Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Slights

by Kaaron Warren (Goodreads Author)

3.38 of 5 stars 3.38 · rating details · 230 ratings · 77 reviews

STEVIE IS A KILLER.

But she brings her victims back to life to demand of them: "WHAT DO YOU SEE?"

Now she's about to find out for herself...

After an accident in which her mother dies, she has a near-death experience, and finds herself in a room full of people – everyone she’s ever pissed off. They clutch at her, scratch and tear at her. But she finds herself drawn back to th...more

500 pages

Published (first published May 1st 2010)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

The Collector Book One by Daniel I. Russell

Australia's Best Speculative Fiction

4th out of 67 books — 25 voters

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith

Best Book Cover 2009

396th out of 568 books — 2,969 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 575)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Jul 08, 2011 P. rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

All right, Slights has a great premise, an interesting narrator, and Warren can clearly write, but I come out of this novel feeling cold. It's not the good kind of cold you get after reading something supremely creepy, rather the feeling that this should have been so much better.

The pacing is horrible, it would have been well served if it was about half as long. Stevie, though an interesting narrator got more and more dreary and whiny as the novel progressed. There are several tedious diversion...more

3 likes · like · see review

Jan 05, 2011 Trudi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Fans of American Psycho and disturbing lit

Shelves: horror, fantastical-speculative, 2011-reads, judge-a-book-by-its-cover, secrets, uber-graphic-extreme, what-the-bleep, angry-robots-in-the-house

This is an exceptionally well-written book, with an original premise that’s solidly executed, but I could only give it three stars because it is such a dark, depressing, claustrophobic read that never lets up. Ordinarily that’s an amazing thing, but this time the darkness was too much, the unrelenting nature of this story falling in the vicinity of soul-numbingly exhausting. I need some light! some redemption!

I will say this: Stevie is a villain like no other I’ve read in a very long time. Getti...more This is an exceptionally well-written book, with an original premise that’s solidly executed, but I could only give it three stars because it is such a dark, depressing, claustrophobic read that never lets up. Ordinarily that’s an amazing thing, but this time the darkness was too much, the unrelenting nature of this story falling in the vicinity of soul-numbingly exhausting. I need some light! some redemption!

I will say this: Stevie is a villain like no other I’ve read in a very long time. Getting inside her head is akin to cracking open a log on the forest floor and having all sorts of creepy crawlies come pouring out — beetles, centipedes, maggots, you name it. Horrible right? I wanted to feel sorry for her, find some reason for empathy, but she is just so completely rotten to her core that you can’t. I’m telling you, you can’t! I dare you to read this book and tell me you felt sorry for her in any way. Just when I felt myself starting to, my burgeoning empathy was squashed by a cruel or selfish word, thought or deed. It is quite an interesting portrait of evil, and Warren’s thesis seems to be that evil is born, not made, at least in Stevie’s case.

And it’s not just Stevie: no one is likable in this book. There is no one to root for and I hate that kind of post-modern existential reading experience. I need a hero, or at least an anti-hero, someone with one redeeming quality to hang my hat on. But everyone is horrible. Maybe it’s because they’re seen through Stevie’s eyes, but it doesn’t matter because the end result is the same.

The first half of the novel reads like a coming-of-age story with lots of jagged edges. It’s a slow build, and the real meat of the novel doesn’t come until 2/3 of the way through. Stevie’s reminisces are painful, ugly and awfully uncomfortable to read because Warren’s language is graphic, brutalizing, and scalpel sharp.

Through numerous near death experiences, Stevie manages to uncover the power of slights, the small insults we inflict in our day to day lives that leave others feeling miffed, pissed or otherwise “slighted”. These recipients of our slights are awaiting us when we die, ready to slice, dice, and carve to get their revenge. Interesting, ghoulish premise. That means you can be a really good person, do no real harm, but still have “slighted” people and have the Inquisition waiting for you when you die. Because let’s face it: it’s only easy to slight someone. Most of the time we don’t even mean to, it was never our intention, but that person is having a bad day and feeling hyper-sensitive.

This is a richly textured novel, quite literary, but also ruthless in its barbarity. This book will shock you and make you squirm, of that I am certain.(less)

3 likes · like · see review

Feb 03, 2013 Haralambi Markov rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror-dark

Perhaps one of the most disturbing psychological horror stories imbued with withering decadence and written as a memoir. This story haunted me and froze my blood in a manner I have yet to encounter.

