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aliciaparry's review against another edition
3.0
Omigosh I remember reading this! It was actually surprisingly gripping and very creepy to read.
outsmartyourshelf's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
Ever since her mother's death, it's just been Darla and her dad, Hopper. They move from town to town, often doing moonlight flits to avoid angry people that Hopper has cheated out of money during one of his scams. After the latest move, they find themselves in Saffron Hills, a town that Hopper seems to know but won't elucidate on, but Darla hopes they could finally put down roots. Hopper basically blackmails an old friend to be allowed to rent an abandoned house by the river, where the nearest neighbour is artist, Annie.
Many of the teenagers at her new school are good-looking enough to be models & Darla feels alienated. She manages to make friends with two of the less popular kids Sasha & Frank. Sasha is a rich kid but is in a state of rebellion, dressing goth & dyeing her hair whilst Frank is just well, Frank. Things start going wrong when several of the popular, rich, good-looking kids end up dead, murdered in fact, whilst Darla starts having strange visions where she sees the murders from the point of view of the killer & before they happen. The cops become suspicious of someone who keeps managing to find murder victims - you see it's not the first time a killer has been in Saffron Hills & the fact that Darla & her father roll into town just when the murders restart is the mother of all bad timings.
Darla is an OK main character, she is rather timid to be begin with but through what happens she does eventually become stronger & more able to stand up to people. Hopper is a bit of a drunken lech sad to say & sometimes I wanted to shake some sense into him - flirting with your daughter's teenage friends is not cool. Sasha is typically spoilt & only thinks about herself, whilst Frank is quieter but there's a bit of under-the-surface animosity between him & Darla over Sasha's friendship. Not sure why as she is a rubbish friend.
I started off suspecting one character early on but when something happened to them partway through the book it did throw me a bit. The only other character that I half suspected really didn't fit the profile until the ending when I thought "Oh no, we are not going where I think we're going are we?". Yes, we did. This book would have been 4 stars if it hadn't have been for that ending. Without giving it away, there was absolutely no lead up as to why the killer would have done what they did & it just all felt...wrong & just a bit lazy. It's well written up until that point & I did enjoy reading most of it, but the ending spoiled it for me & I can only award it 3 stars.
Many of the teenagers at her new school are good-looking enough to be models & Darla feels alienated. She manages to make friends with two of the less popular kids Sasha & Frank. Sasha is a rich kid but is in a state of rebellion, dressing goth & dyeing her hair whilst Frank is just well, Frank. Things start going wrong when several of the popular, rich, good-looking kids end up dead, murdered in fact, whilst Darla starts having strange visions where she sees the murders from the point of view of the killer & before they happen. The cops become suspicious of someone who keeps managing to find murder victims - you see it's not the first time a killer has been in Saffron Hills & the fact that Darla & her father roll into town just when the murders restart is the mother of all bad timings.
Darla is an OK main character, she is rather timid to be begin with but through what happens she does eventually become stronger & more able to stand up to people. Hopper is a bit of a drunken lech sad to say & sometimes I wanted to shake some sense into him - flirting with your daughter's teenage friends is not cool. Sasha is typically spoilt & only thinks about herself, whilst Frank is quieter but there's a bit of under-the-surface animosity between him & Darla over Sasha's friendship. Not sure why as she is a rubbish friend.
I started off suspecting one character early on but when something happened to them partway through the book it did throw me a bit. The only other character that I half suspected really didn't fit the profile until the ending when I thought "Oh no, we are not going where I think we're going are we?". Yes, we did. This book would have been 4 stars if it hadn't have been for that ending. Without giving it away, there was absolutely no lead up as to why the killer would have done what they did & it just all felt...wrong & just a bit lazy. It's well written up until that point & I did enjoy reading most of it, but the ending spoiled it for me & I can only award it 3 stars.
aestheticroxie's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
marjma2014's review against another edition
4.0
https://kyrosmagica.wordpress.com/2015/10/29/my-kyrosmagica-review-of-dark-room-by-tom-becker/
I’ve been participating in the #redeyereadalong on Goodreads, and this is the last book in the series, read during the week 26th October 2015 – 31st October 2015.
