vanishing_librarian's Reviews (464)

This is a story about a historian and an archaeologist who take on the quest to find out more about a secluded town where the people never leave and lock themselves in at night because they are scared of the creeper. If you are to believe the story you will see him three times before he will kill you. So better stay inside and cover your windows! 💀

The premise of this story sounds really mysterious and creepy, so I really wanted to pick this one up!

Overall, I did enjoy the time I had with this but what I didn't like was that the real "action" only started about 60% into the book. Before that, it was quite slow in my opinion. Also, I was a little bit disappointed because for me there was only one scene I found to be really creepy. Everything else "just" felt like a mystery novel to me instead of a horror novel. I wish there would have been more scary instances throughout the book. The characters were also not really loveable to me (but that might have been intended by the author?). The only people I liked in the book were Ben's parents and you only meet them once for like 2 seconds.

Nonetheless, I did like the story and how it turned out in the end. Also, I did enjoy the writing as well! 

Wow, this was intense! This is a story about a couple who decides to go on one last trip before the baby comes. In the guest house, they are staying in, they get to know Fiona and Barry who are desperate to have a child after their own boy died years ago at two years old. What will they do to get the child they want?

The story starts off really strong! I enjoyed the jump between timelines - it makes it just feel a little more real and gets you invested to find out what happened. Throughout the book, I really felt a lot of empathy for the couple and what happened to them (even though I am not a mother). But while the story was really engaging up until the big twist, it just went quite a big downhill from there in my opinion. The idea was pretty good but I just felt a disconnect to how the last part of the novel was concluded. There are some (in my opinion) very irrational choices made and I just didn't really like/understand the reasoning for the things that happened.

Nonetheless. I did like how the ending did not just stop after the reveal but gave a little more details on what happened after it and how it might continue. I always appreciate it when stories don't just stop abruptly but instead try to give a little bit of close.

3/5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an advanced copy of this for an honest review! 

Not sure if anyone needs another summary of this novel since it is considered a classic horror and there have been movie adaptions for it. But in short: This is about a few people getting invited into a house that might be haunted and develops into a story about madness.

I did really like the writing but I have to admit that I expected to be more scared and creeped out by this novel since it is talked about so much in the community. The story felt just a little weird and like a game of hide-and-seek instead of a proper horror story.

Still, I am happy to have read this now, so I can go on and watch the movie and series! :D 

This was quite a scary and creepy novella! Quite enjoyed it even though I did struggle a little bit to imagine everything that was happening in the main part of the story and the ending was a little too abrupt for me. But since I am only getting into horror recently, this is probably more a me problem and not a book problem!

Overall, this is about a 3,5 star read for me! 

Well, this was just absolutely weird! I did not really know what I was expecting before I picked this up apart from the fact that there are two people having conversations online and something horrific is going to happen.

Both of these things did happen in the story but I was absolutely not expecting it to get as weird as it did. Nonetheless I was hooked and wanted to know what will happen in the end!

Without giving any spoilers: I was expecting more from the end. For my taste it just ended too abruptly. Bit maybe that’s just because I am used to reading full-length novels?

Still, if this sounds interesting to you - go for it! It’s definitely worth a read. But maybe check out content warning first - this gets pretty gross occasionally. 

 This was the first novella I read by Stephen King and I was expecting a little more from it than it delivered.

What I liked:
- The writing: I quite enjoyed Stephen Kings writing - as I did in the outsider as well - usually his books are quite a slow burn and lengthy (see thoughts on that below) but the writing itself is really enjoyable

What I didn't like:
- The Length: This is a novella but I still found myself waiting for it to be over and skimming parts of it
- The characters: Even though I thought the descriptions of the place and characters were done pretty well, I still couldn't really empathize with anyone in the story
- The ending/The twist: I think the issues I had with the length and the missing empathy also lead to me not really enjoying the twist and the ending. To me, it didn't really feel "horrific" enough for a horror novel.

I just haven't yet found the right Stephen King novel for me it seems - so I will keep searching!