Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare

33 reviews

bowlsofpasta's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Death, Child death, Murder, Mass/school shootings, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Alcohol, Death of parent, and Drug abuse

hrb7917's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Murder, Blood, and Genocide

Minor: Drug abuse and Death of parent

dblue236's review

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

 The title and cover tell you pretty much everything you need to know about this book. It's part teen slasher, part satire, all gore, and I honestly kind of loved it despite itself. It reminded me of the movies I loved as a teen, and the "reveal" toward the end that made it feel more like satire added to the fun, rather than detracting from it. This definitely didn't move any mountains, but that wasn't the intent and sometimes that's okay. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Murder, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Suicide, and Drug abuse

Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Alcohol, and Vomit

elia_stucki's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Body horror, and Death

Minor: Drug abuse

twistykris's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

2.75

This book was a major disappointment for me. I was really hoping for a great, suspenseful read just in time for Halloween and while it was sort of a fun and quick slasher, that was about it. The characters were so underdeveloped that they blended together and I honestly didn't care for anyone, even the "good" guys. Another review said the adults were "borderline cartoonish" and I completely agree. Most of the kids were insufferable. The killer reveal was predictable and reasoning behind the major plot was... absurd.

 

1. The adults in the town hated a certain group of kids SO much that they decided to go on a killing spree (of which innocent kids were victims to) to "save" the town??? And then they tried to pin it on a kid whose sister died in a tragic accident a year ago (and whose dad hates him for it) and the girl who moved to this town 4 DAYS AGO? Make it make sense. 
2. The adults calling new-girl Quinn a "whore" and a "slut" when she's literally done nothing was maddening. 
3. I also feel like the timeline is so off. The Founder's Day incident happens and the adults who were in this "Make Kettle Springs Great Again" group now decide "let's go slaughter a bunch of kids." It just feels like everything happens SO fast that it doesn't make sense. 
4. Ronnie and Matt are just... in on murdering their friends? Because they want to be on the "right side of history"?? Makes 0 sense to me.
5. Cole and Rust's relationship felt oddly thrown in. Sure, they were childhood friends, but they don't get that much interaction with each other in the book. Quinn's POV suggested maybe everyone had a crush on Cole (as in Janet, Ronnie, and Matt), but even from Cole's POV there didn't seem to be any sort of romantic feelings towards Rust. A desire to reconnect, sure, but they were literally hanging out for the first time in years at the party. This doesn't feel like queer rep. 
6. And the ending with Cole's dad going to Cuba to "do the job right" was so confusing? How is him going to Cuba relate to killing his son? I think this was supposed to be a cliffhanger to lead into the sequel, but I was just left dumbfounded and confused.

And one of my biggest issues was the audiobook. I liked Jesse Vilinsky's narration in Seanan McGuire's Lost in the Moment and Found. But in this, the accents and the voice she gave for men and teenage boys was just distracting and at times the narration was so overly dramatic to the point it was hard to understand what she was saying.

I will not be reading the sequel, even after that (bizarre) cliffhanger epilogue.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Blood, Gore, Murder, Child death, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Grief, Death of parent, Police brutality, and Medical content

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders

zuzareads's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Drug abuse and Death of parent

lizzyspooks's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Gun violence, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Medical content, Drug abuse, and Death of parent

zenzi2read's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug abuse, and Mass/school shootings

ilaxaria's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Blood, Police brutality, Violence, Body horror, and Child death

Moderate: Drug abuse and Addiction

Minor: Bullying, Suicide, Medical content, and Racism

jackieyvette's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I've been on a little horror binge all month and came across this title on a TikTok video comparing it to slasher movies and I got to say this one is sitting pretty up there with the best of them. It was fast and fun and everything you need a high school slasher. The characters are believable and relatable and are people you knew in high school, too. I don't know too much about small town life, but I gotta say this one sounds a lot like what I know it to be like; battle of the generations. 
Cole and Quinn are great leads and the way their stories moved was great to read, even back ground characters were very compelling and it was sad to see some of them die

especially Tucker and Janet

. 
I heard it's getting made into a show/movie and I can't wait.


Crying score: nah.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Vomit, Stalking, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Murder, Blood, Child death, Death, Suicide, and Torture

Moderate: Drug abuse