Reviews with content warning for Car accident - The Between: Novel, A

The Between is a time-bending paranormal mystery that fits squarely in the category of "fever dream." Alongside Hilton, Due has her readers questioning what is real and what is a dream. Or are our dreams really just portals into alternate timelines? The eventual suggestion that you could be stalked by a murderer via your dreams is truly chilling. Additionally, the way that Due fuses Hilton and his wife's trauma-informed anxieties about racially motivated hatred with the paranormal terrors makes this already nerve-wracking book even more so.

As a whole, I really enjoyed descending into sleepless mania with Hilton as he attempted to solve the mystery of his unusual life. My only qualm with The Between was that I wanted to know more about Hilton's grandmother and how she discovered her dream abilities.

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zombiezami's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

4.0

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sdsmith80's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

<strong>What a debut!</strong>

I read this book for a bookclub I'm in (shout-out to the Ghoulish Discord bookclub!) and I'm very pleased with the pick! It is truly very well written, and it's really hard to believe that this was her debut novel. The characterizations were excellent, and it was easy to slip into Hilton's head as he felt like he was losing his sanity.

By the end I very much cared about each person, and dreaded the conclusion. Even though there were plenty of clues leading up to the final moments, and I had a good idea of what was going to happen, it didn't lessen the emotional impact when it came.

There is a reason Tananarive Due is so well regarded, and this book illustrates it clearly.

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spcandybars's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was such a fantastically written exploration of the tie between dreams and consciousness. The tension is palpable as Hilton’s life appears to branch off just to be yanked back into place again and I felt so engaged with his childhood and grandmother. In the last third, things began picking up as Hilton got new insights and I honestly think it was the perfect time to pick up the pace. The end is devastating but cathartic in a way that could only be achieved with a very limited set of options.

The first third of the book contains very graphic sexual content including a depiction of explicit infidelity but it’s very distinct when the narrative departs from that highly sexualized place as it’s one of the first confirmations we have to begin understanding how Hilton’s perceptions of reality are slipping.

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oinkoink's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Eerie, unsettling, disturbing. Major racism TW. You really get a close-and-personal ride along inside the mind of a man becoming undone. Had me questioning what was supernatural vs. clinical all the way to the end, which I both did and didn't like.

given that there were in fact supernatural elements at play, it would've been nice to have a bit more depth/lore/exploration in that department.

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