Reviews with content warning for Drug abuse - Scanlines

As Max Booth III prefaces this book, there are a few of us who watched a lot of creepy and gross stuff on the internet. The mid-2000s was a weird time. I'm one of the people who saw Budd Dwyer's suicide video, and having that already in my head, it was very easy to get lost in Scanlines, and it did scare me quite a few times.

Scanlines begins in present day, with Rob Goodwin being the only surviving member of a friend group. In the 1990s, Robby, along with Jordan and Danny Chambers, accidentally download a video of a congressman committing suicide at a press conference. So much for Jenna Jameson.

As with me in the mid-2000s, the boys can't get that image out of their heads. They watched a man at rock bottom, as his life slowly ebbed away. Soon, they see his face on familiar bodies. His face has taken over their family members, their friends, teachers, etc. They need to find out more about this man whose face haunts their waking lives as well as their nightmares.

Scanlines is a novella, and therefore pretty fast paced. I got lost in the story and ended up finishing it in one sitting. The only (slight) criticism I have, is that I would have liked to see more of Jordan and Danny. I understand they lost contact with Rob in their young adult years, but I would have loved to see their points of view. (Maybe a spin off, Todd???)

And that ending... Spoilers below, so click on the warning with caution.

Spoiler

My favorite quote from this book was, "suicide is suicide, whether it happens in an instant or over a long stretch of time." Losing Robby to suicide after so long of him fighting made this book so bleak, and yet this is such a true quote. Suicide doesn't always have to be a quick thing.

I highly recommend Scanlines to anyone who had the internet in the mid-2000s. You know what I'm talking about.

Content Warnings

masscrafter's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

Content Warnings

madarauchiha's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

✨🌠 my about / byf / CW info carrd: uchiha-madara 🌠✨

What I expected. Reddit nosleep creepypasta levels of writing exploiting a suicidal man's death, with all the gimmicks and tropes well retread, written mainly to say 'first!' when it comes to a horror story about this dead man.

What I got. A delve into midwestern small town early 90s 00s depression fueled ableism towards mental illness and toxic masculinity, bootstrap mentality, and oh yeah, suicide horror. IS that a genre, suicide horror? I guess it'd fall under paranormal. Ringu was suicide horror, to a degree, innit desu? Let's call it suicide horror, a sub sub sub to the etc degree genre of paranormal horror.

Anyways, yeah it deserves the 4 star rating [as of writing this]. It's creepy, horrific, graphic, there's depth to it so you're thinking about it long after finishing, and it hits all the neat horror tropes but in a well done way. If you can handle suicide and child death, give it a go.

major addiction, asphyxiation, child death, gore, gun violence, psychosis, suicide

medium alcoholism, cancer, classism,

minor addiction, car crash, drug use marijuana and prescription drugs, gore, parental death, religion christianity?, religious bigotry, sexism, sexual content, usa 9/11 event, vomit

Content Warnings

More...