ASIN: B081QWF3G1
Publisher: Grindhouse Press (January 15, 2020)
Genre: Crime/Horror
"The world never accepted the unwanted child. Firmer than any scripture was the belief that no matter how ugly or horrid a child could be, at least the child's mother would love it. Perhaps the worst damage to society had been the perpetuation of this myth...for it orphaned Lim and me. It orphaned all of us. The unwanted. The abused. The raped.
The Unloved."
Suzy and her brother Lim are The Unloved. Raised by a woman who raped and abused her, Suzy is about as sane as you'd expect. In other words, not at all. The description of the book says "when the abuse becomes too much to handle, the two siblings embark on a sordid cross-country murder spree beginning with their mom."
But that is far too simple an explanation. The abuse that day is no different from any other day. It is perhaps the straw that broke the camel's back, no different from the rest of the straws. That just happened to be the day Suzy became too curious about what her mother's blood would look like sprayed over the walls.
You see, over the years of learning how to shut out the emotion, to shut out the pain, Suzy has become a sociopath. A psychopath. Perhaps the title of this book should have been, "How a Killer is Made." Because Suzy has many chances to redeem a small piece of her soul. People she could have saved along the way. Choices she could have made easily, the right choice being just as easy as the wrong one, but she just doesn't. Because she cannot care. She's too far gone.
If you like fairy tales and happily ever afters, this is not your book. If you like the episodes of Criminal Minds where they don't find the killer, where the good guys do not win...if you like waking up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat...if you like horror and grit and the rawness of society...if you don't have triggers...this is your book.
The writing was excellent. I was surprised not to find any other books by this author. This is her debut, and she came out swinging. Not her fists. A meat cleaver.
Ever finished a book and said, "holy shit?" You want to?
"For every one of your brother's kind and for every one of your kind if you wish it, there are Builders, and there are Creators. In the end, they will see Him. The will see the Kingdom of Heaven and you will be alone floating in the darkness. You will see a light on the horizon and no matter how long you float in your filth, you will never reach it. That will be your punishment - to see a Paradise you cannot ruin."
Suzy and Lem are the maggots of the world, the eaters, the destroyers. This is their story.
4/5