I joined in the readalong with mixed feelings as I am a bit of a novice horror reader – I tend to be a trifle scared of reading frightening stories – but astonishingly I have found it really fun and totally enthralling throughout. I whipped through those pages reading five books in super quick, heartbeat time! There have been moments when certain passages I’ve read have turned my stomach, or left me hugging my duvet for comfort but it has been such a positive experience overall. So thank you so much to Chelley who blogs at Tales of Yesterday and Heather from Heather Reviews for including me in this readalong.
My overall favourites are without a doubt, Frozen Charlotte from week 1 and this final book Dark Room from Week 5! So the best were first and last as far as I was concerned!
My review:
Dark Room certainly started off dark and sinister and that’s a fact. The Prologue tells the tale of Walter West, a rich young chap, but don’t be fooled this, he is no sweet boy next door! If you are friends with Walter West and you’re young and pretty, don’t pop over to visit, well not unless you want to be viciously murdered.
In Chapter 1 we are introduced to the main protagonist a sixteen year old girl called Darla whose life has been hard, with a capital H, she certainly hasn’t had a fairy-tale existence. Her dad hopper is a drunken, hopeless fellow who runs from one unhappy experience to another. Her mother Sidney killed herself. Darla runs away from yet another bout of trouble with her dad Hopper to Saffron Hills. She finds that Saffron Hills has its fair share of beautiful people, is obsessed with looking good, and is home to the Miss Saffron beauty pageant. Not exactly a place to make Darla feel at home as she is a fairly plain looking girl.
There are a bunch of mysteries to solve in this book so at times it came across more like a murder mystery than a horror story. Though there are elements of horror in Dark Room, the visions that Darla experiences are certainly horrible, and this sense of terror is amplified by Darla having no control over these frightening and disturbing visions. As the story unfolds she starts to try to take control of these visions, but more about that later…
Darla meets with her artistic neighbour Annie, who befriends Darla and Hopper. Annie is a fascinating character too with a hidden aspect to her personality that is revealed later in the novel.
When more beautiful kids are killed Darla’s personality changes, she becomes this courageous kid investigating, trying to stop another murder from being committed. That’s when I really started to love Darla, undoubtedly she is the best character in the book, the one that you can’t help but root for.
Photography is used in a creative way as a device in this book, to reveal the next murder, but is also used to suggest the nastiness of the beautiful crowd. In one particular scene TJ takes a selfie with Darla to ridicule her and other plain girls like her. Natalie, Gabrielle, Ryan, TJ, Carmen are beautiful on the outside, but inside they are mean, unlikable, thoughtless bullies. That is not a criticism of the book, the beautiful kids are meant to be portrayed this way, a message is intended to come across. Beauty is more than outward appearance it is what you hold in your heart. The cruel message finally gets through to one of the beautiful kids, who eventually turns over a new leaf.
Darla’s friend Sasha is an interesting but flawed character. She is pretty but in a non-conformist, punk style of way. She is also quite unlikable, and comes across as pretty uncaring, and glib, until one of the kids who she is secretly fond of in the beautiful clique gets murdered. Frank appears to be Sasha’s errand boy, but even Frank has a side of him that is kept a mystery.
So a very intriguing story, full of mysteries, secrets, it kept me wondering, guessing… I guessed the murderer then I changed my mind, then I guessed again… Lots of excitement.
The ending was good but perhaps a bit far fetched so instead of a 5 star read I’ve reduced it by half a star!
Would I recommend reading this?
Absolutely, if you can stomach it! The murders are visually gruesome, made me flinch in parts but nevertheless I found Dark Room very absorbing. So go out and get a copy… Just don’t do any selfies for a while…
Warning: Not For Younger Readers.
My rating:
4.5 stars
I’ve been participating in the #redeyereadalong on Goodreads, and this is the last book in the series, read during the week 26th October 2015 – 31st October 2015.
I joined in the readalong with mixed feelings as I am a bit of a novice horror reader – I tend to be a trifle scared of reading frightening stories – but astonishingly I have found it really fun and totally enthralling throughout. I whipped through those pages reading five books in super quick, heartbeat time! There have been moments when certain passages I’ve read have turned my stomach, or left me hugging my duvet for comfort but it has been such a positive experience overall. So thank you so much to Chelley who blogs at Tales of Yesterday and Heather from Heather Reviews for including me in this readalong.
