Sleeping Dogs

by Sonya Hartnett

The Willows live on an old farm that also houses a ramshackle trailer park. Over the years Griffin Willos, the volatile head of the family, has cowed his wife Grace into near-silent submission; as for their five children, one way or another they have learned to live amidst the dust, the heat, the madness.

But when trusting young Oliver befriends an outsider, an artist intent on discovering the family's secrets, the Willows' world inextricably falls apart—in a harrowing implosion of lies, loyalty, and violence.

At once shocking and sad, Sleeping Dogs evokes the twisted, often savage worlds of William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor; it is a story that will linger in readers' mind, long after they have closed the book itself.

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction, Contemporary, Abuse, Australia, Family, Dark

130 pages, Hardcover

First published June 29, 1995

About the author

Sonya Hartnett (also works under the pseudonym Cameron S. Redfern) is, or was, something of an Australian child prodigy author. She wrote her first novel at the age of thirteen, and had it published at fifteen. Her books have also been published in Europe and North America. Her novels have been published traditionally as young adult fiction, but her writing often crosses the divide and is also enjoyed by adults.

"I chose to narrate the story through a child because people like children, they WANT to like them," says Sonya Hartnett of THURSDAY'S CHILD, her brilliantly original coming-of-age story set during the Great Depression. "Harper [the young narrator] is the reason you get sucked into the characters. Even I, who like to distance myself from my characters, felt protective of her."

The acclaimed author of several award-winning young adult novels--the first written when she was just 13--Australian native Sonya Hartnett says she wrote THURSDAY'S CHILD in a mere three months. "It just pulled itself together," she says. "I'd wanted to set a story in the Depression for some time, in an isolated community that was strongly supportive. Once the dual ideas of the boy who tunneled and the young girl as narrator gelled, it almost wrote itself--I had the cast, I had the setting, I just said 'go.' " Accustomed to writing about edgy young adult characters, Sonya Hartnett says that identifying with a seven-year-old protagonist was a challenge at first. "I found her difficult to approach," she admits. "I'm not really used to children. But once I started, I found you could have fun with her: she could tell lies, she could deny the truth." Whereas most children know "only what adults want them to know," the author discovered she could bypass that limitation by "turning Harper into an eavesdropper and giving her older siblings to reveal realities."

In her second book with Candlewick Press, WHAT THE BIRDS SEE, Sonya Hartnett once again creates a portrait of childhood. This time the subject is Adrian, a nine-year-old boy living in the suburbs with his gran and Uncle. For Adrian, childhood is shaped by fear: his dread of quicksand, shopping centers, and self-combustion. Then one day, three neighborhood children vanish--an incident based on a real case in Australia in the 1960s--and Adrian comes to see just how tenuous his safety net is. In speaking about Adrian, the author provocatively reveals parallels between herself and her character. She says, "Adrian is me in many respects, and many of the things that happen to him happened to me."

Sonya Hartnett's consistently inspired writing has built her a legion of devotees. Of THURSDAY'S CHILD, Newbery Honor-winning author Carolyn Coman says, "Hartnett's beautifully rendered vision drew me in from the very start and carried me along, above and under ground, to the very end. This book amazed me." The achingly beautiful WHAT THE BIRDS SEE has just as quickly garnered critical acclaim. Notes PUBLISHERS WEEKLY in a starred review, "Hartnett again captures the ineffable fragility of childhood in this keenly observed tale. . . . Sophisticated readers will appreciate the work's acuity and poetic integrity." Sonya Hartnett's third young adult novel, STRIPES OF THE SIDESTEP WOLF was named an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults.

Sonya Hartnett lives near Melbourne, Australia. Her most recent novels are SURRENDER, a mesmerizing psychological thriller, and THE SILVER DONKEY, a gently told fable for middle-grade readers.

Reviews

[Eleanor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is so hard for me to rate - on one hand Sonia Hartnett's writing is stunning and I love how this is like an Aussie version of Faulkner's The Sound and the fury, one of my all time favourite novels. I'd go as far to say that Hartnett's writing is right up there with the greats. I just found that firstly, this story is incredibly brutal and unrelenting to the point that I had not much heart at the beginning to want to keep reading. Don't get me wrong - I like dark books (The Sound and the Fury is not exactly a box of rainbows), but a story that starts and continues with no hope makes me predict nothing but an ending with no hope and I didn't want to continue in this vein at all.

