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Sinkhole
Boiled peanuts, lovebugs, and murder.
Lies from the past and a dangerous present collide when, after fifteen years in exile, Michelle Miller returns to her tiny hometown of Lorida, Florida. With her mother in the hospital, she's forced to reckon with the broken relationships she left behind: with her family, with friends, and with herself.
As a teenager, Michelle felt isolated and invisible until she met Sissy, a dynamic and wealthy classmate. Their sudden, intense friendship was all-consuming. Punk rocker Morrison later joins their clique, and they become an inseparable trio. They were the perfect high school friends, bound by dysfunction, bad TV, and boredom—until one of them ends up dead.
Confronting the death of her best friend requires Michelle to face her past if she is going to survive. But what if everything she remembers is a lie? Or just as dangerous: What if it isn't?
An ingenious debut from editor and publisher Davida Breier, Sinkhole is a mesmerizing, darkly comic coming-of-age thriller immersed in 1980s central Florida. A disturbing and skillful exploration of home, friendship, selfhood, and grief set amidst golf courses, mobile homes, and alligators.
Lies from the past and a dangerous present collide when, after fifteen years in exile, Michelle Miller returns to her tiny hometown of Lorida, Florida. With her mother in the hospital, she's forced to reckon with the broken relationships she left behind: with her family, with friends, and with herself.
As a teenager, Michelle felt isolated and invisible until she met Sissy, a dynamic and wealthy classmate. Their sudden, intense friendship was all-consuming. Punk rocker Morrison later joins their clique, and they become an inseparable trio. They were the perfect high school friends, bound by dysfunction, bad TV, and boredom—until one of them ends up dead.
Confronting the death of her best friend requires Michelle to face her past if she is going to survive. But what if everything she remembers is a lie? Or just as dangerous: What if it isn't?
An ingenious debut from editor and publisher Davida Breier, Sinkhole is a mesmerizing, darkly comic coming-of-age thriller immersed in 1980s central Florida. A disturbing and skillful exploration of home, friendship, selfhood, and grief set amidst golf courses, mobile homes, and alligators.
263 pages, Paperback
First published May 26, 2022
6 people are currently reading
296 people want to read
About the author
Davida G. Breier
17 books25 followersDavida G. Breier has spent the last two decades in various roles within the book industry and currently works for Johns Hopkins University Press. She's published zines since 1995 and is a regular contributor to Razorcake. Davida lives in Maryland with her family and companion animals.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
June 9, 2022
Meticulously plotted and situated in an authentic 1980s milieu, Davida Breier’s debut novel serves up a treacherous tale of high school friendship gone horribly awry. Toggling between a past in the mid-80s and a present at the dawn of the new millennium, the book follows narrator Michelle as she falls under the spell of a much wealthier female classmate, whose powers of manipulation seem limitless. This toxic friendship comes to be balanced by that of another Michelle forms with a slightly younger punk boy of her same social class. While it seems much more true, this relationship begins to suffer after the three teens form a tentative trio. Along the way we see a lot of the much-maligned state of Florida in all its ambiguous glory. Would you want to live in the tiny kudzu-draped town where the book is set? Likely not. Is Breier’s narrator able to transmit to the reader believable moments of beauty in this less than desirable place? Yes. Having read a significant amount of the author’s nonfiction over the past 20+ years, I was curious to see how her style would translate to fiction. In all respects she’s accomplished a successful adaptation; notably, consistent trademarks of her writing—such as her sly, well-placed barbs of deadpan wit—are still present and integral in shaping the narrative. A timely read for aging Gen-Xers ambivalent toward their upbringing yet not completely immune to nostalgia’s sickly sweet emissions. And yes, it will keep you guessing until the end...
June 30, 2022
Thanks to S̶e̶a̶n̶ for the tip. This is not my usual thing, but I find myself enjoying it and rooting for the protagonist to overcome high school social complexities (which I would never have been able to handle) and figure out her escape. I also know a thing or two about being a queer punk in a small-town in the '80s, and can empathize with poor Morrison.
August 9, 2022
Sinkhole was one of those books that made me want to clear my schedule so that I could sit down and read it in one sitting. The short, propulsive chapters and the psychologically thrilling storyline kept me riveted from start to finish.
The first line opens with the admission that the protagonist, Michelle A. Miller, killed her best friend when she was 18. The rest of the book is the unfolding of how that event occurred. The majority of the book takes place in the mid-1980s, when Michelle was in high school, with peeks into 2001, when Michelle is returning home to Lorida, Florida for the first time in years.
1985ish: Michelle is poor. She didn't even realize how poor until Cecilia, better known as Sissy, enters her life and shows her how "the other half" lives. Sissy has a pool, an overflowing closet, unlimited junk food and open access to a credit card. Michelle can barely make it to extracurricular activities because her family can't afford the gas.
The high school years were so painful to read--I had a visceral sense of Michelle's insecurities and how Sissy was able to manipulate them. It felt very high school and very real: how friends can become more important than family, how family still pulls at your heart strings, and how desperate so many of us are to please everyone around us (but fail so hard that we ultimately please no one).
