saraellenme's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Homophobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, and Torture
Moderate: Child death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Alcohol, Blood, Bullying, Death, and Grief
Minor: Drug use, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Drug abuse, Vomit, Violence, Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Gun violence, and Grief
mysterymom46's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Cursing, Rape, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence
Moderate: Stalking, Toxic friendship, Blood, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Self harm, Torture, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, and Death
Minor: Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Homophobia
Spoiler
graphic scenes, even with teen characters; lots of cursing and what could be read as blasphemy to some; biblical interpretation and views shared by religious persons; ghost-like appearancesarchaicrobin's review against another edition
- 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
2.5
Jack and her daughter are moved to a small town to be the new vicar. Once they arrive strange dolls, strange people, and strange bodies start to appear and soon Jack and her daughter Flo find themselves immersed in the towns’ secrets.
In my opinion there was WAY too much going on in this book for it to end well. You had burning ghosts, martyrs, rich people with influence over a small town, Jack had a dark past and secrets, her daughter had secrets, the church had secrets, the townspeople had secrets, and the initial set up for the town to be entirely in on the disappearances and strange deaths in the town never came to fruition.
Instead the last half of the book revealed a twist that just felt unexplained and random to me. I loved the first half of the book but the second half was so hard for me to get through and the ending just sucked. There was too many plot points introduced and twists thrown in that you could tell that beat the end the author was just trying to make sure she addressed them all.
I look forward to reading more books by this author but I’d say pick up Chalk Man over this one. 2.5 stars, just wasn’t enough to reach that full 3!
Graphic: Murder, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Violence, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Torture
mgordon3118's review against another edition
- 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
3.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Bullying, Ableism, Abandonment, Torture, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Rape, Pedophilia, Murder, Misogyny, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Dementia, Death, Child death, Blood, and Alcoholism