Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare

44 reviews

chezler24's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

3.5

"Quinn took comfort in that. The fact that history bent toward progress, no matter how hard the assholes tried pushing back." (p. 336)

If you want a straightforward slasher to entertain you, then Clown in a Cornfield is the book for you! This book just screams summer slasher!  Quinn's dad uprooted her life to move to the small town of Kettle Springs, Missouri. She wanted to stay invisible and make it to the end of her senior year; however, making it to graduation and actually *surviving* seemed to be a bit more of a challenge. Quinn and her dad accidentally find themselves in the crossfire of a major clash between the older and younger generations of the town. While the slasher and thriller aspects were executed perfectly, I wish the backstory and characterizations had been more fleshed out before getting to the bloody meat of the story. Quinn felt a little bit of a standard final girl, Cole was a popular kid with a sad backstory, and Rust was a loner country kid cast aside by the "popular" kids. I would have loved more time setting up their backstories instead of dealing with the annoying kids who kept shoving cameras into everyone's faces. (I understand why they had to be annoying, but I was slightly over them before the prologue ended.) Regardless, I'm still rounding up to 4 because it felt very much like a slasher I would devour with my friends in the summertime. The book does leave room for a clear sequel so I'm interested to see where book two and the eventual book three will take our remaining cast of characters. 

3.5/5 stars rounded up to 4 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Death, Gore, and Child death

Moderate: Addiction, Gun violence, Alcohol, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Police brutality, Death of parent, and Suicidal thoughts

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

wganas4's review

dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Body horror, Murder, and Police brutality

Moderate: Grief, Kidnapping, Cursing, Medical trauma, Medical content, Sexual harassment, Addiction, and Death of parent

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Cancer, Suicide, Bullying, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, and Car accident

nikrib's review

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Gore, Death, Alcohol, and Murder

applerose301's review

funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

fr0gsonmushrooms's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense medium-paced

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

4.0

At first, I wasn't excited to be reading "Clown in a Cornfield" because I thought it was just another YA thriller, but I found myself enjoying it once I got past the first third of the book. I especially enjoyed the gore, which was totally unexpected. The story was fun and way better than I thought it was going to be.

I wanted Janet and Quinn to get together (especially after reading Janet's POV), but I guess that's not the case. On the other hand, I was surprised that Rust and Cole ended up together. Usually author's drop hints about a possible relationship but the hints for these two was really reading between the lines. I still want to know if they were secretly dating or if was that there has always been feelings and they just confessed at an interesting moment. I like the second possibility better so that’s what I’m going to believe.

I don't know how to feel about this ending. It definitely sets up the book for a sequel, but the epilogue felt like it was trying too hard. Nevertheless, I'm still probably going to buy the book to annotate and also read the other two books in the series.

This was the first time I digitally read a book so that played a role in me taking so long to read it (also the fact books over 400 pages intimidate me lol), but I still recommend this book to anyone looking for a good thriller.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Death, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Alcohol and Death of parent

kikis_a_book_wh0r3's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

This was a really good story. Adam Cesar definitely keeps you on your toes and gives an amazing anxiety ridden tale of small town folks going crazy. Ultimately I feel like this would be a plan that MAGA would try to pull. Scary to think about. Its genocide but kept local? Lol I love that the ending sets it up for a sequel in true movie ending form!! A perfect nod to the classic slasher films. The audio performance was great as well! Definitely going to be checking out 2 & 3!!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Genocide, Body horror, Confinement, Gun violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Violence, Grief, Police brutality, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, and Bullying

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

kromez7's review

dark lighthearted mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Mass/school shootings, and Violence

Moderate: Drug use, Alcohol, and Fire/Fire injury

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