Reviews with content warning for Gore - Below

This novella is absolutely FANTASTIC and has convinced me that I need to read everything that Laurel Hightower writes. The character development takes centre stage without ever feeling forced or in your face, and the atmosphere is so creepy and unsettling. I loved the twists and turns and struggled to put this down. Instant 5 star read.

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petite_madeline's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

3.5 Stars

Deep in the mountains of West Virginia, Addy finds herself in a dark and horrifying reality.

This novella is not at all what I expected. I went into this book looking for a spooky story steeped in Mothman lore and horror. What I got was a spiraling dark and confusing trip through subterranean terror. I enjoyed it, but it's just not what I expected.
Initially, I was annoyed that all of Addy's internal dialog and advice was coming from the various men in her life. I kept thinking, "Why does she need these men to guide her? Why can't her character be strong on her own." But, without going into to much spoiling detail, by the end I realized that was the point of this story.
We love horror that has a deeper message!

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stephanieluxton's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

This book is about a woman travelling alone at night who has to make the decision whether or not to help a truckdriver who had helped her earlier after he has an accident the causes him to drive off a bridge. Also there's some supernatural shit going down.

I heard about this book on instagram reels and I picked it up because it was a short. My expectations were that it'd be a mothman type creature feature but it was so different from what I expected. It's not a traditional creature feature in which our characters are plainly stalked by a cryptid - it's more complex than that.

The ambience in this book is excellent. It reminded me a lot of the movie Barbarian in the sense that our protagonist is travelling alone and doesn't know whether or not to trust this man who is being kind and accomodating to her obvious skepticism.

What this book delivers is a wild ride. For sucha short book, it delivered some excellent little twists. Totally subverted my expectations.

Something this book does well is creating characters you care about in a short period of time.

The writing and dialogue was good. There were times where I felt a little confused regarding the characters surroundings but its a dark night so I suppose it's meant to feel disorienting.

It is a scary book. I almost finished it in one sitting just because I was nervous to go to sleep part way through. It's also fast paced and exciting and I was investing it what the hell was going on.

The first three quarters of the book are the best. The ending isn't bad. I think in horror it's often best to be left not understanding what happened rather than getting a big exposition dump but also I HAVE QUESTIONS. I WANT TO KNOW MORE.

Did she enter a portal to hell? Was Mads dead on impact? Wtf was up with the bodies in the truck?!!! Was Parker a real person or was that just the winged creature playing games? What was with the cryptic warning in the end by the smiling man and why didn't his warning have any bearing? Was this all a trial by a god to make her take control over her life more?

I want to know the answers to the questions but I also love speculating. The fact that we don't get all the answers ensures that the reasonings for the events of the book aren't stupid, I guess.

I would definitely recommend this book.

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emmyann2319's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.0

A nice fast paced spooky read. I would've liked more since there were all the different bits set up. (

The bit with the smiling guy, the trailer, and Mads' coworker hinted to a wider universe I wouldn't have minded seeing more of

)
And I loved the interpretation of

Mothman actually being like, a chill helper? And helping Addy in the end to escape a world that would never listen to her (I assume)

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nika_nix's review

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dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This one started off so strong but started falling apart towards the middle and it dragged a bit, as if an author didn't know where she was going with the story. I also really didn't like the ending at all. I also feel like the "feminism topics" were a bit too much on the nose. Still a thrilling and creepy horror with good gore imagery and a lot of dark and wintery vibes.

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