We Need to Do Something

read for summerween 2024: vlog coming soon

i lovedddddd watching this family slowly descend into maddness. not a huge fan of ambiguous endings which made this not a full 5 star for me but the journey there was so disturbing and dark.

The longer we stay in this bathroom, the tighter the tension grows. It will not hold forever. Sooner or later, something is going to break.

Something or someone.

Okay, so this was nothing mind blowing, per say, but it was short and sweet and, I thought, pretty interesting. I understand it's really hard to write something with a lot of depth when your characters are not just isolated in general, but stuck in a single, small room for the whole book. Considering the setting, I thought the slow build of dread and that fever dream feeling were pretty good.

If they hate each other so much, they should just kill themselves, do the whole world a favour.

This book takes place in a small bathroom for it's entirety, Mel and her mother, father, and younger brother taking shelter when a tornado warning is sent out. We quickly learn that her mom and dad are not happy together, and her dad is quite the asshole.

I hadn't confessed the deep shame I felt being my father's daughter.

That's right, calling all my "bad ending: you're your father's daughter" girlies. Anyways, a fucking tree crashes through their roof and traps them in their bathroom. Sucks to suck, but insurance will cover it and help will come when the storm ends, right? Well, as Mel starts worrying about something her and her friend Amy did and no help comes, we learn it may not be as simple as that. Did her and Amy do something to cause this? And, what even is this?

Trying to remember the ritual now gives me a headache, or maybe I already had a headache. Starvation is rotting me from the inside out.

Her reminescing about her and Amy's relationship was the weakest part, I think. I love me some queer horror, us gals can get freaky, but it didn't really make me go "omfgggg" like I think the author wanted it to. It had potential, but didn't quite reach it.

If worms burst from her mouth I would greedily slurp them down my own throat and ask for seconds. Nothing that belonged to her would ever be repulsive in my eyes.

I mean, never mind "would you still love me if I were a worm," THAT'S what I call love, lmao.

Anyways, you've got isolation, rituals, body horror, family horror, (spoilers) cannibalism, and a slow but eventual descent into madness. It wasn't a masterpiece, but I thought it was pretty a'ight, not sure why the rating is so low. It could've probably been a little freakier, and the ending definitely felt like a bit of a cop out. However, when I flipped to the last page of text, ngl it did send a bit of a shiver down my spine, it sent me back to my creepypasta days. Considering how short it was, it was worth the read.

"What if it wasn't me who was really dead all this time? What if something else was inside me, and that's what was dead?"

I loved the reading experience of this via audio. It was a great, creepy and overwhelming time.

Rating: 4.1 leaves out of 5Characters: 3.75/5 Cover: 4/5Story: 3.75/5Writing: 4.75/5Genre: Horror/ThrillerType: AudiobookWorth?: YesHated Disliked It Was Okay Liked Really Liked Loved FavoritedI was looking for a short scary read to add to my list of horror reads and this one was up there. It can get very “wtf-y” and the characters can get really annoying but I was spooked the whole time while I listened to this. Short stories are a hit or miss for me simply because if it were explained more, just a bit longer, the books could be pretty great. I think if this was longer, explained more, I might have shoved it up to a 5.

I read the book before watching the movie and it's pretty canon.

my best friends exorcism meets bird box & everything i've ever wanted in a horror novel

after months of thinking abt this book and watching the movie i realized i hate this story

i really enjoyed the concept of this, as survival horror and isolated settings are two of my favorite tropes. there wasn't much about this i didn't like, i just wish i'd been able to get to know melissa as a character more. everything just happened around her and i wish she had driven the narrative in a stronger way. that being said i think most of this was incredibly well done.

I laughed, I was stressed, horrified, and engrossed, all the while questioning reality towards the end.