A most grotesque mosaic of human debauchery and demoralization, whose beauty lies within the intricacy of its design. It builds painfully slow, but when “Slights” reaches its most potent state you will fear contact with strangers. I have more to say, much, much, but I want you to find all the surprise...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 14, 2013 James rated it 1 of 5 stars

I had several problems with this book. First, I didn't feel it belonged under the horror genre. The premise made it SEEM like it would be an interesting horror novel, but the execution did not follow through. There were not enough elements, in my opinion, for it to qualify. The next big issue was the pacing. It took far too long for anything to happen, and there wasn't much in the way of plot or character development prior to that. Next, I have to wonder, where, oh where, was the editor on this...more

like · see review

Mar 06, 2012 Anna rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

Offhand, this doesn't sound much like horror, and for the first third, I wondered why it had been categorized as such. Certainly it has a focus on death, and Stevie's visits to hell are pretty creepy, but it's not until later in the book that you realize there's a slow descent into darkness, with more than a touch of madness.

I've had a hard time reviewing Slights. It's no secret I'm highly character-driven as a reader, and this becomes even more important in a book that uses first-person narrati...more Offhand, this doesn't sound much like horror, and for the first third, I wondered why it had been categorized as such. Certainly it has a focus on death, and Stevie's visits to hell are pretty creepy, but it's not until later in the book that you realize there's a slow descent into darkness, with more than a touch of madness.

I've had a hard time reviewing Slights. It's no secret I'm highly character-driven as a reader, and this becomes even more important in a book that uses first-person narrative. Stevie, though, is a psychopath, and I mean this in the clinical sense of the word; I'm not using the term lightly. She has no morals, is at best apathetic to other people, is unable to learn from her past and cares only about serving her own interests. This makes her a remarkably unsympathetic and unlikeable protagonist, but that's part of the point of the book. You're not supposed to like her, and I'm pretty sure most people have issues relating to someone with Dissocial Personality Disorder. And hey, the folks who have it can't really relate to anyone regardless, because that inability is part of the disorder.

So what this translates to is that I can't really say I enjoyed reading the book. That doesn't, however, necessarily mean it's poorly written. It's written as a memoir, each chapter outlining a year in Stevie's life, starting at 18, when her mom is killed. The prose is natural, very stream-of-consciousness style, although that's sometimes as much a weakness as it is a strength. Stevie often stops mid-story to relate yet another story from her childhood, and all the jumping around makes the story feel very disjointed and is occasionally confusing. The anecdotes she relates are important to the story, but the constant back-and-forth sometimes had me wondering why the book didn't start in an earlier place. That being said, people do talk that way, and every word in Slights feels like it comes straight from Stevie's brain.

Most of the story deals with Stevie's day-to-day life as she sees it, but the subplot with her father is a fascinating one. Stevie does everything in her power to avoid the truth, although it's clear on some level she already knows (or certainly suspects) things she doesn't want to know. Unfortunately, what was wonderful and nuanced through most of the book culminates in a giant infodump at the end of the book, where all the answers are simply thrust at us, and after so many pages of slow reveals, it was a disappointing resolution.

I personally found the book an unpleasant read, but it was never boring and I was still driven to get to the end, if only to find out the truth about Stevie's dad. And the fact is that any book which can get such a strong reaction out of a reader is, in some form, a success. So if you're intrigued by taking a trip in the world of a woman with no morals or driving emotions, have at it.(less)

like · see review

Jan 05, 2012 Dave Versace rated it 4 of 5 stars

I’ll start with this: even for a book narrated from the serial killer’s point of view, the creepiness factor of Slights still manages to find its way far over the top. The unsettling starts as a niggle, like an ache mildly growling somewhere behind your eyes; page by page the suspense-tease grows into a full-strength migraine. What’s interesting is that the nature of narrator Stevie (aka Stephanie Searle) is never in question: she’s a lying, self-absorbed sociopath dedicated to casting herself i...more I’ll start with this: even for a book narrated from the serial killer’s point of view, the creepiness factor of Slights still manages to find its way far over the top. The unsettling starts as a niggle, like an ache mildly growling somewhere behind your eyes; page by page the suspense-tease grows into a full-strength migraine. What’s interesting is that the nature of narrator Stevie (aka Stephanie Searle) is never in question: she’s a lying, self-absorbed sociopath dedicated to casting herself in the best possible light, and her descent into serial murder and self-harm is unsurprising.