My overall favourites are without a doubt, Frozen Charlotte from week 1 and this final book Dark Room from Week 5! So the best were first and last as far as I was concerned!
My review:
Dark Room certainly started off dark and sinister and that’s a fact. The Prologue tells the tale of Walter West, a rich young chap, but don’t be fooled this, he is no sweet boy next door! If you are friends with Walter West and you’re young and pretty, don’t pop over to visit, well not unless you want to be viciously murdered.
In Chapter 1 we are introduced to the main protagonist a sixteen year old girl called Darla whose life has been hard, with a capital H, she certainly hasn’t had a fairy-tale existence. Her dad hopper is a drunken, hopeless fellow who runs from one unhappy experience to another. Her mother Sidney killed herself. Darla runs away from yet another bout of trouble with her dad Hopper to Saffron Hills. She finds that Saffron Hills has its fair share of beautiful people, is obsessed with looking good, and is home to the Miss Saffron beauty pageant. Not exactly a place to make Darla feel at home as she is a fairly plain looking girl.
There are a bunch of mysteries to solve in this book so at times it came across more like a murder mystery than a horror story. Though there are elements of horror in Dark Room, the visions that Darla experiences are certainly horrible, and this sense of terror is amplified by Darla having no control over these frightening and disturbing visions. As the story unfolds she starts to try to take control of these visions, but more about that later…
Darla meets with her artistic neighbour Annie, who befriends Darla and Hopper. Annie is a fascinating character too with a hidden aspect to her personality that is revealed later in the novel.
When more beautiful kids are killed Darla’s personality changes, she becomes this courageous kid investigating, trying to stop another murder from being committed. That’s when I really started to love Darla, undoubtedly she is the best character in the book, the one that you can’t help but root for.
Photography is used in a creative way as a device in this book, to reveal the next murder, but is also used to suggest the nastiness of the beautiful crowd. In one particular scene TJ takes a selfie with Darla to ridicule her and other plain girls like her. Natalie, Gabrielle, Ryan, TJ, Carmen are beautiful on the outside, but inside they are mean, unlikable, thoughtless bullies. That is not a criticism of the book, the beautiful kids are meant to be portrayed this way, a message is intended to come across. Beauty is more than outward appearance it is what you hold in your heart. The cruel message finally gets through to one of the beautiful kids, who eventually turns over a new leaf.
Darla’s friend Sasha is an interesting but flawed character. She is pretty but in a non-conformist, punk style of way. She is also quite unlikable, and comes across as pretty uncaring, and glib, until one of the kids who she is secretly fond of in the beautiful clique gets murdered. Frank appears to be Sasha’s errand boy, but even Frank has a side of him that is kept a mystery.
So a very intriguing story, full of mysteries, secrets, it kept me wondering, guessing… I guessed the murderer then I changed my mind, then I guessed again… Lots of excitement.
The ending was good but perhaps a bit far fetched so instead of a 5 star read I’ve reduced it by half a star!
Would I recommend reading this?
Absolutely, if you can stomach it! The murders are visually gruesome, made me flinch in parts but nevertheless I found Dark Room very absorbing. So go out and get a copy… Just don’t do any selfies for a while…
Warning: Not For Younger Readers.
My rating:
4.5 stars
anthea287's review against another edition
4.0
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book will be published on 10th September 2015
I didn't really know much going into this book, apart from it was about a serial killer and selfies? What? I was intrigued. I thought it would be ridiculous, but it was surpringly nothing like what I expected. It was dark, creepy and chilling. I could see it being a horror movie, I could picture the gory details of every murder scene so clearly in my head. It has to be one of the creepiest books I've ever read.
Full review on my blog:
http://originalbooker.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/dark-room-tom-becker.html
This book will be published on 10th September 2015
I didn't really know much going into this book, apart from it was about a serial killer and selfies? What? I was intrigued. I thought it would be ridiculous, but it was surpringly nothing like what I expected. It was dark, creepy and chilling. I could see it being a horror movie, I could picture the gory details of every murder scene so clearly in my head. It has to be one of the creepiest books I've ever read.