Secondly, I found the turning point of the novel - the arrival of a stranger that turns the family's dystopian farm life upside down... trivial. Some childish things happen and the story ends. I was hoping for a turn of events that was say more... epic? Dramatic? Bigger in scope and depth? I'm not sure. I found the final closing sentences (and the imagined "dream ending sequence") very beautiful, but I just kept thinking that if a bit longer and fleshed out, this could have been quite the tome. Overall though, good.

[Cass Moriarty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Australian author Sonya Hartnett’s dark YA novella Sleeping Dogs (Penguin Random House 1995) is a compact, precise and unsettling depiction of a family bound by secrets and violence, and their disturbing encounter with a stranger. The Willow family scrabbles to exist on their ailing farm, their house deteriorating, the five children wary and careful, the mother almost catatonic and the father ruling the roost with an iron fist. Tourists in caravans stay for the summer season, but when artist Bow Fox arrives, stumbles upon a family secret and threatens to expose it, the children plan an act of revenge that is shocking and desperate. This slim book is a finely-drawn portrait of family members under stress, frayed by betrayals and lies, yet struggling to remain loyal to each other and to the only familiarity they know. Hartnett writes superbly of animals and nature, and each of the children – Edward, Oliver, Jordan, Michelle and Speck – are resounding and memorable.

[Calzean · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short powerful novel that tests the boundaries of what is a family, an individual's role in the community they live in and what happens if a system, although seemingly weird, is tampered with.
The Willow family is unusual, living in a derelict farm that offers new meaning to a farm-stay. The father is a brute and rules his tribe with an iron hand. The eldest Edward seems to run the farm and does have some interaction with the local town. 23 year old Michelle and the dreaming, artist 20 year old Jordan have an incestuous relationship. The younger two observe and try to keep a low profile.
Bow Fox (a fox in the hen house?) arrives for a farm stay and causes a disruption to the status quo with fatal results.
The language used is tight, atmospheric and startling. Not sure if this is a YA, maybe is it an YA-for older YAs.

[Lynxie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am at a loss for words.

This was a gritty and brutal look into a damaged family. Both mentally and physically damaged, the Willow's are at the same time inexplicably close and immensely lonely beings. The glimpse into their lives is tragic and taboo, covering a raft of events that all lead to a horrific conclusion.

I shudder to think that there are families like this out there, but know, sadly, that there are.

This book, which is deliciously written, will leave you feeling dirty for having read its pages. I am thankful in one breath that it only has just over 100 pages, but at the same time wishing for many more chapters of the artistry of Hartnett's words.

Absolutely not a HEA, and very little in the way of happy moments explored within the pages, I wouldn't read this one if you're having a bad day or week. But if you're in the mood for deliciously devious and stunning writing, then pick up this book and give it a try.

This is marked as YA, but I would be hesitant to give it to a young person. The themes and topics covered are quite adult in nature even though they're not explicitly discussed or described. Definitely one for the adults to read first to gauge if appropriate for your young person.

[Siobhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Sonya. She's an amazing Australian writer. This book was similar yet so different from the book I have previous read by Sonya. It seems like every time she writes a book she takes it up a notch.

This book hit me at my heart because it's about country kids in Australia. I am a country kid is Australia. It's a very confronting book that touches on a lot of issues that arise when you remove the outside world from young people's lives and replace it with an unhealthy obsession with the bible. A wrong idea of the bible and it's content. Aka OLD TESTAMENT ON YOUR ARSES! Honestly, if you read the bible you should know that Jesus said, "Oi, guys, I made some new rules and if you touch the old testament again while still preaching what I say you're missing the point. Christian = new testament, that means GOODBYE OLD TESTAMENT YOUR RULES NO LONGER APPLY IN THIS CONTEXT OR RELIGION!" rant over
There is some confronting stuff about the onset of diseases like dementia, depression, bi-polar disorder, etc., and the way people fail to cope with these changing condition. Also creepy dude who does some creepy stuff, but revenge is a dish best served cliff side.

