Cover Image: Blood Will Out

Blood Will Out

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

2.5 Stars

***Trigger warnings for graphic violence, animal abuse, gore

What I liked:

The story started in a really engaging and mysterious way. We know that the main character wakes up injured and terrified, with no memory of how she got there and no way of getting out.

The killer’s POV has tremendous back story and is ridiculously graphic. You truly gain insight into the crazed mind of this serial killer-how the proclivities developed, the transformation from minor fixation to full-blown obsession. It’s both sickening and fascinating.

A twist that was so unexpected, I’m not sure that what I thought was the twist wasn’t actually a twist within a twist. By the end, I was still uncertain.

What I disliked:

Despite the rollercoaster of a start, the pacing was slow. I skimmed through page after page, where there was so much unnecessary detail that it extended scenes for pages that should have been much shorter. The sentence structure was also weird and oddly scientific.

SO MUCH GRAPHIC VIOLENCE. If you are an animal lover, steer far, far away. If you are at all queasy when it comes to blood, slicing, dissection, anything of that nature, quickly step away from this book and don’t look back.

The main character is dull. Predictable. Makes some choice decisions that will leave you wanting to throw things across the room. When the reveal comes where you find out how Ari ended up in the cistern, it’s really no surprise with her poor decision-making skills. Completely naive and judgmental to her detriment. Also explosive anger, crude and misogynistic insults.

Was this review helpful?

This is definitely a book I wish I hadn't read.

It wasn't enjoyable, it didn't have all the elements a good thriller should have, and as for the writing, well, I think this book should have been redrafted a few more times and edited a couple more, before eventually being published.

In terms of plot, this book felt boring, slow-paced and, honestly, quite predictable. Also, I thought I were the only one who paid attention to that, but there were other readers as well mentioning there's homophobic content in this book and I was like "Really?". We live in 2018 and stuff like that shouldn't be acceptable!

Also, the concept of demonising mentally ill people has gotten so old and so boring that I feel like thrillers and horror books (and movies) should find a new, spontaneous way to frighten us. This doesn't work anymore.

Overall, this book wasn't pleasant by any means. It was just... boring and very, very, very problematic.

Was this review helpful?

🍪🍪
2 Cookies

First off I wanted to say I think the author did a really good job with the actual writing. I didn't see any grammar issues, and thought it was a good start. However, I think there were a few things that could have been done to really improve the writing overall.

Cons:(start with the bad...)
I wanted to start with the fact that I didn't like the animal slaughter. It was really hard for me to read. I was cringing half the book mainly because of this. You can't really skip over it either because it gives the characters their personalities? I don't know I guess thats what you call it. Another thing I didn't like, and maybe this was just personally, was I just didn't find anything very interesting. It was a book I had to force myself through. I had such high hopes when I read this last year and I feel let down.

Pros:(end on a good note!)
Overall I think the author had something going. The author did have a pretty good idea. It just needed to have been executed a bit better.

Was this review helpful?

I'm not always a fan of reading from the killer's perspective but I think that Treggiari did this well. The author did a good job of letting you question what was going on and who was responsible. A good mystery read!

Was this review helpful?

A book that held my interest and kept me reading into the night. Will suggest to customers who are looking for something in the thriller range.

Was this review helpful?

Blood Will Out is the first thriller in a long time that has been truly and extremely dark. I rarely read thrillers but this one caught my eye and the backstory and actions of the captor were gruesome and indefinitely evil. We were lucky enough to get a POV of the killer for their backstory, of which shows that since a young age they've enjoyed the action of killing. Unfortunately for us, these backstory scenes were some of the most captivating parts of the book as Ari is completely boring. So boring in fact, she tells her best friend she's boring at the start of the book. 

Overall the story does lack depth of the characters, and I wasn't really caring for any of them. Any urgency built up as we race to see if we can save a character was lost as I didn't really know these people well enough. We had Lynn, Ari's best friend who she was weirdly dependent on. Stroud, a guy Ari liked who definitely didn't like her back. Plus the weird kid at school, who is just there to be a stereotype. All of these were empty vassals for the author to tell what to do, rather than characters who feel real. 

The fact that there's lack of depth was strange as there's so much backstory in the book. With both Ari and the captor having flashback POV's you would think we would have a lot more information. But it often felt like it was dragging and the action only picked up in the last 10% of the book. The story felt like it didn't have enough urgency sometimes, as it focused so much on little moments that don't mean much. 

The plot twist as to who the captor is though came fast and out of left field. I was trying to guess throughout and was never able to stick to one character and the reveal was a true surprise. 

