andimontgomery's review against another edition
3.0
This was a quick read, but it didn’t grab me as much as I had hoped.
alohabooksandbujos's review against another edition
4.0
A thriller that is simply unlike anything I’ve ever read before. Containing an intriguing setting woven with a blend of history and mythology. I have no doubt that if I was familiar or had background knowledge prior to reading, it would add so much more depth.
This was a dark and exciting story that was broken up with comment threads of news article which added a deeper element of relatability, suspicion, and broke up the plot with some outside perspective.
This was a dark and exciting story that was broken up with comment threads of news article which added a deeper element of relatability, suspicion, and broke up the plot with some outside perspective.
annarella's review against another edition
5.0
An excellent mix of paranormal and thriller that kept me on the edge and turning pages. It's well plotted and the South Africa background is fascinating.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine
friedatweehuysen's review against another edition
challenging
dark
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
4.0
I'm glad I finished this early this afternoon, if I'd finished it in the evening my dreams would have me in this dark place. Part of why this is more scary for me is that this is set in South Africa, with the people I'm often around believing this deeply, and that it is literally set around my place of work. I know these places, I ride the busses here, I walk these roads.
The story is very strong with complicated characters and push to know what happens next and how it ends.
The only negative I have is there was a section that was so similar to something in the Muti Nation book that seemed as if it was taken straight out of it.
The story is very strong with complicated characters and push to know what happens next and how it ends.
The only negative I have is there was a section that was so similar to something in the Muti Nation book that seemed as if it was taken straight out of it.
ecofriendly_bookworm's review against another edition
3.0
"The occult is a pseudoscience not easily explained in layman's terms. It changes often, is misunderstood, and accurate information is impossible to find."
Overview
Esme is an occult-crime specialist who studies all occult crimes and criminals. She works for SIRCIS, a company specializing in murder investigations, occult training, and everything paranormal. Sometimes they also lend their expertise to the African Police Service.
When a woman is found mutilated, Esme is called for her analysis. Soon, this case turns into a gruesome murder spree, with people being murdered with no rhyme or reason, and the killer with paranormal powers is now directly taunting her and the police.
Setting, Plot, World- building: The setting, the environment, or the tone of the book is very eerie, a kind of dark. This helps in elevating the murder plots. As the author stated, this book is a fictional tale with one foot in reality. This book felt exactly like that. It is set in South Africa, where people have been known to have dabbled in different kinds of magic. The world is both interesting and gruesome.
This is not a heart-pounding chase between a detective and a killer; I felt it was more close to reality, with a few clues, some false leads, and some gritty details. We follow Esme in her day-to-day life, both personally and professionally. I loved all the gritty details of this world.
"I expect monsters to do the things they're accused of doing, not regular human beings."
We get dual POVs, which is very interesting. The killer's character is what jumped out to me. Author has done an amazing job in getting us inside their mind and way of thinking. It also added a lot to the story and the setting.
Pace and writing: It took me some time to get engrossed in this. The pacing of the book is quite complex. When we are in a moment, then the pacing is medium, but when we go from one chapter to the next, sometimes we have very large jumps. Also, the thing that didn't work for me personally was that sometimes a person's first name was used for a few pages and then suddenly they were addressed using their last or middle names. These things left me quite confused, but not enough to take me out of the story.
Characters: We are introduced to multiple characters who work in different capacities on this case. Getting to know these characters a bit left me intrigued to find out more about them. As I understand, this is going to be a series, so hopefully we will get to see more of them. I particularly loved Esme's grandfather.
Esme's view of the occult is very relatable. She is not the one who blindly believes in magic, but she is also not the one who completely disregards it. Having worked on multiple paranormal cases, Esme acknowledges these things with a grain of salt.
The thing which left me a bit disappointed was my expectations of Esme and her capabilities. I did not agree with some of the decisions she took and, as I highlighted, I expected a bit more from her. Having said that, since this is the first book in the series, I hope she will get stronger, smarter, and more logical.
Please read through trigger warnings before picking this up.
I was kindly sent an ARC for an honest review.
Overview
Esme is an occult-crime specialist who studies all occult crimes and criminals. She works for SIRCIS, a company specializing in murder investigations, occult training, and everything paranormal. Sometimes they also lend their expertise to the African Police Service.
When a woman is found mutilated, Esme is called for her analysis. Soon, this case turns into a gruesome murder spree, with people being murdered with no rhyme or reason, and the killer with paranormal powers is now directly taunting her and the police.
Setting, Plot, World- building: The setting, the environment, or the tone of the book is very eerie, a kind of dark. This helps in elevating the murder plots. As the author stated, this book is a fictional tale with one foot in reality. This book felt exactly like that. It is set in South Africa, where people have been known to have dabbled in different kinds of magic. The world is both interesting and gruesome.
This is not a heart-pounding chase between a detective and a killer; I felt it was more close to reality, with a few clues, some false leads, and some gritty details. We follow Esme in her day-to-day life, both personally and professionally. I loved all the gritty details of this world.
"I expect monsters to do the things they're accused of doing, not regular human beings."
We get dual POVs, which is very interesting. The killer's character is what jumped out to me. Author has done an amazing job in getting us inside their mind and way of thinking. It also added a lot to the story and the setting.
Pace and writing: It took me some time to get engrossed in this. The pacing of the book is quite complex. When we are in a moment, then the pacing is medium, but when we go from one chapter to the next, sometimes we have very large jumps. Also, the thing that didn't work for me personally was that sometimes a person's first name was used for a few pages and then suddenly they were addressed using their last or middle names. These things left me quite confused, but not enough to take me out of the story.