It was a great book. I finished it late at night in the darkness of my room with the side lamp as my only light. I cried and screamed in the last chapter. Read it and find out why.

If you love confronting stories about closed societies and damaging family situations ALL of Sonya's books are for you.

Chaos out.

[thecloserkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: YA
Is it the main pairing: Yes
Is it canon: Yes
Is it explicit: No
Is it endgame: Nope
Is it shippable: Not particularly but there are interesting facets to their relationship
Bottom line: Borrow it from the library but don’t pay cash money for it

The Willow family lives on a farm in the ass-end of nowhere and it ain’t no picturesque farm either: “Farms are places for working, not preening.” They work from sunup till sundown and they none of them have friends but they do have a pack of dogs. The day Michelle Willow turns twenty-three, her brother Jordan slips into her bed at the crack of dawn:

She knows that Jordan is here stealing time, has planned and plotted this moment of quiet between them, and she curls her hand around his, lets his hair tickle her face without becoming cross for it. He lies still for a minute or more, and then sits up on an elbow so he can kiss her and look at her face and touch her closed eyes. He whispers, “Happy birthday, Michelle.”

This is such a tender stolen moment between them. If only the whole novel went on in this vein! All too soon Jordan has to leave to help their older brother Edward slaughter a sheep. Edward more or less runs the farm; as far as I can tell the only thing their father is good for is yelling at the lot of them for being a pack of lazy layabouts. The only one he abuses physically is Jordan, but all five children come in for their share of emotional abuse. Their mother has long since noped right out of there and now all she does is sit in her chair like a vegetable. And the entire town gives the family a wide berth:

In the shop the chemist is watchful. He does not like the Willow children and thinks them dangerous, delinquent. He asks them what they want and Michelle says, “I want to know why chemists are always old.” She sprays perfume and samplers up and down her arm and in her brother’s face. Jordan retreats outside and leans against the window to wait. He watches the people who pass but drops his gaze if they look back at him.

There is a dynamic here that may strike you as familiar, the nerdy or socially inept brother versus the glamorous sister with a temper to reckon with, a la Justin and Alex Russo from Wizards of Waverly Place. In this incarnation it’s a very unhealthy dynamic — everything about the Willows is unhealthy actually. Into this closed loop arrives an outsider, a would-be painter who overestimates both his native-born artistic talent and his appeal to women. He immediately develops an infatuation for Michelle and can’t understand why she doesn’t reciprocate his interest. Inexplicably one of their younger siblings, Oliver, takes to following this man around like a puppy. Or maybe not so inexplicably:

Although Oliver loves his siblings dearly, he is not yet old enough to consider them friends. He is no loner, and would call himself lonely.

In his eagerness to please, Oliver winds up revealing far too much to the not-particularly-astute painter, such as the fact that Jordan draws for a hobby. The walls of Jordan’s room are papered with drawings, and they are — untutored as he is — much better than anything the painter has ever produced. This hurts the painter’s pride almost as much as Michelle’s rejection does. Oliver makes another very telling observation, which is:

“What you were saying the other day - I’ve been thinking about it - “
”What was I saying?”
”You know, the stuff about kids in a family having favorites … Edward is Speck’s favorite. And Michelle is Jordan’s favorite. Michelle is Dad’s favorite, too. Everyone knows that. He thinks she’s wonderful. He lets her do anything she likes. He never yells at her.”

I love this, I love it when you have a big family and everyone has their own favorite and they all know it but refrain from discussing it. The Starks, for instance: Bran is Cat’s favorite and Jon is Arya’s, that much is canonical but I could sit here all day speculating about the other dynamics. Eventually Oliver lets slip something he really shouldn’t have and that’s when the shit hits the fan:

”Michelle doesn’t like other boys. She only likes Jordan. She’ll tell you to go away, because she’s only ever liked Jordan.”

Even someone as thick as the painter cannot possibly miss the implications of that. A sibling conference is hastily convened in which they all close ranks in order to confront the threat of this outsider having such blackmail material in his possession, and the instant sibling solidarity warms my heart. They resolve on a plan of action to drive him out of town. The plan results in the painter peeing his pants as he’s savaged by the Willows’ hunting dogs, so to the extent it chastened and embarrassed him it worked; but on his way out he leaves an unsigned note for their father tipping him off about Michelle and Jordan’s relationship.

”Daddy!” she pleads, “there’s nothing - "
”Liar!” he spits. “Don’t you lie to me! Someone says they’ve seen you, out there in the bush, like animals! Animals, Michelle!”

I do think we are supposed to read possessiveness and jealousy in the way he’s thrashing Michelle here. She is, after all, his favorite. He’s incensed that she prefers Jordan (his least favorite child) as much as by the revelation of their “sin.” Eventually Michelle breaks down:

”Don’t throw me out, Daddy, don’t make me leave. It was Jordan, he made me do everything, he made me, it wasn’t my fault, don’t hurt me.”

Having got what he wanted, he leaves Michelle weeping on the floor, picks up his rifle, goes into the garden and blows the head off of Jordan’s dog before shooting Jordan next. You could interpret it as he wanted to get rid of the dog so it wouldn’t attempt to protect its owner, but to me it looks like he wanted Jordan to suffer by watching the dog die first. And if you didn’t see that ending coming a mile off you are probably new to reading stories about incest.

This novel falls squarely in the category of “books where the incest is a byproduct of abuse/neglect,” of which there are already too many. And unlike, say, Flowers in the Attic, where there is also abuse & neglect galore, it doesn’t frame the central incestuous relationship as a romance. This is primarily a story about an abusive family, and only secondarily about Michelle and Jordan’s bond, which anyway strikes me as uncomfortably uneven. I mean he worships the ground she walks on while she straight-up admits that she’ll probably date other men at some point. I do want to emphasize that just because their father favors Michelle doesn’t mean she’s not a victim too — everybody in an abusive family is a victim simply by virtue of witnessing the abuse and being forced to modify their own behavior accordingly to minimize the chances of abuse. It still kills me that when their father hurts Jordan it is always his left hand, his drawing hand. I don’t want to leave you all on a depressing note, however, so here are some of the shippiest passages:

It is not something they often talk of: they know what they do is said to be wrong and yet certainly it appears to hurt no one. It causes no trouble and no great punishment comes down from the sky to blight them. Griffin hitting Jordan provides the penalty they don’t want but know they probably deserve despite everything they endure, the monotony, the seclusion, the occasional misery of the farm. Denied the chance to do so as children, they are now both incapable of making outside friends: their closeness brings them solace and companionship and seems only just.

She leans her weight on his chest and he smells her: she always smells nice to him, like something brand new. He sighs but there is nothing wrong. No other body could be as harmonious to him as Michelle’s, no one would ever fold around him so comfortably, none could wrap him so perfectly, for Shelly and he are made alike.

[Adele · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is well-written, but the writing style had the effect of distancing me emotionally from the characters and events in the story. Consequently, when the inevitable tragic ending happened, I was irritated and vaguely dissatisfied rather than saddened.

[Heather Josephine Pue · Rating 5 out of 5]

They say that you should let sleeping dogs lie and this is certainly the case in Sonya Hartnett’s Sleeping Dogs, a novel that tells the tale of the Willow family, a rather secluded family living an isolated life on their farm, avoiding contact with the outside world, save a few campers stopping to spend the night at their caravan park. The Willows are strange and bizarre, but it is the way that Harntett writes of them as though they were normal that makes the novel so stunning. Right from the beginning the novel pulls you in with hints of an incestuous love story and the strong, powerful images of a broken mother clinging to her chinaware and the teenage son who dreams of an escape he knows he’ll never make. The plot begins to rise when Bow Fox, a prying visitor at the Willow’s caravan park, begins to uncover the family’s secrets, threatening to knock over the pedestal their lives are built upon, and the Willow children (half of whom are grown) band together to chase Bow off of their property and out of their lives. Sleeping Dogs builds suspense like a good mystery novel, rising to a horrifying climax and a conclusion that will leave you with goose pimples. Sleeping Dogs is a stunning novel by one of Australia’s finest authors at the height of her career. Short but sweet, this novel is a rare treat.

[noemi [dogeatsreads] · Rating 3 out of 5]

And that’s yet another book by Sonya Hartnett that really shouldn’t have sat in the “children’s” section of the bookshop. Incest, domestic violence, animal cruelty, you know all that good stuff you find on Play School.

I’m all seriousness though, it is good stuff. I absolutely love everything I read from Hartnett (as an adult) and this book was no exception. The only thing that made me rate this book 3.5 stars is my lack of connection to any of the characters. I felt sorry for Jordan but that’s about it. Beautifully written as always but just not as effecting as “Surrender” or “Of a Boy”. If you love this author already then pick up this book. If you haven’t tried anything of hers before pick up something else.

[Stephanie Tournas · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Willow family lives in squalor on a farm/trailer park. Griffin, the father of the clan, is a violent, controlling man who has cowed his wife and 5 children into accepting that there is no life worth living beyond their the farm's borders. When a stranger enters their world, a horrible secret is revealed, resulting in terrible violence.

"We must be ruthless," Edward snarls, "because we lead ruthless lives ... This is our existence ... this house, this land, that father, that mother - there's no pity, there's no mercy, there's probably no escape ..."

[Ksboydie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very powerful novel about a family who has isolated themselves on a farm. The mother has withdrawn and the father is abusive, towards one son in particular. The children only spend time with each other and there is an incestuous relationship between one of the sisters and brothers. To make money their farm doubles as a caravan park and when a man named Bow Fox arrives trouble begins for the family. The ending is brutal and breathtaking.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Abrupt and vicious, this story, if fleshed out could have really been something.

The complexity of the characters, their demons and their ghosts are overshadowed by the mechanics of plot.

Why the author provides only a brief painful glimpse of this family eludes me, why throw back the big fish with the hungry looking on?

Having said that - well worth the read, still plenty to admire, even if it is the potential that excites.

[Miffy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first Sonya Hartnett that I ever read...and what a story to begin with! The Willow family is isolated, disfunctional and violent, and Hartnett sucks you into their world with vehemence and skill. This novel left me breathless.

Addendum: I reread this during a couple of Wide Reading session this year and it still has immense power and all the feels. Amazing writing.

[Alexandra Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Woah.. OKay then

[Stacey Zwynenberg]

I don't know what I think about this book.

[Kathryn O'Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hauntingly beautiful and bleak, this story stays with me. What does it mean to be loyal to your family? To a way of life? To love? What might it cost?

[Soobie is expired · Rating 4 out of 5]

And I finally got around to read this book in English. It took me long enough.

The copy I bought used to belong to Robert Cormier. The one and only. There's still a letter from Viking Children's Books inside, thanking the author for the quote.

Hard book to read, despite an interesting writing style. The life of the Willow's family is turned upside down by the arrival of an artist trying to find nice landscapes to paint. He befriends one of the five children and he slowly discovers what's going on in the family.

Abuse, incest, hopelessness. No one has any hope of escaping and making a life of their own. Neither Edward and his love for growing plants, nor Oliver and his wish to go to university one day. Neither Michelle, nor Spike. Without even mentioning poor Jordan.

Michelle has always been one of the characters I've despised the most in my years of reading. Everything happens around her and because of her, but she's always the innocent one. There's always someone else that pays the price.

Bow Fox is stupid and he thinks he knows best. But his arrival starts a series of events that means destruction. He thinks he's improving things and he wants a petty vengeance. Just a stupid and conceited person.

Good one. Holds up pretty well! And the blurb is right: this book has been lingering in my mind for years, since the first time I've read it.

[Annette Heslin · Rating 4 out of 5]

We are introduced to the Willow Family who have appeared out of nowhere and brought a Caravan Park and Farm. A rundown ramshackle of a house in dire need of repairs.

One son Jordan is very talented and able to draw without any guidance or teaching. His favorite thing to draw is birds.

His Father Griffin Willow dislikes Jordan the most and anything that goes wrong he is blamed and punished - usually a beating.

One of the Caravanners staying is also an artist Bow Fox, and after seeing Jordan's work he becomes jealous. Jordan's brother Oliver shows Bow some good views that he may like to paint being a Landscape Artist, and he asks Oliver many questions about his family life. Not realizing he let slip that his Dad often beats Jordan for no reason, and that Jordan and his sister Michelle are close. Too much information as they never converse with the guests.

Bow takes to meddling in their affairs and a set of events unfold with fatal consequences.

