Reviews

Pedo Island Bloodbath by Duncan Ralston

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c_marie_writes's review

4.0

This one is hard to review, but I enjoyed it a lot.

Duncan Ralston writes some odd stories, and I have liked all the ones I've read so far. The fact that this one touches on some disturbing stories, very similar to some things that have been in the news, is cleverly delivered with the addition of vampires. The characters are all pretty well developed, and the storyline moves along just right.

A solid 4 star read.

echood's review

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

georgey1809's review

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

3.75

A very interesting take on the legend of Dracula and Van Helsing. Highly recommend if you're not sceeamish

craigmatthews87's review

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4.0

It's difficult to discuss too many details about the story, for fear of giving away some interesting reveals - but safe to say, the title of Pedo Island Bloodbath makes it abundantly clear what you're getting into, including associated triggers. While it isn't quite splatterpunk, it goes to some dark places with graphic scenes of SA and violence throughout.

The novel is a quick, engrossing read, with the ease at which I devoured it belying the 400+ page length. There's enough moments where the plot goes in an unexpected direction, or you learn of a major character's motivations & history, to hold interest throughout.

If the idea of classic, slow-burn horror - interspersed with moments of intense brutality and writing that can make you incredibly uncomfortable - is something that you're craving, then this is an easy book to recommend. The title and cover are about as subtle as a brick, and luckily Ralston's ability to deliver an enthralling story more than does them justice.

kristinahyams's review

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5.0

Another Masterpiece!!

This book had me laughing, crying, cussing and more. Duncan always has a way with his writing. The characters get down inside you and stay kicking around.

This one will do this for sure. Great mix of of gore, horror, intensity and cringe. Honestly could not recommend higher!!!

cyisreading's review

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slow-paced

1.0

Not going to lie to you, this bored me. And quite frankly disgusted me. I didn’t even get satisfaction at the end when the girls turned on their abusers because of how gross said abusing was. Nothing really grosses me out cause I read splatterpunk novellas just fine. But reading acts of children performing sexual acts on adults made me nauseous. It also really weirds me out that a grown man is writing about this in detail. When I first read this I thought it would be some sort of massacre of pedos. But the vampire element threw me off and to me didn’t fit well with the story even though that appeared to be the plot. If it didn’t take so long for the cruise to get to the island then maybe it would have been an interesting read.

delilahblues's review

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adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Holyyyyy shit.
This book is one hell of an experience. I’m going to be honest, I initially downloaded it because of the shock factor of the title. I’ve read a few other books by Ralston and loved them, this one is just as strong. I grew up on vampires and loved this take, with a lot of the common lore coming through. The title of the book is its own TW though and those scenes were definitely hard to read but don’t worry, the ending is satisfying. Although I read it on KU, I *will be purchasing a copy for my bookshelves.

Content Warnings