Reviews with content warning for Child death - Shutter

Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Shutter by Ramona Emerson

24 reviews

pitbulls_and_prose's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

This definitely was a lot more “scary” than I imagined it would be, even though seeing ghosts is a major plot point. Some of the depictions were particularly gory and gruesome. This book could have benefited from some TW at the front…

I really loved the structure of this book as it weaved between past and present. How her childhood informed her adulthood. The mystery was pretty predictable though and that was a little disappointing. I also wished we got to know more about the main character. A lot of who she was as a child, but not who she was as an adult.

Nonetheless, this was a solid read, if not anything special. Could totally see this as a pretty decent thriller/horror movie. I would read more from this author in the future.

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eicart_reads's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

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chanel_elise's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad 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

1.5

This story had potential, a Navajo woman that can see ghosts and her occupation is a crime scene photographer, sign me up! Unfortunately, this fell short. The story could have benefited from more editing, as there was a lot of repetition. Also I can admire a person interest in things that I have little to no knowledge about, but this story spends so much time talking about cameras and photography that it began to make me skim read those parts. Too many characters that did not add value to the story or were quickly mentioned. As for the ghost seeing part, I thought that would have taken the bulk of the story but it did not.

The book goes from present to past events, alternating chapters of her current job/life to chapters about her upbringing and past. From reading the blurb I thought this book was going to be about a crime scene photographer that solved murders through getting clues from the victims ghost, and then Rita having to find creative ways of exposing the evidence without her explicitly saying “well the ghost told me.” This book is about one case and Rita’s struggle to live in a world that does not take her “gift” seriously. There are some disturbing details when Rita describes crime scenes and then goes on in live as if nothing happened. The tone was just off.

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awebofstories'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? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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lisaarnsdorf's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Having heard several interviews with the author, I was expecting a pretty gruesome book; she sure delivered. The opening was almost shocking in its explicit descriptions of a murder scene.

Overall, I really liked this book. My main complaints are: 1) the author uses an alternating timeline, with every other chapter being in the past and the present. As the two timelines converged, I started to get really confused about where we were in time. And the past timeline dragged on a little too long. 2) The ending was morally ambiguous and too convenient. It felt like a cop-out in some regards.

I hope this becomes a series because it's a really interesting premise!

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sasisaskia's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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mayhem9683's review

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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j_squaredd's review against another edition

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dark slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

I think they did a disservice by marketing this book as a thriller. It only gets fast paced and thriller-y in the last quarter. The first three quarters is quite slow with not a lot of plot.

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laughatlantis's review against another edition

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dark informative reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This book is part haunting & eerie ghost story, part fast-paced & gruesome crime thriller, part love letter to photography, and part insight into Navajo life & culture. Beautifully written, occasionally hard to read because of the depth of content. Fantastic.

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kmpuzzled's review

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mysterious reflective slow-paced

Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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