HEX

"One of the most creative horror novels I have ever read, and I've read A LOT of them. The characters evoked really strong feelings, whether those feelings were love, frustration, or hate. The plot didn't just revolve around a typical supernatural villain, but deepened the entire story with themes about community, conformity and tradition that might spoil the book if I elaborate too much here. The ending, while very sad, was incredibly fitting and satisfying. My only critique is this guy has a weird obsession with bringing up nipples. He does it at least 10x, I swear. "

"I found this book creepy but not scary. I liked the concepts here. Wasn't bothered by the nipple scenes but it was a strange fascination in the book. The book wasn't what I was expecting and I thought it was average."

"Very well written, though rather disappointing when considering it's supposed to be a horror novel. The most frightening aspect is the behaviour of the people - I can only hope the Dutch version is scarier."

"That moment when you write an entire review and then clear it. I will continue to breathe. Ok lets do this. TOH took horror and flipped it upside down. He takes what I believe is Dutch folklore, and perfectly transplants it to the American culture. Meet Black Spring NY and it’s citizens, currently haunted by a 300 year old witch Katherine Van Wylder, and their modern day HEX system/app that helps them hide her, her chains and threaded eyes/mouth in plain sight from the rest of the world. In a 2-3 part book, we learn how quickly Katherine goes from being the representation of dark evil witchcraft to the light and love of basic human kindness. She goes from being a misunderstood and something to fear to someone we can definitely empathize with. This story has so many themes I’m bound to miss some, but not only do we see the effect deep pure fear has in the human psyche but also the extremes that both fear and love can push a person to do some heinous things. How a parent is willing to not only sacrifice others to protect their loved ones, but how they’re also willing to sacrifice their own children for their own sake, or even one child for another. This is definitely a very dark story, I want to say check your trigger warnings as there are some scenes that I found a bit hard to read through. There is also an overwhelming theme of nipples in this book that at times I found hilarious and other times very disturbing. I was left with so many questions however, which is fascinating and infuriating. But will I recommend this book? Absolutely, by far a really amazing modern take on witches and curses that I have not seen anyone else conjure. "

"It was great. A slow build up to complete and total chaos, and a very bleak end. "

"I expected to like it just from the summary. What I was not prepared for was to be sucked in by it. The last 100pgs I just couldn't put it down. This is not your typical witch/ghost story, and the dark inhumanity of certain characters will linger in my thoughts for a long time."

"Such a great idea. It's dark, heartbreaking, and a bit bleak, so all the ingredients for a great horror."

"Didnt love everything about this, but adored the concept and atmosphere of the book"

"Honestly more sad than scary for me. Almost done but not keen on finishing it, since not one moment was scary for me to be honest. I just felt bad for the characters most of the time, especially The Witch. Felt bad to read and didn’t get very exciting at any point."

"Great combination of classic creepy horror and a modern world that tries to contain it. "