This book is something I thought I was hated while I read the first chunk of it. I dragged my feet. I barely read. I would go days without reading a single page. Then out of nowhere I was hit by how much I was in love with this book when I actually sat down to read it for real.
The book is pretty slow to start. The prologue seems a bit disjointed from the book at first, but was enjoyable. After that it felt like the book took FOREVER. That forever was really setting up the whole point of the book, but doesn’t mean I have to enjoy it. It really set things up wonderfully and when that first twist came, that is when I realized I loved this book. It was so different than any other book I have read. It was so new.
The way the rest of the story was told after the first twist was jarring and confrontational in a way that just gave the story life. It ebbed and flowed with the emotions. It was really wonderfully written. The characters and their motivations were clear. There were clear paths of actions, nothing was 100% out of nowhere. Everything had a place even if I didn’t know that the story was going to that place. I never felt cheated by a twist. The ending was even pretty wonderful.
The biggest issue I had with the book was the amount of gore that the horror aspect relied on. I can get behind some human torture gore when it makes sense. I really can’t get behind graphic deaths of dogs. This book had four graphic dog deaths (though it might be almost safe to say five honestly). The amount of time spent building up the suspense and the gore using these dog deaths really got to me. I can understand why the dogs had to die for the story to make sense, but most of the dogs could have been erased from the book without the story changing at all. So it just felt gratuitous. The horror in the second half was a bit more amped up and felt more terrifying, but the first half really can’t be discounted despite the slow start. The horror relied on gore in human and canine form for most of the horror. It was annoying and I felt like there could have been more, but murderous rampage is a genre I guess. I am just not the biggest fan of it. I adore the villain so I can forgive the methods (outside of the dogs).
The cover felt too plain to me when I first saw it, but it is probably the best fitting cover for this book. It is direct. It is raw. It really is the perfect cover. The ending really just sealed it for me.
Overall, the book was a wonderful read. The characters were vivid, things made sense, and the villain’s motivation made the most sense which is super rare in a horror
The book is pretty slow to start. The prologue seems a bit disjointed from the book at first, but was enjoyable. After that it felt like the book took FOREVER. That forever was really setting up the whole point of the book, but doesn’t mean I have to enjoy it. It really set things up wonderfully and when that first twist came, that is when I realized I loved this book. It was so different than any other book I have read. It was so new.
The way the rest of the story was told after the first twist was jarring and confrontational in a way that just gave the story life. It ebbed and flowed with the emotions. It was really wonderfully written. The characters and their motivations were clear. There were clear paths of actions, nothing was 100% out of nowhere. Everything had a place even if I didn’t know that the story was going to that place. I never felt cheated by a twist. The ending was even pretty wonderful.
The biggest issue I had with the book was the amount of gore that the horror aspect relied on. I can get behind some human torture gore when it makes sense. I really can’t get behind graphic deaths of dogs. This book had four graphic dog deaths (though it might be almost safe to say five honestly). The amount of time spent building up the suspense and the gore using these dog deaths really got to me. I can understand why the dogs had to die for the story to make sense, but most of the dogs could have been erased from the book without the story changing at all. So it just felt gratuitous. The horror in the second half was a bit more amped up and felt more terrifying, but the first half really can’t be discounted despite the slow start. The horror relied on gore in human and canine form for most of the horror. It was annoying and I felt like there could have been more, but murderous rampage is a genre I guess. I am just not the biggest fan of it. I adore the villain so I can forgive the methods (outside of the dogs).
The cover felt too plain to me when I first saw it, but it is probably the best fitting cover for this book. It is direct. It is raw. It really is the perfect cover. The ending really just sealed it for me.
Overall, the book was a wonderful read. The characters were vivid, things made sense, and the villain’s motivation made the most sense which is super rare in a horror