Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis

10 reviews

allisonsmith120's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicide and Cannibalism

herelieshenry's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

The first 75% is okay, the mystery being compelling enough to keep me from DNFing, but the characters are all rather unlikable and the writing is somewhat repetitive. However, the last 25%, and the ending in particular, are REALLY strong. I also think the unlikability of the characters was intentional, but I wish they had been made a bit easier to root for, especially Lola, in the beginning. I wouldn’t mind trying out the author’s other work in the future, provided the premise was interesting, but I don’t think I’ll actively seek it out.

Overall, I think the book pulled off what it intended to do.

I found the usage of three different characters suffering three distinct forms of abuse at the hands of a parent—Lorelei having experienced childhood sexual abuse, Lola being emotionally abused by Nolan her whole life, and Carter experiencing physical abuse from his mother—very effective, tying well into the themes of unreliability and of abuse taking many different forms, both layered into the potential supernatural elements as well.

I do wish the interview framing element had been utilized a little more, rather than just as book-ends, maybe even just one more segment of it in the middle of the book. Ultimately, I think this is a solid horror-adjacent YA mystery/thriller novel with some dark themes and heavy unreliability.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Incest, Suicide, and Sexual harassment

Hallucinations; Unreality

courtney_scott1025's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

I liked this book and am a sucker for a book set in Indiana as I grew up there. It just kind of fell flat in certain areas. I don't regret reading this, but I thought some of the ideas could have been a little better fleshed out. I also did not realize that this was about a teenager, and I wasn't super into the young love scenes. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

ruthmoog's review

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

4.25

Really gripping from the beginning, this had a quite unique setting and I was into it!

But in the end it was less of a horror spectacle than just a really sad story. 
The repeated use of "optimal" was irritating, I had thought Lola's behaviours were pointing to some neuro-spiciness but by the end I thought not so much. And still some mysteries were unanswered.
Loved the descriptions of the tree and the Jitterbugs.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Gaslighting

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Addiction, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Injury/Injury detail

Trauma, Sexual abuse, Missing persons, Grooming, Memory suppression

_readerfromtheblacklagoon_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective 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? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Death of parent

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gore and Suicide

persephonefoxx's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicide, and Murder

aileron's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Incest, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Suicide, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

readbydusk's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault and Suicide

onceuponabookcase's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

1.0

Quick fire review.
 

- Harrow Lake by Kat Ellis is the second book I read after craving some horror, but was again another disappointment.
- There are secrets being hidden in Harrow Lake, and those secrets become fairly obvious to the reader. And they're not great secrets. But they're nothing like what you expect. 
- From about half way through, you realise what kind of story this actually is, and that nothing is really going to come of it. And as a horror novel, it quickly becomes ridiculous. Why is Lola so fixated on the myth of Mr Jitters? When nobody else is.
- Harrow Lake is meant to be a horror, but it absolutely isn't a horror at all. People might want to call it a psychological horror, but I'd disagree. It would be a great book to read if you wanted to read about mental health and where the mind can take you. But as a reader, expecting to be scared, it was majorly disappointing.
- This book had one moment that was truly scary; when a puppet - the one of the cover - moves of it's own accord. It's a moment, and that's it. But once you realise what's actually going on, which is really obvious to the reader, so isn't scary at all. There was a lot of eye-rolling.
- I finished the book thinking, "Really? That's it?" Honestly, it felt like a waste of my time.
- I want to point out that my negative reaction is about this book being a horror and the aspects that were meant to be scary, not at Lola's mental health. This book should have been marketed differently, I might have had a completely different reading experience.
- Other people really enjoyed this book, so do read other reviews before deciding whether or not you will.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Suicide