Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Guía del club de lectura para matar vampiros by Grady Hendrix

104 reviews

tiffany_bush's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? No

2.5

***May contain spoilers***
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This seemed more like a mystery or drama. The ladies of the book club were all shallow and gossipy. They were all quick to turn on each other and of course their husband's didn't believe them.  There were some areas were I thought the vampire parts were going to grow but fell short. I could have lived without ever reading this book. There was only 1 vampire not mulitple in this book. I can see how the vampire could be used as a symbolism of the true monster that people allow and trust in their lives.

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mxicnvnilla's review against another edition

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dark sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

If you enjoy reading about women who are written by men and are given no backbones, this book is for you. As a woman reading this, I felt myself getting frustrated waiting for the women in this story to stand up for themselves and fight back against the husbands who dismiss their feelings/concerns and make them feel like they are stupid women who have big imaginations. They are dismissed throughout the story and made to feel so small about themselves.

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rskey's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

1.5


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coldheartedbirch's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
i was expecting dark and gorey, but lovable moms fighting evil. what i got was actually one of the worst books i’ve read in years with ZERO likable characters. there’s really only one successful creepy/scary moment (aside from how their husbands treat them) as he’s prone to extremely overdone and campy horror scenes that were more laughable than anything. 

rampant sexism, crazy slow book into a way-too-fast, terrible wrap up, lots of things that make no sense, just not good. read Anything else. 



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emilayday's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced
  • 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

4.0


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caiterlenbachreads's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated

1.5


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fkshg8465's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Much better than I thought it was going to be, mostly because I found the title so ridiculous. Turns out that the book was a lot of fun to read and that the title is very apropos. It was a little longer than I would’ve liked - I would’ve removed some of the events, maybe even whole chapters, because the first third of the book had me rolling my eyes. But I had enjoyed How to Sell a Haunted House, so I stuck with it, and I’m so glad I did.

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themdash's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

4.0

Dear god please check the content warnings.

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ashleymwisk's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I would rate this higher if it weren’t so gruesome, with so many disturbing & triggering scenes. Had someone clued me into those, I would have skipped this book.

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themelaniewaite's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

After reading Horrorstor, I decided Grady Hendrix was an author that I wanted to delve more into and read the rest of his catalogue; it just so happened that this was the next book I found. This book is full of everything I craved in a story - horror, gore and that added level of gaslighting the person that knows too much. The symbolism of the peaches from the cover to the tale that Miss Mary has to share adds a sickly tone to the story, but in such a satisfying context. 
One of the moments in which I knew this was going to be a favourite and well-paced plot was the way it didn’t hesitate with throwing in the drama; it also didn’t waste time with figuring out the bad guy, though in all of the gaslighting of Patricia, the main character, I even found myself questioning if the story would switch direction and the villain wasn’t the villain after all. There is a time jump partway through that kind of threw me for a minute, but it was such a brilliant way of showing James Harris assimilating to the area and gaining the trust of those that lived there - especially the husbands. It is so well executed, how the dynamics changed in the group over time, to the point of the men having even taken over the book club. Once again adding this suffocating undertone that the women cannot have anything without it being run by the men first - including the one thing that the woman had to themselves: their books. It’s almost like the troubles/concerns and accusations of the past have been long forgotten because the men are thriving. So when that starts being questioned again, it’s like a race against the clock to get everyone to believe Patricia again. 

There were a few moments and subplots, I guess, that I feel like could have been taken out, as they felt unnecessary or could have been changed to fit the story better. 
The first is Blue being obsessed with Nazi Germany. I might be missing something here, maybe it was a popular topic to be interested in during that era; maybe a lot of boys in the 90’s did have a large fascination. I was an infant during the time this was set - so I don’t know. 

I didn’t like the inclusion of S/A of one character. It didn’t really add to the plot other than giving all of the women reason to now believe/help Patricia. The character could have been bitten or attacked in some other form that would cause her to potentially “turn”, but it felt distasteful and out of character of James to have S/A’d her just to prove a point. It could have been handled very differently, in my opinion.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was absolutely hooked and would recommend it to anyone wanting to get into Hendrix’s work. No story is without its flaws, but I think the overall storytelling of this outshines the rest - in my opinion. 


TW: S/A, child abuse/sexualisation, gore, blood, rats, gaslighting, D/V mentions, death, mental health, racist undertones. 

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