Lucas and Virginia are experiencing strange supernatural things in the house. The book jumps back and forth between the present with Lucas and his daughter, the. to the past where Halcomb and his cult family are invited to live in the house by its very dumb occupant Audra.
This book sounded like it would be SO good, and it was creepy here and there but honestly it was just boring. The characters were all unlikeable, so none of them were really enjoyable to read about. Along with dumb and annoying characters, the story was too long and nothing ever happened. There was so much time spent re-stating the same thing over and over and over again it was beyond tedious. Lucas was a bad father, Lucas felt bad for being a bad father. Lucas is a loser, he sucks, he feels bad that he sucks blah blah blah. That was mostly his inner dialogue throughout the novel broken up by Virginia’s inner dialogue about how much her parents sucked and didn’t love her and she’s always being ignored and blah blah blah. The ending was also very underwhelming and honestly didn’t really make any sense to me.
I gave this 1 star because I honestly would never recommend anyone read this.
It starts off with a very interesting premise. Down on his luck true crime writer Lucas, gets the opportunity of a lifetime when a Manson family type serial killer (Jeffrey Halcomb) contacts him via letter with an offer for an exclusive interview IF Lucas will agree to live in the house where the infamous Halcomb murders took place.
Despite the odd request Lucas agrees and is eager to let his soon to be former wife leave for Italy with another man while he takes their 12 year old daughter Virginia with him to live in this house. Obviously things don’t go as planned and soon Lucas and Virginia are experiencing strange supernatural things in the house. The book jumps back and forth between the present with Lucas and his daughter, the. to the past where Halcomb and his cult family are invited to live in the house by its very dumb occupant Audra.
This book sounded like it would be SO good, and it was creepy here and there but honestly it was just boring. The characters were all unlikeable, so none of them were really enjoyable to read about. Along with dumb and annoying characters, the story was too long and nothing ever happened. There was so much time spent re-stating the same thing over and over and over again it was beyond tedious. Lucas was a bad father, Lucas felt bad for being a bad father. Lucas is a loser, he sucks, he feels bad that he sucks blah blah blah. That was mostly his inner dialogue throughout the novel broken up by Virginia’s inner dialogue about how much her parents sucked and didn’t love her and she’s always being ignored and blah blah blah. The ending was also very underwhelming and honestly didn’t really make any sense to me.
I gave this 1 star because I honestly would never recommend anyone read this.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, and Murder