And yet while Stevie’s grotesque behaviour – manipulations, deceptions and sometimes vicious retaliations for offences both real and imagined – is the central narrative device, the story expands outwards in unexpected directions. During several near-death experiences, Stevie has a brush with an especially horrifying afterlife, haunted by the victims of her casual dissociative cruelty. But even this strange supernatural element ultimately becomes less disturbing than the corruption and secrets that Stevie unwittingly unearths about her past, her family and her neighbours. It all adds up to a chilling portrait of a social fabric almost as shredded and tainted as Stevie herself.

On occasions Stevie is almost a sympathetic protagonist, thanks in the most part to a well-observed narrative voice that highlights her childish wonder, an intense curiosity and her great capacity for wilful self-deception, while never letting you forget how dangerous she is. You can feel for her, sometimes, when you’re not actively repulsed by her grotesque impulses.

As a novel, Slights is a bit like that too; thoughtful and reflective, layered with metaphor but also with lies and sleight of hand. The horror is grounded in disturbing revelations more than overt violence, though there are a handful of hard-to-stomach scenes. At times it defies all expectation by being sad instead of nasty – I could never quite distance myself from some of Stevie’s woes. Slights is also funny – once or twice I found it laugh out loud hilarious. What I can’t quite be certain of is whether that wasn’t an overreaction to the relief of getting through some gruelling scene. It’s an intense story, disguised as a breezy tale of surburban life, albeit one set in a suburb with a suspiciously high rate of disappearances.

I liked it a lot. For fans of psychological horror and dark fantasy, I’d call it a must-read.(less)

like · see review

Oct 16, 2011 Stephen Clynes rated it 5 of 5 stars

The beauty of this novel is that you really get to know Stephanie as you build up a history and understanding. It is like meeting a stranger who becomes a part of your life. This girl has an attitude, which is great and entertaining, as she explains her life with great humour.

Slights is an enjoyable read, it is very witty and you meet loads of characters that Steve befriends along the way. As this novel develops, you learn that there is a darker side to Steve. This book turns into a horror! This...more

like · see review

Aug 11, 2011 Jessica Strider rated it 3 of 5 stars

Pros: creepy premise, strong writing, good pacing, interesting family mystery

Cons: unlikable protagonist, didn't feel like a horror novel

Stevie is an unreliable narrator.

She remembers her father, a cop, as a good, quiet man. Others remember him differently. He was the kind of cop who didn't like to see the guilty get away with their crimes, even when there wasn't enough evidence to convict them.

Stevie was 18 when her mother died, passenger in the car Stevie was driving. The accident gave Stevie...more

like · see review

May 27, 2011 Sophie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

Kaaron Warren's "Slights" has one of the most interesting horror concepts I've come across. Unfortunately, the execution simply does not do the concept justice.

Pros:

*Interesting premise
*Good plot, once you reach the mid-way point
*Good writing

Cons:

*Protagonist character development
*Pacing
*Horror content

Stephanie "Stevie" Searle is the main character in this memoir-style recounting of a loose-leafed killer. I say "main character" as opposed to "protagonist" because from the start to the finish of...more

like · see review

Dec 10, 2009 Dreadlocksmile rated it 4 of 5 stars

First published in 2009, Australian author Kaaron Warren’s debut full length novel ‘Slights’ followed on from a suitably impressive reception towards her previously published short fiction. The book’s cover purposefully avoids offering up any sort of detailed blurb on the novel’s storyline other than short quotes of praise for the novel and hints as to the general content with the intriguing “File Under: Horror – Real-life Terror/Damaged Lives/Family Secrets/Beyond Death”.

The tale is broken down...more

1 like · like · see review

Sep 11, 2011 Betty rated it 1 of 5 stars

Full disclosure, I did not (could not?) finish reading this. It is told in a trippy stream of consciousness way that I have never enjoyed. Horrible statements about betrayals and abuse are thrown out in such a way that I couldn't tell if they had really happened. I could have gotten beyond that if the story had been more compelling or moved more quickly. I could maybe have gotten past the pacing if the main character had been interesting or relatable or even vaguely likable. Instead she was so r...more

like · see review

Feb 07, 2011 Greg rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, horror, life-is-shit, angry-robot, girls-girls-girls

Angry Robot calls this a horror book, and so do the higher-up powers of Barnes and Noble. Who am I to disagree?