Overall, I enjoyed the ending, but found the book as a whole to drag a bit and could have worked more on ensuring the story was leading towards the reveal a bit better.

Was this review helpful?

This was a fun read. I found myself quite shocked at the end when the killer was revealed, which rarely happens. The story was dark and twisted making for a great psychological thriller. It kept me on my toes. I was frustrated with Ari's parents because I felt like they didn't listen to her or believe her enough. They weren't advocating enough for her. I also didn't feel like the police listened to her enough. Overall, this was a good story that I enjoyed.

Was this review helpful?

Color me unimpressed. I don't know if Treggiari was trying to make a statement about sexism and assumptions. if that was her goal she didn't really achieve it. We have, instead, a rather shallow, thinly evidenced, slasher/serial killer story.

Was this review helpful?

It has only been a little over a week since I finished reading Blood Will Out. Yet not only did I need the synopsis to remind me of the story's plot, I had to actually stop and think in order to remember its resolution. I frequently forget who the murderer is in mysteries. I also use the synopsis to jog my memory more often than I would like to admit. Yet for both to happen with the same novel speaks volumes as to my attitude about it. If I needed yet another hint that I was not enthralled with the story, I have been dragging my feet about writing this review. With this trifecta of clues, it does not take Hercules Poirot to deduce that I was not impressed with Blood Will Out.

Now that I do remember the plot and the murderer, I have one major issue and several smaller ones with the story. The half of the story told through the killer's eyes is actually fairly interesting. The matter-of-fact manner in which the killer describes first kills, the beauty of blood, and other hints that all is not well with the killer's mental health is quite fascinating. However, it is obvious from the very beginning that the killer is trying too hard to hide his or her identity. The lack of identifying features is conspicuous given the detailed descriptions of other remembrances shared by the killer.

It is not just the killer who is trying too hard to be clever and shadowy. The author is doing the same and failing. She does this in little ways, like fairly obvious red herrings or including a cast of characters that are a little too deliberately shadowy to be the killer. Plus, I cannot help but shake the feeling that by making Ari's best friend a lesbian, she was hoping to get diversity points. Unfortunately, the way this character acts makes me question this choice. Every action she makes or sentence she utters seems to reference her homosexuality, and this rings false to me. I keep thinking of the sentence, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." Perhaps I am making a bigger deal out of this than I should, but her characterization has all of the hallmarks of a stereotype, which I feel is the last thing any novel declaring diversity should include.

Those are all minor issues. My real problem with the story is Ari herself. The story and her character start out well. There is not much to do when trapped at the bottom of a cistern after all, so flashbacks are a welcome distraction and help fill in clues about her relationships and other aspects of her life that might help us determine who put her in the cistern. However, a continuity problem quickly develops, rapidly followed by a credibility problem. First, Ari has no idea how long she has been trapped, but she starts to act as if it has been days. She mentions her body shutting down due to lack of hydration and other ill effects of not having had any water. She even ruminates on the possibility of drinking her own pee. However, not more than a few pages later, she is figuring out how to climb out of the cistern and does so even though her body was shutting down not more than a few hours prior. Once she rescues herself, we find out that she was in the cistern for 18 hours. Her reaction to that relatively brief time, with descriptions of her body that reminded me of descriptions of the Donner party, is so extreme that I remained dubious about everything that followed. To make matters worse, Ari is not fully recovered from her ordeal, but she takes it upon herself to find her abductor. The girl can barely see straight thanks to a severe concussion, but she feels she is the only person capable of finding the killer hiding in her town. This was just one more in a long line of credibility issues that frustrated and irritated me with every page.

I said earlier that it felt like the author was trying too hard, and upon reflection that is my overall impression of Blood Will Out. Everything about the book is repetitious and extreme. I already mentioned the lesbian best friend who announces her sexual preference with every sentence. Then there is the killer with the obvious lack of identifying details. Finally, there is the fact that the author does not just tell us that Ari is a member of the high school swim team. She tells us over and over again. Every time Ari is called upon to do something physical, the author refers to Ari's swim muscles. Such repetition is everywhere throughout the story, and I began to resent it. Not only does it become tedious, but there are no surprises. The killer is not a surprise. Nothing that happens to Ari is a surprise. It is as if there are red arrows pointing at each of the many clues, with said arrows getting larger and larger with every repetition of said clues. There is no nuance. There is no playing detective on your own. Blood Will Out is as an example of everything a good murder mystery is not: a rather large disappointment.

Was this review helpful?

