Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey

114 reviews

killmoore_'s review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I went into this as blind as possible, and I'm so glad I did. 

I loved everything about Just Like Home from the very first page - the imagery is rich and decadent, the characters mysterious and questionable. Mm. Chefs kiss. Gailey uses language that draws you in and holds you hostage as you follow Vera in two different time lines, working to unravel the mystery of the Crowder House and navigate the shattered remains of her relationship with her dying mother. It could have ended there - psychological and true crime adjacent, but no. Gailey gave us so much more.

The sharp turn into WTFville was sudden and absolutely amazing. I was not expecting this to take a hard dive into creature feature, and I could not have loved it more. I love a good "house as a character" storyline and this did not disappoint. This had me chanting "get his ass!" Alone in my room at 2am 😅

An atmospheric, spooky, wild ride. I would highly recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gore, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, and Violence

renyoi's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Brilliant atmospheric, suspenseful storytelling that builds up to its truly horrifying moments in intensely effective ways. The protagonist,

Spoiler

an unreliable narrator in the subtlest sense

, turns out to be the most horrifying character in the book, which was entirely unexpected for me. My only wish is that the “true crime” aspect had been more present in the book; as it is, we are told it is a constant presence in the Crowder family’s life but never shown it apart from weirdo James Duvall, who comes across more as a basket case than as a representation of society. 

Aside from that, though, this work is a thrilling, grisly, appalling turn on the “haunted house” and “serial killer” genres of horror. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Abandonment, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Child abuse, Mental illness, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

junowo's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

A rare 5 star read—Just Like Home was a book that actually left my heart racing. The writing is phenomenal, and the story takes a form I never expected from a book like this.
My one and only criticism is that the book isn’t particularly damning to the failures of the true crime community in a way that descriptions led me to believe. I struggle to tell if it would’ve fit into the book at all, though.
This was a great read around Halloween, playing well with both true crime style horror and supernatural horror.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Blood, Gore, Medical content, Self harm, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Murder, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Confinement, Body horror, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Vomit

beaubaggins's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Violence

oliviaclaire's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.25

Just Like Home has one of the longest buildups I've read in a while. You could probably start at page 100-125 and not have missed anything particularly vital to the story.  It drags so long that by the time the reveal is finally made at the end of the story I'd already been uninvested for too long to be pulled back into the ending. 

I also think I personally prefer horror stories where I can root for a hero or antihero but in this case Vera is utterly delusional and not at all likeable. The first of these issues is understandable but it means that the second causes real problems because I don't feel for her as a a character or want to excuse any of her bad behaviour.  I can't decide whether it's that Vera isn't written well enough for her ignorance about her father's justifications to read as sincere or whether she's supposed to be fully aware that she's spinning stories for herself. It also doesn't feature a complex father-daughter relationship at all. Vera's barely conflicted, she just idolises a serial killer. Only her relationship with her mum has much depth

Spoiler

and then we find out that that relationship isn't with her mother at all...

It feels like this book tries to do an awful lot. Every single character is not what they seem and no question that's raised has a remotely simple or straightforward answer. With so many mysteries unraveling all over the place in the second half of this book it's almost impossible for any of them to come to a full or satisfying conclusion.

Obviously, this story wasn't for me however I do want to commend Sarah Gailey's writing style. It's very atmospheric and her descriptions are very evocative. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Mental illness and Murder

brianna_moye's review

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Death, Gore, and Body horror

Moderate: Blood and Violence

alarrabee's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Abandonment, Mental illness, Child abuse, Murder, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Body horror, Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

queenginger's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, and Gore

schnaucl's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This was well written, but not my favorite of Sarah Gailey's novels.

Spoiler

It was strange to me that even as a child Vera never once thought that murder was wrong.  I get that she thought her dad was saving the men he killed, but she was old enough to understand what murder was and that it was wrong.   And dealing with the tension between love of her father and what it would mean to turn him in might have been an interesting thing to explore.

I did think having the house as an actual physical thing that protected her (and needed protection in return) was interesting.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Gore, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Emotional abuse, and Mental illness

bonniejpg's review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, Torture, Violence, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, and Child abuse