I bought this book thinking that it would be sort of like a Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer meets Flatliners kind of book. It wasn't what I expected. But that's more than a oh kay because I really loved this book, even if the sparse copy on the back of the book and the blurbs didn't seem too accurate.

But, maybe they are accurate and my outlook on the world is a combination of being...more Angry Robot calls this a horror book, and so do the higher-up powers of Barnes and Noble. Who am I to disagree?

I bought this book thinking that it would be sort of like a Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer meets Flatliners kind of book. It wasn't what I expected. But that's more than a oh kay because I really loved this book, even if the sparse copy on the back of the book and the blurbs didn't seem too accurate.

But, maybe they are accurate and my outlook on the world is a combination of being misanthropically skewed and calloused by most of a lifetime spent ingesting fictionalized horrors through books and movies.

One goodreads.com friend was a bit disappointed in me when I told her I had bought this book. Apparently some other reviews for this book hark on it's depressing aspects. I'm sort of fascinated in knowing what goes on in the mind of someone who finds this book overly depressing, but not in any sort of condescending way, but because I'd be really interested to experience the world through the eyes of someone who this book would have that kind of affect on.

The book is the first person story of a very misanthropic and angry woman spanning from when she is eighteen years old and kills her mother in an car accident till she is thirty five. She's out of step with the world around her, never really fitted in anywhere, does awful things to people almost without thinking about them , alienates just about everyone who ever comes in contact with her, is covered in a variety of self and non-self inflicted scars and she even when she does feel like her life is shit she never thinks at all about doing anything positive to change anything. Even though she is so totally unlikeable I kind of loved her, but maybe it's just because I kind of saw her as a very dark version of myself. Maybe that should depress me, but I leave my depression for different types things (For the record here, I don't find Thomas Hardy to be personally depressing, although I know the books to be depressing they don't affect me in that way, instead I find the depressing aspects amusing (wrong word, but it will do here). Also for the record the most depressing book I think I've ever read was Hartley's The Go-Between, a book that I think most people, I imagine, would only rank as slightly melancholy but not full blown depressing). As a harmless example of her offensive ways one of the first things she does when she has her mother's house now all to herself is have a big pile of manure delivered because she thinks she will use it to grow a jasmine garden in the back yard. Instead she has the manure piled up in front of the front door of the house where it sits for the rest of the novel, smelling up the property and creating an eye-sore for the neighborhood (she has some additional manure delivered during the early parts of the book to make the pile even larger).

Steve (that is the girl's name) doesn't have the big pile of shit delivered originally to be an offensive barrier between herself and the world outside her, she meant to use it to start a garden but as she begins to dig for the garden in the backyard she begins to uncover things that point to dark 'family-secrets' and the shit is never used for it's original purpose, instead it serves to block people from interrupting her from her obsessive digging up of the back-yard. Besides searching for buried things in the backyard, her other on-going obsession in the book is a room where she has been to when she's been on the verge of death after her the car accident that killed her mother. This room is dark and disgusting and filled with all of the people who you've slighted in life and they are all there waiting to get their revenge when you die.

I love the idea of this room because it isn't filled with the people who you've really done awful things to but with the small acts of unkindness. The concept of an afterlife where you are punished for every time you were an asshole fits my own oppressive guilt feelings more a Dantean hell where it's the big sins that everyone knows are wrong get punished. But I'm probably just projecting again and would secretly enjoy the idea of people who mindlessly go through life acting like assholes are going to get theirs and in a way experience what goes on in my head on a daily basis. Oh projecting.........

I loved this book. It's dark and oppressive and it never lets up. I don't know who I'd recommend it to but it might just be something you too would find a pleasure to read. Or not.
(less)

13 likes · like · see review

Oct 05, 2012 Sammie rated it 2 of 5 stars

In a word: weird.