Characters: We are introduced to multiple characters who work in different capacities on this case. Getting to know these characters a bit left me intrigued to find out more about them. As I understand, this is going to be a series, so hopefully we will get to see more of them. I particularly loved Esme's grandfather.
Esme's view of the occult is very relatable. She is not the one who blindly believes in magic, but she is also not the one who completely disregards it. Having worked on multiple paranormal cases, Esme acknowledges these things with a grain of salt.
The thing which left me a bit disappointed was my expectations of Esme and her capabilities. I did not agree with some of the decisions she took and, as I highlighted, I expected a bit more from her. Having said that, since this is the first book in the series, I hope she will get stronger, smarter, and more logical.
Please read through trigger warnings before picking this up.
I was kindly sent an ARC for an honest review.
moonlight_library's review against another edition
5.0
Murder, mystery, mythology, all things occult and supernatural - what's not to love?! This was a very interesting read, it was like reading a crossover of Criminal Minds and Supernatural! I love the seamless blend of reality, fiction, and mythology it really set the mood for what I was diving into. I also loved that we were able to take a peek at the criminal and get an inside look into his perverse mind and tragic backstory. Loved how descriptive everything was including the more gorey scenes, but I'm pretty into gore and blood as it is so this was a given. I really enjoyed this book and the writing I'll definitely be checking out more of Monique Snyman's work!
readundancies's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
This is, I believe, a republished and slightly altered version of Snyman’s previous work Muti Nation.
And while I agree with a lot of the alterations made, I am genuinely disappointed by this novel.
I had really high expectations that were cultivated in the beginning of this story and they quickly feel off the deep end.
Because at the beginning?
The differently styled chapters were working so well for me. And I was really into the premise of the story and how it was being laid out. It was very procedural and case focused, detective style and I hadn’t read something mystery focused like this in a while, so I got excited.
Sue me.
The highlights were the mythology and worldbuilding. I’m not familiar with very much about South Africa as a whole, and Snyman really eases you into the world she’s created while still keeping a lot of real world elements and languages and cultural beliefs embedded within the story. It was fast paced with worldbuilding that is tinged with a sardonic sense of humour and investigative procedure that I had been craving. The team of characters working in SIRCAS seemed to genuinely complement one another, and as a whole I was really enjoying the story and the writing.
But then I started having issue with the editing. There was a not infrequent amount of tense shifting, even from sentence to sentence that was noticeable and annoying.
AND THEN came something which did not need to be incorporated into the story at all in my opinion, the romance.
The love triangle coupled with the horrid character dynamics and interpersonal relationships are the worst part of this book. The characters, especially Esme in particular became immediately insufferable. Like we’re talking 180 degree turns on character dynamics which ruined everything for me.
This didn’t need romance and the fact that the romance is one of my biggest issues with this story says a lot. And yet, this story will probably work for a lot of people, I'm just not one of them.
So yeah, I’m pretty flipping bummed at the outcome of this story and just so you’re aware, this began a reading slump for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Death, Medical content, Body horror, Stalking, Torture, Violence, and Gore
Minor: Rape, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault
briyanadyer's review against another edition
3.75
Thanks so much to Vesuvian Books and Monique Snyman for the complimentary copy and I am voluntarily writing a review.
Dark Country follows an an occult expert and her team in South Africa as they try to try down a murderer who is suspected of a spree of ritualistic mutilations and killings.
I enjoyed this book overall. The premise of the book initially caught my attention and it was interesting to learn more about South African history of ritual killing and muti. I was really engrossed in the beginning, however the pacing didn’t quiet work for me and I found myself disengaging in the middle portion of the book before I got back into it with the ending. I did like the main character, Esme, overall but it was a bit vexing having her continuously rush into decisions and situation that she knew she was not prepared for. Overall, I thought it was an interesting read and would recommend it as a crime/horror hybrid.
Dark Country follows an an occult expert and her team in South Africa as they try to try down a murderer who is suspected of a spree of ritualistic mutilations and killings.
I enjoyed this book overall. The premise of the book initially caught my attention and it was interesting to learn more about South African history of ritual killing and muti. I was really engrossed in the beginning, however the pacing didn’t quiet work for me and I found myself disengaging in the middle portion of the book before I got back into it with the ending. I did like the main character, Esme, overall but it was a bit vexing having her continuously rush into decisions and situation that she knew she was not prepared for. Overall, I thought it was an interesting read and would recommend it as a crime/horror hybrid.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Sexual assault, Rape, Gore, Violence, Kidnapping, and Trafficking
bookingwithjanelle's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
The setting of this book was entirely new to me as I don’t know much about South Africa and its many cultures that influenced this book. It was interesting to read about the occult presence and how each character responds to the supernatural occurrences happening around them. As a true crime & murder mystery enthusiast, I was fascinated by the exploration of muti-murders & crimes in this book.
It took a minute to get into the story, but when it got rolling, it quickly gained speed and the next thing I knew, it was over…or was it? Snyman does a great job of keeping the reader engaged and interested in what is happening in the book. I really enjoyed reading it.
It took a minute to get into the story, but when it got rolling, it quickly gained speed and the next thing I knew, it was over…or was it? Snyman does a great job of keeping the reader engaged and interested in what is happening in the book. I really enjoyed reading it.
our_bookish_reads's review against another edition
dark
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Dark Country was an bewitching book that intertwines Dark Occult, South African mythology and history with Thriller! Monique Snyman's writing is similar to Stephen King and Graham Masterton.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
Please research TW/CW before reading.
Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
Please research TW/CW before reading.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Murder, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Death, and Medical content