Based on the description, I expected more out of this book. It took me 3 weeks to read (not normal for me) and by 80% I Was skimming through to see if my suspicions about who the killer was was correct. Felt like most of the book was just animal torture and mutilation. I can deal with people, animals not so much. I did like the fact this story was told from the point of view of the victim and the killer.

Was this review helpful?

The animal torture and abuse part were just some of the biggest disappointment, hence I didn't finish reading this book. There's no outstanding character or part in the story that will awe readers, and the flow of the story is too dragging and quite common. Ari, the main character, is irksome and her point of view is too bland; the conversation between the characters is also quite annoying to read.

I had high hopes before reading this because I was really intrigued by the synopsis; I even pushed myself on finishing it but I just can't seem to find any sense of why should I do it. I should not have set any expectations just because of how I love reading young adult fiction and just because of the plot of the story.

Was this review helpful?

I’m giving Blood Will Out a 2/5 stars. I was actually reall;y excited to read this book. I thought that a book told from alternating perspectives of the predator and the prey would be super interesting. And while it was a cool addition to the book, it didn’t change my overall opinion of the book. The chapters from the predator’s perspective were rather gruesome, which isn’t something I’m a fan of. I also didn’t like Ari at all. I felt like her character wasn’t well done and not relatable at all. And for a mystery, this book was very slow burning. I probably would have liked it a lot more if the plot had picked up sooner rather than later.

Was this review helpful?

I did not finish this book and so will not write a review for my blog. I did not feel like I could continue this book because of the gruesome descriptions of animal abuse, and the flat and unrelatable descriptions of the main characters Ari. Lines such as “I’m not that kind of girl” (that kind of girl being the kind who likes to buy clothes) felt sexist, and the description of her as not being able to resist jumping into any pile of dry autumn leaves felt unrealistic and too manic pixie dream girl for me. The writing was also clunky, such as “slowly her prefrontal lobe threaded the memories together” and Ari describing herself as “ambulatory.” I also hated how the only real method that the author used to trying to build suspense was to ask loads of questions - “What would happen next?” Etc.

Was this review helpful?

Slow burning thriller here. Starts with Ari in a dark room, she can’t see and she has a massive headache. Nothing to freak out about right? Well, once she figures out that she is in some kind of hole, she starts freaking a bit. Screaming and yelling, hoping that someone will find her. She is smart and realizes early on that she needs to do something about her predicament. The girl’s willpower is amazing, that’s all I’m saying.
What to expect:

Like I said, this is a slow burn. It goes back and forth between the killer and Ari’s pov’s.Although a slow burn, I liked how it gave information from the person’s perspective. While not all of the information is important, like the beginning of the killer’s identity and how they wound up killing small animals and working their way up to bigger and bigger game. It’s a nature versus nurture question, but unfortunately in both nature and nurture this kid’s life was messed up.

What I didn’t like was with all of this information there were clues pointing to all the wrong people. LOTS of clues, everywhere except to the real person. I don’t remember one thing being said about the actual person. Which is a little bit of a downer. I love trying to figure out the clues and it is really disappointing when the killer just comes out of nowhere.

Characters:

I love that this was a YA and that the parents are definitely around. The personalities of these characters were great and were part of the reason why I wanted to continue reading this. But, also because Ari’s strength and perseverance really helped me feel for her.

I also loved her best friend and their banter was adorable. Their friendship has seen some stuff and even though they are entirely different, nothing will stop them from wanting to protect each other.

Was this review helpful?

*Received an ARC from NetGalley*

I so wish I hadn't requested this book.

THE AUTHOR SHOULD HAVE INCLUDED TRIGGER WARNINGS!

I was one chapter in and ugh. Animal slaughter. That too, in fine details.

I skipped, skipped and ended up on the protagonist remembering her past life, which was totally boring.

And there were so many more problems!

For example, metaphor.

I'm quoting the book here: "The darkness pressed down, a physical weight as if she were pinned under two tons of water."

Seriously. When does water ever pin you down? Is that even scientifically possible, much less literally?

And the writing did not interest me at all. I did not want to know who the killer was. I didn't care.

And I guess that says just how good a "thriller" this one was.

Was this review helpful?