Full review on my blog:
http://originalbooker.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/dark-room-tom-becker.html
melbsreads's review against another edition
3.0
Trigger warnings: death, blood, gore, violence, death of a friend, murder, suicide (in the past), death of a parent (in the past), parent with addiction issues, .
If I had to describe this book in one word, it would be "basic". Like, it was a perfectly fine teen slasher story. But there was also essentially nothing to make it stand out from any number of 90s teen slasher movies. It was fast paced and very readable. But the characters had almost no distinguishing characteristics, the writing was just okay, and I guessed who the murderer was very early on in the piece.
And then you get to the plot twist, and YIKES.
Spoiler
transphobia, I guess? It was weird, y'allIf I had to describe this book in one word, it would be "basic". Like, it was a perfectly fine teen slasher story. But there was also essentially nothing to make it stand out from any number of 90s teen slasher movies. It was fast paced and very readable. But the characters had almost no distinguishing characteristics, the writing was just okay, and I guessed who the murderer was very early on in the piece.
And then you get to the plot twist, and YIKES.
Spoiler
Okay so basically, 20 years earlier, a rich teenage boy in this small town was killing beautiful teenage girls. He got busted, and his dad was all "Oh no, so sad, he hanged himself and he's dead, no trial can take place what a shame". Except that what actually happened is that his dad helped him flee the country. He ended up in Brazil where he HAD GENDER REASSIGNMENT SURGERY and eventually moved back to the small town as a woman to resume murdering teenagers. And, like, WHY??? WHY WAS THAT NECESSARY?? Did we go to the JKR School of Villain Creation??? It doesn't even make any fucking sense! At no point is there a reveal that, say, he was killing teenage girls because he's jealous of them or whatever. So why not just get plastic surgery to look different? Or why not make it that the murderer's sister is the killer this time around?? Like...there are many alternative plot twists that aren't as gross and problematic, and I don't understand why the author didn't go with one of those.jadesreads's review against another edition
3.0
I didn’t have any opinions going in but I am very happy with this book. The whole aspect of the original killer being dead or not and finding out who it is now, loved it. I did not expect how it ended at all and I absolutely loved it.
nerdybooklady's review against another edition
3.0
'Click.....click.............click!'
Darla and her Daddy Hopper find themselves in Shady Pines where her Mum ran away from. Life is never easy with her Dad but she's hoping this time it sticks. Until she starts having scary visions of someone murdering the good looking kids from her high school! Now everyone thinks the new girls a freak who keeps finding bodies..... Who is the Angel Taker? Is is Walter West back from the dead or does someone have a vendetta to settle??
Horror is not something I read often
....or at all tbh but thankfully this wasn't scary at all apart from the murder scenes.....in fact this book is super tame I found it a bit boring in places and its pretty average until someone gets murdered, then goes back to been average again. Its an ok read though. Has a bit of a twist at the end and that surprised me. It was a bit predictable though and made me think of a B rate teen slasher movie. Think Scream but not as good and you have the basic storyline. Good for me though, the horror wimp!
Darla and her Daddy Hopper find themselves in Shady Pines where her Mum ran away from. Life is never easy with her Dad but she's hoping this time it sticks. Until she starts having scary visions of someone murdering the good looking kids from her high school! Now everyone thinks the new girls a freak who keeps finding bodies..... Who is the Angel Taker? Is is Walter West back from the dead or does someone have a vendetta to settle??
Horror is not something I read often
....or at all tbh but thankfully this wasn't scary at all apart from the murder scenes.....in fact this book is super tame I found it a bit boring in places and its pretty average until someone gets murdered, then goes back to been average again. Its an ok read though. Has a bit of a twist at the end and that surprised me. It was a bit predictable though and made me think of a B rate teen slasher movie. Think Scream but not as good and you have the basic storyline. Good for me though, the horror wimp!
missbooklove's review against another edition
5.0
OMG! I don't think there are words to describe my love of this book ! I simply love red eye ! They never fail with their books I have read all of them and have been equally terrified with all but this book just tops my list I usually can tell the killer and guess the "plot twist" but this kept me guessing till the very last page ! I will definitely be purchasing my own copy when it's released ! I would highly recommend this to anyone that loves he's a good creep or a good mystery ! I have three last words for the author and publisher of this book I NEED MORE!