natreviews's Reviews (445)

Man... What to say about this book...

It reads really well. It respects the victims, and doesn't go into too much detail about the murders itself, just enough to tell you what happened. I will put a Trigger Warning: sexual assault, rape, murder, assault, harassment, and necrophilia are all in this book.

For me, none of it super hit until the epilogue. That last paragraph or two made it real.

I will also say that Vanessa balances well the good and the bad, the victims stories with her personal story. I just have to say go read it for yourself. Vanessa Brown took her time and did amazing research into the case, which is an achievement of its own.

This book was written to bring back interest into the case, and like the Golden State Killer, hopefully get enough interest to warrant modern DNA testing. I hope one day that all of the families get closer, and that the Forest City Killer is caught.

This book is a great example of how you write horror.

It’s amazing to see what came from the r/nosleep story. I’ve only read the first couple of chapters of the online version, and after hearing about this from the Jenna and Julien Podcast, I thought fuck it and ordered it.

This book is grounded in reality, with a supernatural twist. It balances this very well, making you actually terrified because you feel this could happen to you. You become half-way through the book where you feel that it should end, but it keeps on going. For a good reason. It kind of answers the question of “What happens to the characters after they escape the monster?”

Now I will say, I found the ending to be a little weak. I like the ending, don’t get me wrong. The epilogue though felt a little too good feeling for me.

This will not deter me from giving it 5/5 though. Honeslty, if you can read this book. I will also give credit to the little piece at the end about having non-Indigenous peoples writing a out Indigenous peoples. He didn’t need to add that, but I love how he felt he needed to. Wish more authors would do this.

Let’s start by saying that this book is amazing. Originally created as 4 short stories, each chapter helps to continue the story in a captivating way. Yes, information is repeated between chapters, but when you know how this novel was originally written it makes sense.

I think the writing was smart, funny, and engaging. You are first introduced to Villanelle and then Eve in chapter 2. This helps to show the disconnect between the two, as well as how they take an equal part in the story in later chapters.

A lot of people are comparing this to the show. They are two SEPERATE stories. They vary greatly. I still think Jodie Comer was a great casting choice for Villanelle and Sandra Oh a great choice for Eve (although in the book she is 29, in the show she is in her 40’s). This leads me to say if you don’t compare the show to the book and just enjoy both stories as they are, they are both really good. Neither one diminishes the other. They are just different stories that make sense per each format. Things move slower in the books and quicker in the show. The storylines are quite different, but they both work. I’d compare this a lot to the book and movie plots of The Perks of Being A Wallflower. Both have enough in common to say they are related, but a lot has been changed for the screen. That’s okay.

I’m excited to read the next book and continue the story!

Ever since I was a child, I have been facinated by the Titanic. I got this book... probably around 2013? I’ve finally been able to finish it in 2020, 108 years after the sinking.

Yes, there are some historical inaccuracies, but that doesn’t get in the way of my enjoyment of the book.

I love how there are around 20 different perspectives featured in the book. I also loved how it was written in prose. Did it need to be? No. Did I mind that it was? No.

As the author states at the end of the book, this is ment to appeal to the humanity in all of us. Instead of focusing soley on the ship, you are transported as each of the passengers, a ship rat, iceberg, and much more. In the final chapters you can feel the dispare. I also loved how at the very end you could read the stories of the real life people the book takes inspiration from. I will be reading this book again, and would recommend it to anyone who is curious about the people of the Titanic.

PS. The cover is amazing. As someone who does graphic design professionally, the design of the cover is amazing.