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Untraceable (2008)
Untraceable (2008)
2008 | Drama, Horror, Mystery
๐˜œ๐˜ฏ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ. Wants to be a ๐˜š๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜“๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฃ๐˜ด x Saw hybrid, ends up being ๐˜๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜‹๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜Š๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ with most of the fun stuff subtracted, and if it were a piece of tacky CBS cybercrime dross. There's some real heat to the torture porn here but it's undercut by the fact that they consciously choose to rarely show it at all and overedit it to hell and back when they do (both fronts offended even worse than ๐˜๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ: ๐˜—๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ต ๐˜๐˜) - instead opting to be a rote procedural where everyone dumps heavy bouts of cheesy exposition about things that it's clear no one actually knows what they're talking about, until its final moments where it takes a dumbass pivot where it decides to be a preachy, hypocritical, defanged commentary about technology which is about as non-knowledgeable as your average "Black Mirror" episode. Diane Lane gives it an honest try but it saves absolutely nothing from this lifeless white noise. One of the only positives is that it's unpredictable, but only in the sense that there's nothing to predict. At least it's one of the precious few of these things to make realistic online comments - and Lane very seriously repeats the full acronym for 'rofl' during a live snuff film. Still sucks though.
  
The Grudge (2020)
The Grudge (2020)
2020 | Horror
Thankfully doesn't skimp out on the gore (some real solicitously nasty, gushy butchery on display - it's far and away the star of the show) but misses out on nearly everything else that made this concept so watchable. A bunch of people sitting around and sulking about stupid bullshit the entire time, who gives a rat's ass? Doesn't help that the demon design is pure crap and not a single actor - save for the always superlative Lin Shaye (who is seriously one of the best new horror actors in the game right now) - even wants to be here to begin with; and it shows in these fucking intolerably drab performances. The structure is actually kind of neat, though it peddles all but nothing. In fact the whole product has a clever method of execution but shits the bed on actually doing anything with it. Also its unintentionally funny in the worst possible way, these tropes are so tired (blink and you miss them predictable jump 'scares', dumbass characters, competent but uninspired visuals, morose and generic police procedural elements being poorly mixed into a much more interesting horror story, etc.) beyond belief. Barely 93 minutes and feels like forever, has okay moments but *not* worth the sit.
  
    Tiny Wings

    Tiny Wings

    Games

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    You have always dreamed of flying - but your wings are tiny. Luckily the world is full of beautiful...

Blood Runs Cold (DS Max Craigie #4)
Blood Runs Cold (DS Max Craigie #4)
Neil Lancaster | 2023 | Crime, Thriller
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Wow ... just wow!!!

Once again, Mr Lancaster has written an absolute cracker in this brilliant series and whilst this is the fourth, it is quite successful as a standalone however, I would highly recommend you go back and read the other three because it will help with getting to know the main characters but also because they are just really good books!

DS Max Craigie and his team are strong characters that work well as a small but formidable team rooting out corruption within Police Scotland; Mr Lancaster has written them so well that I have found myself becoming really attached to them. Their relationship and dialogue feels authentic and I found myself tittering away to myself at times which helped to lighten what is, essentially, a very dark story.

This is a dark, gritty and fast paced police procedural that I was totally and completely absorbed by from the very start. The plot is scarily plausible and realistic with some excellent twists and turns which adds to the intensity.

Highly recommended and I urge everyone to read this excellent series; I can't wait for the next instalment and I must thank HQ, an imprint of HarperCollins UK and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of the brilliant Blood Runs Cold.
  
Eeny Meeny (Helen Grace, #1)
Eeny Meeny (Helen Grace, #1)
M.J. Arlidge | 2015 | Fiction & Poetry
6
8.9 (12 Ratings)
Book Rating
***NOTE: I was provided a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review***

Detective Helen Grace is lead investigator in what at first seems to be a single unusual murder case, but turns out to be only the first strike by an deranged serial killer. Two victims at a time are kidnapped and locked up with no food or water. They are left with a gun and a message. When one of them is dead, the other will be set free.

Eeny Meeny is a very fast-paced police procedural / thriller story. The characters are not very likable, even the good guys, and that usually would have made me dislike the book. I found it to be very well-written and suspenseful though, and couldn't put it down. The chapters are very short, sometimes as little as two pages, and move between points of view. In another story this might have felt jarring or confusing, but in this case it only added to the tension. I was a little too disturbed by some of the details regarding what the captives went through, as well as with some of the characters personal lives, or I would have rated this higher.

If you enjoy edgy, suspenseful thrillers and don't mind some gruesome details, give this one a read.

Warnings: some descriptions of sex, torture and violence, abuse