Blood Will Out by Jo Treggiari

1.5 stars

Ari wakes up in darkness. She is trapped at the bottom of a well with no memory of the events leading up to how she got there. She is running out of time before she dehydrates and she must fight for her life to survive. The only thing keeping her alive is thinking about her friend Lynn and the fact that she must also be searching for Ari. Ari will do whatever it takes to survive and find the monster who did this to her even if she can’t remember how she got there in the first place. I really like the concept of being thrown into a novel with the main character trapped in a well. I’ve read stories with similar premises with women trapped in rooms (Comfort Food and Stolen: A Letter to My Captor), but I was incredibly disappointed by this YA thriller. The writing doesn’t set the tone for suspense and impending doom. In fact, the well is left behind quite early into the story (before the 50% mark) and it quickly becomes a confusing mess of Ari trying to stumble around and guess who kidnapped her. The stakes do get raised, but not enough to feel like I had to keep reading. In fact, I found this book really easy to put down and it was lackluster in the thriller department. A good thriller heavily relies on the writing and I don’t think Treggiari delivered a writing style that captured me and made feel sucked into the story.


Whimsical Writing Scale: 2

I couldn’t stand Ari. She makes for a mediocre heroine and she wasn’t very likable. I felt like she was so run of the mill and mediocre. Nothing about her stood out and really made me root for her. Her conversations with people felt fake and I didn’t really buy the naivety and innocent ploy that Treggiari was trying to convey. Also, she is a terrible investigator and proves that most suspense novels are only suspenseful because people who don’t watch the Investigative Discovery network make the wrong move and try to be like Nancy Drew. It never works out well, but in this case, it felt very juvenile and campy.


Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 1.5

The Villain- I did enjoy the chapters detailing and chronicling how the psychopath has gotten to this point, but the reveal made this less enjoyable. This is where my problem lays with this novel. At first, I was thinking this was a relatively okay novel and then we run into a ridiculous reveal. This villain was so out of left field that when the character’s name was revealed to be coming out of the trees with a killer look in their eyes, I thought to myself, “WHO?” It was out of nowhere and it kind of doesn’t make sense. I get that the events all point to that direction, but come on, that character was only mentioned one time at the very beginning and it wasn’t even brilliantly done. It felt like a twist to be a twist, but no thought went into it.


Villain Scale: 1

Lynn is Ari’s best friend and I found her to be insufferable. There were a lot of comments that she made that just felt incredibly rude and condescending towards others. She would say something cruel and Ari would trail along her continuing to perpetuate bad habits and when she would tell Lynn something she would get shot down with a cruel remark about being stupid and innocent. I just couldn’t really root for their friendship because it felt a little toxic. Also, one of Ari’s potential serial killer suspects suddenly saves the day and becomes friends with them in the end and it is so random and weird.


Character Scale: 1

Overall, Blood Will Out isn’t a horrible novel, but it wasn’t what I thought it was going to be. I’m disappointed in the turn of events with the villain and I just feel like this novel tried to be a new hit YA thriller because that’s something the market is searching for, but it didn’t work for me. I’m disappointed because I thought I was going to really enjoy this one, but I was also reading it alongside a Karin Slaughter novel and that woman can write suspense that shocks the reader. This was just disappointing for me. I do think readers who are less familiar with serial killers, crime, and thrillers will really enjoy this one and that’s the reader I would recommend this for if I was asked.


Plotastic Scale: 1.5

Cover Thoughts: It’s creepy. I love the way that it looks as if you can't get out of a well.

Thank you, Netgalley and Penguin Teen, for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Was this review helpful?

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Blood Will Out by Jo Treggiari, though the title was a bit odd and the description sounded a little twisted, I figured it would be a creepy, messed up read. And while the story was such at the core, it didn’t really reach much further than that.

The chapters were pretty short and things moved along quickly, but it didn’t take long for the format of it to grow a little stale. I’m all for getting into the head of a murdering psychopath, but reading chapter after chapter about the growth of the obsession with killing animals and how much it is enjoyed gets old quick. It’s disturbing and effective, but every other chapter of this was a bit overkill, if you’ll excuse the expression.

Similarly, the chapters that depicted Ari down in the well, those too were like running in place. A lot of questions, a lot of worry and anticipation that was supposed to build suspense and anxiety, but kind of fell short and did nothing to progress the plot and just made the short chapter drag. The only time anything seemed to happen was in the flashbacks Ari had about her life, where she thought back to her friends and who could have put her there. It progressed the plot, but only to the point of Ari being in the well, which brought us back full circle to the beginning.

Things did change about mid-way, my hopes got a little inflated, but then it was just the same dialogue and useless conversations in a different setting that again, didn’t really do anything or go anywhere or even say anything. And the characters themselves were kind of boring. I think there was meant to be some diversity to make them interesting, but they were all one dimensional with kind of cliched stereotypes and I really didn’t care about their fate.

