A review by mattcolewilson
Mr. Splitfoot by Samantha Hunt
2.0
Endings in horror novels are notoriously hard to pull off, so I usually don't judge a story too harshly based on that alone. But this story repeatedly asks: "what's at the end?" — frequently heaping on the importance of the approaching conclusion. Most other elements felt loose and untethered, with an implied promise that the ending will click everything into place and make the long journey worth it. But it ends in an incredibly disappointing way. The story foreshadows its own ending and seemingly parodies its weakness early on. Which felt like an attempt at irony or maybe an overconfident "this story can pull it off" attitude. But it just did not work for me at all.
And the more I think about the overall story, the less I like it. There are some really, really interesting moments told through beautiful and lyrical writing. But there are also a lot of unclear and unbelievable character motivations and even a couple of unbelievable characters. And some of the terrible things that happen feel unearned and therefore a bit uninteresting. It's totally possible that I just didn't *get it,* but even the overall message of the story seems either indecisive or actually bad. So, uh, not a big fan of this one.
And the more I think about the overall story, the less I like it. There are some really, really interesting moments told through beautiful and lyrical writing. But there are also a lot of unclear and unbelievable character motivations and even a couple of unbelievable characters. And some of the terrible things that happen feel unearned and therefore a bit uninteresting. It's totally possible that I just didn't *get it,* but even the overall message of the story seems either indecisive or actually bad. So, uh, not a big fan of this one.