Stephanie "Stevie" Searle came close to death more than once in her early years. What she saw both fascinated and terrified her. The rest of the book is her trying to figure out what it was she saw, and what other people see. She narrates her story in a stream-of-consciousness, loosely arranged in chronological order. Early on in this novel it becomes quite clear that this narrator is unreliable. She frequently contradicts herself, and says things you know to be false. This make...more

like · see review

Sep 02, 2012 Eliza Victoria rated it 3 of 5 stars

To be honest, when I finished reading this novel, my first reaction was, "That's it?"

But I suppose it's an issue of wrong expectations. The back blurb reads, Stevie is a killer. When she kills people she asks them: “WHAT DO YOU SEE?" She’s about to find out.

This happens about two-thirds into the book, and by then it's too late to stop drumming my fingers. I dove into the novel expecting a philosophical serial killer searching for answers about the afterlife, and instead got a hodgepodge of fami...more To be honest, when I finished reading this novel, my first reaction was, "That's it?"

But I suppose it's an issue of wrong expectations. The back blurb reads, Stevie is a killer. When she kills people she asks them: “WHAT DO YOU SEE?" She’s about to find out.

This happens about two-thirds into the book, and by then it's too late to stop drumming my fingers. I dove into the novel expecting a philosophical serial killer searching for answers about the afterlife, and instead got a hodgepodge of family anecdotes from an extremely unlikable protagonist who keeps digging in her father's backyard.

I have no problems with unlikable, morally corrupt protagonists. Patricia Highsmith's Thomas Ripley is a forger, a liar, and a murderer, but he is also suave and charming. His thoughts, no matter how dark, are fascinating enough to enjoy and follow. What will happen next? I would wonder. What will he do next?

I found Stevie fascinating, but I couldn't enjoy her company because she is too repulsive. Everyone in her universe is repulsive, and I kept resisting the text because some details sounded too fantastic to me. I mean, it's not enough that there's one sexual predator? It has to be almost every single person she meets?

Kaaron Warren writes well. There are brilliant passages here. She is able to successfully present a skewed view of the world. But in terms of structure, the novel's downfall is its linearity. Yes, Stevie rambles and digresses, but the structure is still linear. At eighteen, the novel opens. At nineteen. And so on. Why remind us about Stevie's age, when she never really grows? The novel feels like one whole day in the life of a disturbed young woman.

Slights has a horrifying premise - what if when we die, we don't see angels or paradise or the people we love, but the people we have slighted? The people we don't even remember? And what if these people surrounded us in a closed room and hurt us and ate our flesh for all of eternity? The story would have been more engaging if the novel opened with Stevie committing her first murder, in the hopes of finding the truth about the room she sees when she first dies. This is not a spoiler - it's right there on the blurb anyway.(less)

like · see review

May 06, 2012 Tsana Dolichva rated it 4 of 5 stars

Slights by Kaaron Warren is a disturbing book. This should not come as a surprise to people familiar with the author’s other work (or anyone who read the quote from Russell Kirkpatrick on the cover).

Stevie (short for Stephanie because her parents were expecting a boy) is a psychopath in the literal sense of the word: she lacks empathy, consideration, is obsessive and fairly self-centred. She is not a sympathetic character, but she is fascinating.

After a car accident which kills her mother and pu...more Slights by Kaaron Warren is a disturbing book. This should not come as a surprise to people familiar with the author’s other work (or anyone who read the quote from Russell Kirkpatrick on the cover).

Stevie (short for Stephanie because her parents were expecting a boy) is a psychopath in the literal sense of the word: she lacks empathy, consideration, is obsessive and fairly self-centred. She is not a sympathetic character, but she is fascinating.

After a car accident which kills her mother and puts her in hospital, she has a near-death experience. Instead of seeing a white light or a tunnel or something like that, she finds herself in a room filled with all the people who she’s slighted at some point in the past. Hence the title and hence the cover. (Speaking of the cover, how creepy do the rightmost dude’s eyes look?) And her slighted people do unpleasant things do her.

Beyond that, it’s a difficult book to explain. It doesn’t exactly have a plot, it’s more an examination of Steve’s life, told in first person, including her learning new things about her past as she gets older. Her life isn’t particularly pleasant. I found the first third or so of the book quite confronting and it squicked me out a bit. I had to take breaks from reading it, although that became less necessary as it progressed (or I became desensitised). I wouldn’t suggest this book to anyone with any sort of conventional triggers (particularly sexual ones). Fair warning.

As the book progressed, I felt it became less about horrible things happening to people (sometimes Steve, sometimes others around her) and more about the things happening in Steve’s head. And towards the very end, aspects of her family history that she wasn’t necessarily aware of when they were happening in her youth.

I knew why the people were in the room and who they were; each and every one had been slighted by me, and each slight, by me or anybody else, snapped up a bit of their soul and sent it to the dark room of some unknowing person. Or to my dark room.

The progression of her understanding of the room she goes to when she has near-death experiences (yes, they’re plural, the story would have much less impact if they weren’t) is interesting. I felt it was the kind of book that might be studied in a high school English class, if it was a bit more age-appropriate. I certainly found it more meaningful than some of the novels by Tim Winton I was forced to read.

In case you didn’t pick it up, Slights is definitely a horror novel. Don’t read it if you don’t like icky things or being inside the minds of disturbing people. On the other hand, if you like being disturbed and enjoy a dark psychological read, then this is a good book to pick up.

4 / 5 stars

You can read more of my reviews at tsanasreads.tumblr.com.(less)

like · see review

Oct 22, 2010 starfleetbrat rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010-reads, horror, australian-author

Slights is not your typical horror novel. Keenly paced and at times disturbing it is a fascinating insight into the mind of Stevie, a young woman who takes people to the brink of death in order to ask them, "What do you see?"

But the story itself is more than that. Murder plays only a minor role in this story. Instead it is a story of secrets and of memory. Its a story of family and a story of mental illness.

We see the world through Stevie's eyes, her fascination with death from a young age. We l...more

like · see review

Jun 01, 2011 Su Halfwerk rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is one of those books that you either really really hate or really really love. I find myself in the middle, unsure to which side I lean.
It evokes strong emotions of negativity so much that when any of the characters were nice to someone, I doubted their motives. I guess because the book is written in Steve's pov, and that's one twisted chick.
Using her view to represent the story may have been a work of genius--face it, she is a psychopath, what sane emotions would she be capable of--or a m...more

like · see review

Dec 08, 2010 David Agranoff rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a powerful first novel by Australian writer Kaaron Warren. This novel is marketed as horror, but as I read I had a strange feeling. This novel felt like the kinda of novel that is sold as literary fiction, when we damn well know its horror. For example American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis or in Science Fiction Mary Dorian Russell’s The Sparrow. Those are books that are clearly genre but we have to explain, argue and debate those titles into genre as if it’s a ghetto.

Slights feels like on...more This is a powerful first novel by Australian writer Kaaron Warren. This novel is marketed as horror, but as I read I had a strange feeling. This novel felt like the kinda of novel that is sold as literary fiction, when we damn well know its horror. For example American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis or in Science Fiction Mary Dorian Russell’s The Sparrow. Those are books that are clearly genre but we have to explain, argue and debate those titles into genre as if it’s a ghetto.

Slights feels like one of those novels, because while it is clearly horror it doesn’t follow any previously used horror structure. Those structures are often hidden to the reader, but to us students of the genre they are easy to detect.

It was a interesting read for me. I enjoy Slights a lot but because I am so comfortable with the structure that when it went off the rails it was a little off putting for me. I have had huge problems with the ways some books have unfolded but I could tell most readers would enjoy the book. Sometimes the missed chances for suspense drive me nuts but I know most readers don't know the difference.

When I was 300 pages into this book, I told my partner Cari that it was a good book but needed to lose two hundred pages. I was convinced that the story could have been told in much more streamlined way.

Thankfully I stuck it out, because I think the page count is paid off by the end.

Slights is disturbing and the most original psychological horror novel I read in years. It seems very Chuck Palahniuk influenced. A fascinating puzzle about Stevie a eighteen year old woman whose mother dies beside her during car accident. But Stevie died too, and before she came back she didn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel She was in a dark room with as the people she had been bad to in her life.

Stevie is brought back to life and with each chapter when visit with Stevie a year older and more damaged. Early in the novel you have to wade through some jerky flashbacks, but dealing with Stevie's childhood is very important to the story.

The back of the novel sells a story of serial killer but that part of the story doesn't really become clear until you have read a novel's worth of pages. it doesn't matter the journey that makes this a must read book is the decent into madness that drips off every single page. (less)

like · see review

Nov 13, 2011 Janos Honkonen rated it 4 of 5 stars

I used to be a big horror fiction buff, but slowly I gave up with the horror novels in the turn of the millennium because it all started to read the same to me - slightly corny monster stories which didn't really challenge the reader or even entertain after a certain level of overdose. That said, Slights by Kaaron Warren was something that might get me back to reading horror fic again. A big part of this was that Slights didn't read like a typical genre horror novel - it was more like rather dis...more

like · see review

Aug 28, 2011 Helen rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

2.5 stars

I'm really confused about how to review this book. I can't say I 'liked' or even enjoyed it, it was just too weird. I almost gave up about a third of the way through, it was getting tedious and since 'Stevie' is such a monstrous character, it's impossible to care about what happens to her.(It's at least 100 pages too long) I think I only persisted because I hoped I'd eventually understand what was going on. I never did find out for sure!
But, I suppose my persistence is evidence that it...more

4 likes · like · see review

Oct 24, 2010 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was one of the most disturbing and, at the same time, engaging books I've ever read. The story of Stephanie (Stevie) Searle has elements of both sadness and humor, but over it all is the unsettling madness that gradually emerges through the main character's first person narrative. Stevie's initial avoidance of the truth and her eventual attempts to justify it, display her increasing depravity, as well as the rising terror and disgust felt by the reader. Stevie is not only a serial killer, f...more

like · see review

May 14, 2010 Celia Powell rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror, thrillers-crime, australian-author

I don't think I'm really a horror reader. I find it too intensely disturbing, and scenarios stick far too vividly in my mind for comfort.

I picked this up because I saw it mentioned on a podcast or blog - Kaaron is an Australian author and this is her debut novel. It was extremely well written, utterly engaging, and I really enjoyed it from that perspective. However, our anti-social, disturbed serial killer narrator - with her obsession with the terrifying afterlife she sees everytime she tries t...more

like · see review

Jun 01, 2011 Tony rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is not a book I would usually read. It is not the type of book I would normally read. I am a simple man, with simple tastes. Usually that involves an easy to follow plot and some obvious and well constructed violence.

I was well out of my comfort zone with this one. There is so much left to the imagination, so many clever little gaps that you just automatically fill in. For a book about serial killers there does not seem to be much violence, but then you realise that you have read quite a fe...more

like · see review

Apr 03, 2013 James Cannon rated it 1 of 5 stars

One book that I couldn't read. To me, this was nothing more than the mad rambling of a madwoman who lost everything (or never had it in the first place). I kept hoping it would get better, but when i hit a bit past the half-way marker and NOTHING had happened (save some gardening and foul language that served no purpose) I set it aside. The title is confusing, which leads to disappointment. The cover is misleading, which leads to disappointment. And the writing is okay, but still WAY too much fo...more

like · see review

Jan 07, 2012 Christal rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: death-as-a-character, female-lead, horror, magical-or-paranormal, murder

This was an unusual book. I can't say that I enjoyed it, but it was interesting. The main character was a pretty horrible person and the pacing of the story was a little slow for my taste. The narrative was a bit jumpy and sometimes I wasn't sure if things were real or not. That said, I did finish this book and I definitely thought about it after I was done.

1 like · like · see review

Jan 28, 2013 Mick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

This is an intensely grim novel, so I'd avoid it if you're looking for something light or fun.

At the age of eighteen, Stevie goes to hell. She comes back. The book follows her many attempts, some successful, to understand that experience. It's not a pleasant premise, by any means, and Stevie - from whose point of view the story is told - is not a pleasant person. She's selfish, cruel, and dishonest (making her an extremely unreliable narrator), and almost entirely unsympathetic. Again, this is...more

like · see review

Mar 27, 2010 Nick Cato rated it 3 of 5 stars

After a car accident (which leaves her mother dead), Stephanie has an unusual near-death experience. There's no tunnel, no lights, nothing that's been heard of before. Stevie (the name she's referred to more often throughout the story) finds herself in a small dark room, surrounded by people she has slighted throughout her life...people who apparently want revenge, and as they begin to scratch and poke her, she comes back to the land of the living. But despite the creepiness of the place, Stevie...more After a car accident (which leaves her mother dead), Stephanie has an unusual near-death experience. There's no tunnel, no lights, nothing that's been heard of before. Stevie (the name she's referred to more often throughout the story) finds herself in a small dark room, surrounded by people she has slighted throughout her life...people who apparently want revenge, and as they begin to scratch and poke her, she comes back to the land of the living. But despite the creepiness of the place, Stevie finds herself longing to return, wondering what this strange afterlife is all about. Hence, in order to investigate, Stevie commites suicide on numerous occassions, each time finding out a bit more about the dark room and its inhabitants . . . and each time (save for the ending) she's brought back to life either by luck or from someone finding her hanged or overdosed or wrist-slit just in the nick of time (and this aspect of the novel is quite difficult to swallow).

To make matters more interesting, Stevie also happens to be a serial killer (who eventually takes a job at a hospice center) who looks into the eyes of her victims and demands they tell her what they're seeing as they enter their own dark rooms. The manner and attitude in which Stevie murders is so matter-of-fact it acts as the novel's main chill factor, even among the author's depressing view of the afterlife.

While SLIGHTS features an amazing premise, is wonderfully written in a literary, memoir style, I found some of this a chore to get through. Warren spends a bit too much time establishing many scenarios, only to have the protagonist reveal that this is what she wished was the case, then we have to go through what has "really" happened. This works once or twice, but for as many times as it occurrs, the reader will be challenged to stay focused. Much of the novel deals with mementos Stevie takes from her victims, which didn't add up to a whole lot by the ending.

I liked SLIGHTS even though I found stretches of it frustrating. The horror element is worth your time, Stevie's a truly different-type of serial killer, and much of Warren's prose is finely executed. But at the same time several stretches drag on and a few questions remain unanswered or have unsatisfying conclusions. This being Warren's debut novel (released in europe in 2009, set for U.S. release this June), I'm actually looking forward to what she comes up with next (there's a preview of it in this Angry Robot edition). Her style is already her own, and once tightened-up I'm betting she has a real gem or two waiting to come out.(less)

like · see review

Nov 10, 2010 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is probably one of the most disturbing books I've ever read, but I mean that in a good way! It's so rare you get authors who can write true horror stories that genuinely disturb you.
This book will not be for everyone. The main character draws you in, but I don't think you are meant to like her that much or even sympathise with her at the best of times. There are reasons for why she is the way she is, but that disturbing part of her nature is something that has always been there, and as suc...more

like · see review

Jan 18, 2011 Claire rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

The premise of the book sounded different and exciting to me. Also that back cover advised if you liked the Wasp Factory you'll like this. Not so! I was incredibly disappointed in this novel. The plot lacked direction and it took almost 200 pages before the serial killer arose. Although it was very different I find no comparison with Iain Banks.The book and blurb seemed to offer a supernatural tale of life on the other side. Also I found this in the horror section of my bookshop - and I never re...more

like · see review

Sep 05, 2012 Janie Johnson rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am actually lost on what to say about this book. It is alot of "disturbing nothing". I have not quite figured out yet what to take from this book.

A young girl pretty much grows up, going through life with a dark, morbid yearning for death, and what happens when you reach that point. Along the way discovers that she is pretty much alone, kind of an outcast, and will never really be remembered or loved accept when she is in her dark room after she dies. The book takes you through each of her ye...more

1 like · like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 19 20 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (7)

More editions...

Genres

Horror

62 users

Adult Fiction

3 users

Fantasy

2 users

Novels

2 users

Thriller

2 users

Mystery > Crime

2 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

Audrey's Door
by Sarah Langan
Black and Orange
by Benjamin Kane Ethridge
Moxyland
by Lauren Beukes
Snow
by Ronald Malfi
Eutopia: A Novel of Terrible Optimism
by David Nickle

About Kaaron Warren

I’m an Australian writer currently living in Fiji. I wanted to be a writer from a very young age, and wrote my first proper short story at 14. I also wrote a novel that year, called “Skin Deep”‘, which I really need to type up.

I started sending stories out when I was about 23, and sold my first one, “White Bed”", in 1993. Since then I’ve sold about 70 short stories, two short story collections and...more

More about Kaaron Warren...

Books by Kaaron Warren

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Slights

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from Slights

“I read in one of the gardening books that manure was very good for soil, so I had a shitload delivered.” — 1 person liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Slights
avg rating	preview: Slights Goodreads rating: 3.38 (230 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6555133-slights?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347727862l/6555133.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6555133-slights?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Slights by Kaaron Warren[/url]

Slights

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website