Rebel Town Reviews [OPEN]

The Voices - (Full) @TSTurcotte

The Voices (Full) by 

Reviewed by ESHurricane

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Overview

The Voices is a total creepshow, a slow burn of terror that snuck up on me and built and built and built without ever really smashing me over the head. Once I realized I was creeped out, it was too late, and I was strapped in for the ride.

**IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THIS BOOK, DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW! JUST GO READ THE BOOK. DO IT.**

The book centers on Janna, a woman that hears voices in her head like a schizophrenic. As the story wears on, she reveals more and more of her past with her abusive family. The voices get more specific and weird things start to happen in her house, that makes her (and the reader!) question everything that's happening around her.

Cover/Title

The title is extremely fitting, because there are voices in her head, but also keep the truth of the story hidden because it's not super specific. The cover is dark and terrifying, with an anguished face looking like it's inside of the top of a head. Above 'THE VOICES' it says 'do you hear' which definitely sets the tone for the story.

Summary/Description

The Summary is a little long for such a short story. I like it, and it drew me in, but I feel like it might be necessary to have an excerpt at the beginning here. The simplicity of the cover and title give it such a mysterious tone, and I feel like it's diluted by the overly long summary.

However, the second half that starts with 'Do you hear the voices?' is absolutely perfect, right down to the end where it says 'Get ready to question everything'. This is a very fitting tag line, because I for one was questioning all kinds of wacky stuff (as well as some of the other readers in the comments!), and it felt really interactive.

Hook

The first line is a single word. Slap. It is a stark quick word and metaphorically slapped me in the face. And then dragged me in, hook line and sinker.

The blunt force of this first paragraph of abuse had that underlying terror of somebody close to someone being able to hurt them so much. It was nothing paranormal, nothing weird or creepy, just a stark reality of someone getting beaten by somebody else.

This kind of fearless writing blows my mind and gets me really excited to read a piece.

Grammar/Structure

The grammar was almost perfect, I had very few suggestions. The author did an amazing job sticking to standard grammar rules and the structure was impeccable.

Also, for a story to be 5000 words and have 16 chapters would seem insane on the surface, but it's pulled off so so well here. This book could probably just be one long document with paragraph breaks instead of chapter breaks, but that adds so much to the power of the piece. Every time a chapter ended I was leaving comments like 'ahhhhhh' or 'eeeeeekkkk', and having to click a button to find out what insanity awaited me was part of the experience.

Characters

The characters were very vague but very BIG. Janna herself was like a shell of a person, floating in and out of consciousness, in and out of the present and the past, guiding me through this journey of a troubled person trying to put the pieces of herself together. It was amazing that such a broken character could just be broken, and feel that way, without the narrative ever feeling thin or lacking.