Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Knock Knock, Open Wide by Neil Sharpson

11 reviews

wyabook234's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.5

Sharpson can be applauded for Knock Knock Open Wide, in which he managed to infuse Irish folklore involving the myth of the Puca and the biology of changelings into the meat of his story. It's too bad that the meat had to be distorted to give Ashling a deus ex machina so that she could come alive at the end. It can be argued that the logic of the plot completely collapses on itself by the end, with how Ashling gets away with murder and then comes completely unscathed as a reward.

There are a lot of eerie moments within the timelines of the Larkin family, and it manages to hook you within the mystery of members involved in the problem. The font change can be interesting regarding the presence of Fitts and how it interacts with the mortals. Even when there are still questions that feel unanswered, if you choose to ignore the small details, like the identity of the hit-and-run victim or what happened to Feidhlim by the end, whether he was dead or not. The romance between Ashling and Betty is sweet but not gripping when feeling their turmoil through the second half. This transfusion of ancient Celtic horror within a story of the plaguing curse is good but not great in execution. 
 

One of the most distressing moments of this story involves the appearance of an undead Gerry Land, who is making breakfast in the kitchen. This ghoul increases the dread for the end of the story and foreshadows a dark answer for Ashling's missing sister. This scene is tied with the one of the Changeling giving birth to Ashling at the end of the book in being the most unnerving within Knock Knock Open Wide, if still unsatisfying, for readers like myself. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

abelle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder

Minor: Animal death, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Suicide, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

dreadspawn's review against another edition

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

lynzertorte's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, and Murder

mhh831666's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

evrenee's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death and Sexual assault

jess2obsess's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense slow-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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Drug use, Sexual content, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, and Outing

sarrie's review against another edition

challenging 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? Yes

4.5

 

As far as horror books go this one was further into the creepy territory than horrific. The slow dread of somethin coming was strong, and the ‘oh god really?’ was a solid factor in the later portion. As far as staying power though? I’m not so sure on it. 

Knock, Knock, Open Wide has at it’s core the disappearance of a young girl and the kidnapping (years earlier) of a young woman. These two events are closely connected, horrifyingly so, and over the course of the book we find out why and how. It’s a story told over alternating time lines and view points and it moves quickly. Each section is broken into smaller sections which makes the whole thing fly by, so pacing in this is fantastic. 

The characters themselves have a fantastic voice, and I genuinely liked the humor and the interaction between our characters. Truly the only failing in this novel for me is that I’m simply not sure on the staying power. Because the horror wasn’t as intense as I anticipated this one sits more solidly in the creepy area and those books eventually fade for me. 

I do recommend this one, especially for fans of Irish Folklore and those books that have a slow creeping factor to the. The kids show that repeats through the story genuinely freaked me out - that part will stick with me. 

4 out of 5 Black Boxes - I ain’t going in there. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Domestic abuse, Rape, and Sexual violence

sarahweyand's review

dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

Thanks to Tor Publishing Group and NetGalley for providing me a physical ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and feedback are my own. 

When I finished reading this book, I remember my resounding thoughts being "damn, that was really good". And I'm devastated to say that now, a week and a half later, I've totally lost the plot. This book slipped out of my memory so fast. So I'm docking a few fractions of a star for staying power, but I did really enjoy this while reading, so I'll do my best to recap.

This book has a hell of a plot. So many seemingly unrelated points come together at the end to form a cohesive timeline and structure, which I was very impressed with. I really did have no idea where Sharpson was taking us half the time, and I always enjoy that in a good horror. Some of the imagery, especially the children's TV show, the night on the farm, and what happens during the climax, were especially unsettling and vivid and well-written. Slow burn folklore horror is perhaps one of my favorite horror subgenres, and I loved the Celtic/Irish influence here.

If I'm remembering correctly, there are a couple of questions that I had that were left unanswered in a rather unsatisfying manner (specifically about what happened to Etain that night), but I don't have  many complaints. Definitely a good addition to any horror-lover's TBR.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, and Sexual content

Moderate: Homophobia

sunshinestark's review

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail