Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this advanced reader's copy and the opportunity to this early. Review has been posted on Waterstones and Goodreads.

The story is based around the urban legend of Sue Side, eliot (missing capital is intentional), and a shat group called deathbed.
Although this book does explore the human psyche (in a very limited fashion), it falls in my opinion to invoke any true terror.
I found it rather repetitive and the atmosphere was rather dull.

Please take the trigger warnings seriously if you are in a bad headspace.
This tale is melancholic, beautifully lyrical, and goes to some very dark places. It touches on subjects such as loss, death, grief, suicide, despair, mental anguish in a very human and compelling way.
It is a story that will stay with you.

This book was a deeply unpleasant and ultimately pointless experience. The premise, focusing on a chat group centered around suicide and an urban legend called "Sue Side," immediately sets a grim and disturbing tone, which the publisher's warning accurately reflects. However, the execution of this dark subject matter feels gratuitous and exploitative rather than insightful or thought-provoking.

The narrative descends into a repetitive cycle of the protagonist's suicide attempts and subsequent visits to the "bad feeling room," a vague and uninspired depiction of the afterlife. While the protagonist's supposed realization about his daughter is meant to be a poignant moment, it feels unearned and overshadowed by the relentless negativity and bleakness of the story.

The urban legend of Sue Side herself lacks any real depth or terror, serving merely as a vehicle for the protagonist's self-destructive impulses. The other chat group members remain largely underdeveloped, existing only to further the story's morbid atmosphere.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Sue Side by Evan Jameson.

Content warning: self-harm and suicide.

Having worked through my own experiences with ideation in the past, I felt drawn to this book’s premise. Sue Side offers a haunting, introspective look at grief and the lingering echoes of loss. Jameson not only forces the protagonist to confront their own thoughts over and over again but does it in a way that is truly surreal. That said, while the emotional weight is clear and often poignant, the pacing and structure sometimes left me feeling adrift. Still, this is a thoughtful, quietly powerful read for those in the right headspace.

This is beautifully written despite how dark and heavy the concept of this book is, it's one of those reads that will definitely stay with you after finishing the book. I've truly never read anything like it nor have I seen anyone handle suicide as a topic in such way. Loved this story.

Please check triggers before picking up

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for approving my request to read this book.

First off, do heed the trigger warnings. This is a very dark story that deals heavily with suicide: thoughts of it, detailed discussions, the actual events themselves, and the aftermath. And as the blurb says...there is no happy ending.

The story follows eliot, a 26yo man who doesn't even feel worthy enough to capitalise his name, and is waiting for the day he turns 27, or wakes up to find he has no more reasons to stay alive, before ending things. He belongs to an online forum for those who have the same feelings and thoughts and who share an obsession with an urban legend called Sue Side...an entity who promises a peaceful death to those who kill themselves.

eliot becomes entangled with Sue after she comes to him during a suicide attempt, after which she takes him on an ethereal, otherworldly journey of repeated cycles of death and resurrection to confront his past, present, and the impact he has on those linked to him.

The story is beautifully written, challenging in content, and in addition to the obvious topic, explores themes of grief, regret, mental anguish, love, death, and the afterlife.

I've never read anything like this before and I'll be thinking about it for a long time.

Thank you to the publisher and author for an advance copy of Sue Side to read and review. Thank you to NetGalley as well.

Wow. A haunting exploration of the human psyche. The book follows eliot (who feels his name unworthy of even a capital letter) and a few others from the online forum community he is a part of for people who desire to unalive themselves. This is hard for me to review without spoilers, but it tugged at my heartstrings!! I would strongly recommend that you steer clear of this if you are someone who struggles with su!c!dal thoughts or mental health, or if you have triggers regarding the mentioned topic. eliot's encounters with Sue force him to take a hard look at his life. This one will stick with me for a long time to come.

This is a very difficult read for me . You have to go into this understanding what it’s about and try to compartmentalize that . It’s a very dark read and I’m usually fine with that but I found it extremely repetitive. As there’s also no happy ending (which I knew from the synopsis) I don’t see the point of reading about this subject .

Although I didn’t particularly enjoy this book I can see someone who loves horror and can stomach this topic enjoying it .

there is no need to give spoilers for this book. dont think it will be anything other than it proposes to be. there is now light and happy ending hidden behind "Meanings" here. so be warned and go in to it knowing exactly what it say its about it will be about.
im not quite sure this is ever the right plot. or the right subject matter. and some might find it worse than others if its too close to home without the added knowledge of the matter being properly put into the book. but then again you couldnt ever do that so in order to read this book you also have to separate it from the subject itself if you see what i mean.