The book did end on a stronger point, which I wasn’t expecting. There was a pretty big twist in the end and I did not see that coming, but honestly, I rack that up more to the randomness of it than a cleverly laid out scheme. I liked how it ended, but I felt that there needed to be more in the body of the story, aside from just the ramblings of the psychopath, that made this ending more believable. To me, it kind of felt a little out of left field, but not in a blow-my-mind kind of way.

Treggiari is a strong writer, I’ll give her that. While the book itself may not have kept my interest for the entirety, the writing wasn’t bad and I enjoyed different passages and the overall tone of it. I think if she had taken the story a bit deeper and developed the characters a bit more, it would have been a much richer and cutting read.

There was a lot of potential here and I feel like I know what Treggiari was trying to get at with the structure and story, but it ended up making me dizzy and I felt like I was running in circles – or in place – and that just made me skim-read to the end of the book and not give a damn about how it ended.

Was this review helpful?

I liked this thriller!

This book had me on the edge of my seat. There were some gruesome scenes that were hard to read, but they fit in with the story. There were some particularly disturbing scenes about animal abuse. However, these scenes characterized the kidnapper.

At first, I thought I had figured out who had taken her. Then, halfway through the story, I discovered I was wrong. I was pretty surprised at the ending. I wish it had been a more obvious person who was the kidnapper.

I was surprised to see so many negative reviews for this book, because I enjoyed it. I like when a thriller is unpredictable and has a unique storyline. Often thrillers, especially YA thrillers, can follow similar plots, but I enjoyed this different story.

Was this review helpful?

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD.

BLOOD WILL OUT is definitely a page turner, but its subject matter is polarizing. Graphic depictions of animal dismemberment and torture, mentions of sexual abuse, and harsh language will detract some from the story. Treggiari has crafted an interesting killer and keeps the reader guessing for a good majority of the book, but ultimately the execution fell flat for me. Once the killer's identity was revealed, I was slightly disappointed as I wanted more. The ending certainly has potential for more. I'm hopeful a new protagonist and new setting will round out the killer's personality and showcase more of what she is capable of.

This book had more shades of FRIDAY THE 13th than SILENCE OF THE LAMBS in my opinion--while we have plenty of first person narration from the killer, her mindset was not canny or cold enough for me to draw a connection to Hannibal Lecter. The stylistic chops are there, though, and I have a feeling Treggiari is a writer to watch. I'll be on the lookout for future books.

Was this review helpful?

Goodreads Synopsis:
Ari Sullivan is alive—for now.

She wakes at the bottom of a cistern, confused, injured and alone, with only the shadowy recollection of a low-pitched voice and a gloved hand. No one can hear her screams. And the person who put her there is coming back. The killer is planning a gruesome masterpiece, a fairytale tableau of innocence and blood, meticulously designed.

Until now, Ari was happy to spend her days pining for handsome, recent-arrival Stroud Bellows, fantasizing about their two-point-four-kids-future together. Safe in her small hometown of Dempsey Hollow. But now her community has turned very dangerous—and Ari may not be the only intended victim.

My Review:
I'm going to be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect. After reading the description, I thought I had a good idea what the book was going to be about, but I didn't anticipate how it would be written. This story specifically jumped out at me, because I hadn't read anything like it lately. A girl who gets kidnapped and dropped off into an old well by a serial killer? Sounds exactly like something I would love to read. Unfortunately, I wasn't sucked into the book until about half way through. I found myself confused by the story, and not just by the way it was laid out. I loved getting to see the killer's point of view, but I didn't expect it to be so random and confusing. I didn't realize what was really going on, although maybe that was what the author wanted.

What I thought would be a short read, turned into procrastination. I could have finished this book very quickly, but I was again kind of confused by what was actually happening. It seemed like all I was reading was present day Ari, stuck in a well, random thoughts of a serial killer, and flashbacks of happier days with Ari's friend, Lynn. I really wanted to love this book, and I did, from about fifty percent of the book to eighty percent. And that's just not enough to say I loved it. It was exciting, although a little blurry at times, and the characters very well could have been real people. The world it was set in was exactly like our own. I wanted to know everything, and in turn, I knew just what I needed to know. Although it's not my new favourite book, I did enjoy it at the end of the day, and you should definitely check it out if you think it would be something you like.

Here's a link to the author's Twitter, and another link to the book on Amazon.

https://twitter.com/jotreggiari?lang=en

https://www.amazon.ca/Blood-Will-Out-Jo-Treggiari/dp/0735262950/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1529539565&sr=8-1&keywords=blood+will+out

Thanks for reading! Check out this review and more at my blog.
(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)

Was this review helpful?