I certainly wasn't expecting so much to be happening with a close-knit family, and the outcome I expected a revelation of some sort as secrets always have a way of coming out, but the way it ended blew me away. I was not expecting the book to end so violently.

[Joss · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to wait a couple of days before I could really determine what rating I should give this book.

Sleeping Dogs by Sonya Hart is a thought-provoking and emotionally intense read portrayed beautifully in a novella. Something some authors would have struggled to do in 130 pages.

I was hesitant on my rating (contemplating a lower score) as the story delves into the complexities of family dynamics, secrets, and the consequences of confronting buried truths, which was raw and very unsettling to me. However, upon contemplation I admitted that this marks a brilliant story and author, hence the 4/5 stars.

Set in rural Australia, the story revolves around the Willow family, who reside on a decaying farm that also houses a ramshackle trailer park. The family is marked by dysfunction: the mother is nearly catatonic, the father is abusive, and the children are left to navigate their troubled environment.

While it’s labeled YA, the heavy emotional themes suggest it might be better suited for an older audience.

A powerful and lingering story, read at your own risk.

[Debbie Lamb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audio book downloaded today - 4 hours long and I listened to it in one sitting.

The narrator is stunning. She projects the right amount of menace and weirdness with each character. The writing is evocative as well as detailed without being wordy.

This has so many strands woven into it of family loyalty, family violence, incest, dysfunction and the contradictions of what normality should be. Hartnett has a wonderful writing style that packs a punch in every sentence. This family is screwed up for sure and the brutality, without being gratuitously spelled out is deeply unsettling and uncomfortable. They say less is more and by being frugal on the description but clearly pointing you to your imagined horror, you feel a plethora of emotions as you read between the lines.

The final line is perfect.

[Sofiya]

I remember reading this as a wee sub-16 year old. For a week or so after I finished it, I was in a dark mood, thinking very dark thoughts. I couldn't shake the disgusting tainted feeling I got from it for that whole week, as if I was somehow affiliated with the characters and was partly responsible for their actions, because I was witness to them and did nothing to stop them. Whenever I entered the library and saw the copy of this book, it was like it was black hole waiting to suck me up, and I'd avoid looking in its direction. Would not recommend for anyone at that age, and I have no interest in rereading it now.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sonya Hartnett such a wonderful Australian author of literature

Sleeping Dogs is such a raw account of a rural family of 5 children and the personal struggles they face

Trigger warning - there is abuse - physical, psychological and indirect mention/notion of incest (nothing graphic)

I understand some readers may not appreciate this story as it does not hold back in description to detail, her writing style is exceptional. I often find her writing to be more poetic in meaning.

I would not use the word bleak to define this book however honest and accurate is a more astute definition

It is a short story of 130 pages and each page breathes unyielding emotion

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sleeping Dogs was simultaneously incredibly easy and incredibly difficult to read. It told a tale of such a deeply disturbing family dynamic with a harrowing lack of closure. You are presented with an off putting world and the unsettling allusion to a number of stomach plummeting themes.

It’s these hints and subtle cues to the disturbing truths that transpire within the Willow family and the poison they infect others and themselves with.

The ending left me feeling a sort of morbid emptiness and a perpetual state of disbelief and sorrow. I yearn to know more and learn more of what follows the willow family after Jordan’s death but know that it will never come. And this, for me, is such a phenomenal achievement in the writing because it represents a sort of insufferable truth within the real world about how we can hardly receive closure.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trigger warning. A haunting story of a dysfunctional family, involving family violence and incest. Not sure this would be published in our modern times of widespread censorship, but it is a beautifully written story with strong characters, rising tension and a sad but satisfying ending.

[Inger Lise · Rating 3 out of 5]

En ungdomsbok som tar opp temaet om seksuelt misbruk på en god måte. Passer for modne unge lesere.

[Jacinda O'Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just gut wrenching. Oh my god.

[Jenna Baldwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book when I was a teenager and love it just as much now

[Kk · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brooding, delirious story about isolation, abuse, family and a strange who thinks he knows best

[Gnuynus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like a train building momentum to the inevitable end.

[Karina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super intense. It's a mix of The Hills Have Eyes, Flowers in the Attic, and Dracula. Very uncomfortable but very well-written.