There is tenderness too. Michelle's relationship with punk rock outcast, Morrison, is sweet. And also nerve-wracking. You know whole book that something is going to go horribly wrong. And I kept wondering... is it with Morrison? Sissy? Michelle's mother or brother? Michelle worries about how Sissy will receive her relationship with Morrison, but the three are able to come together in a mostly cohesive trio. Michelle is constantly trying to stay at the center, keep Sissy focused on her, and be a more authentic version of herself with Morrison. The tension is real.
2001: Michelle has become Anne (her middle name). She has wanted as much distance from Lorida as possible. Now, it's clear that Anne both yearns for and dreads her return to Lorida; her mother is in the ICU and Anne doesn't want to miss what might be a last chance to see her. At the same time, Anne is unsure whether she'll be welcome. Getting home is a journey--literal and figurative. And during that journey, we learn that Anne's life is a bit of a mess. Toward the end of the book, we move fully to the present (2001), as the last details of the mystery unfold, Anne's own understanding of the last 15ish years evolves.
The build to the end is suspenseful. And while it did not shock me, there are major plot twists. I loved it. Highly recommend.
Favorite quotes:
“My brain keeps flashing on what I thought I knew and what I now know. The pieces keep moving and reforming. It’s like trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle by strobe light." – page 152
“‘…fitting in and belonging are two different things. Fitting in means changing yourself to fit the situation. It’s either a lie or becomes your new truth. Belonging means you are accepted just the way you are.’” – page 135
“I come out here to read. It’s not so much that I like to read as much as I need to escape. I can’t afford cable or drugs or booze, but I can always get books from the library.” - page 221
The first line opens with the admission that the protagonist, Michelle A. Miller, killed her best friend when she was 18. The rest of the book is the unfolding of how that event occurred. The majority of the book takes place in the mid-1980s, when Michelle was in high school, with peeks into 2001, when Michelle is returning home to Lorida, Florida for the first time in years.
1985ish: Michelle is poor. She didn't even realize how poor until Cecilia, better known as Sissy, enters her life and shows her how "the other half" lives. Sissy has a pool, an overflowing closet, unlimited junk food and open access to a credit card. Michelle can barely make it to extracurricular activities because her family can't afford the gas.
The high school years were so painful to read--I had a visceral sense of Michelle's insecurities and how Sissy was able to manipulate them. It felt very high school and very real: how friends can become more important than family, how family still pulls at your heart strings, and how desperate so many of us are to please everyone around us (but fail so hard that we ultimately please no one).
There is tenderness too. Michelle's relationship with punk rock outcast, Morrison, is sweet. And also nerve-wracking. You know whole book that something is going to go horribly wrong. And I kept wondering... is it with Morrison? Sissy? Michelle's mother or brother? Michelle worries about how Sissy will receive her relationship with Morrison, but the three are able to come together in a mostly cohesive trio. Michelle is constantly trying to stay at the center, keep Sissy focused on her, and be a more authentic version of herself with Morrison. The tension is real.
2001: Michelle has become Anne (her middle name). She has wanted as much distance from Lorida as possible. Now, it's clear that Anne both yearns for and dreads her return to Lorida; her mother is in the ICU and Anne doesn't want to miss what might be a last chance to see her. At the same time, Anne is unsure whether she'll be welcome. Getting home is a journey--literal and figurative. And during that journey, we learn that Anne's life is a bit of a mess. Toward the end of the book, we move fully to the present (2001), as the last details of the mystery unfold, Anne's own understanding of the last 15ish years evolves.
The build to the end is suspenseful. And while it did not shock me, there are major plot twists. I loved it. Highly recommend.
Favorite quotes:
“My brain keeps flashing on what I thought I knew and what I now know. The pieces keep moving and reforming. It’s like trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle by strobe light." – page 152
“‘…fitting in and belonging are two different things. Fitting in means changing yourself to fit the situation. It’s either a lie or becomes your new truth. Belonging means you are accepted just the way you are.’” – page 135
“I come out here to read. It’s not so much that I like to read as much as I need to escape. I can’t afford cable or drugs or booze, but I can always get books from the library.” - page 221
July 9, 2022
Through its effective use of dual timelines, Davida Breier’s debut novel, Sinkhole, tells the story of Michelle Miller, a young woman who as an adult is forced to reckon with the long-buried traumas of her childhood 15 years after fleeing – but never truly escaping – her hometown of Lorida, Florida. News of her mother’s failing health spurs Michelle into revisiting the 1986 events that still inform the “present day” of 2001.
Armed with a strong storyline and a stable of relatable characters, Breier tempers nostalgic instinct by regularly reminding the reader that the 1980s weren’t great for everyone. With her razor-sharp insight, the author peels away the veneer of Aqua Net, mix tapes, and cable TV to reveal the decade’s social ills, like the AIDS epidemic and the growing economic disparity between America’s haves and have-nots. The book’s taut prose reflects a linguistic economy I normally associate with a journalist-turned-author – like any good reporter, she makes every word tell – and it crackles with all the electrical charge of a Florida thunderstorm.
One of the book’s more remarkable feats lies in its uncanny ability to manifest itself in many different forms to as many different audiences. Is it a psychological thriller? A non-binary coming-of-age tale? An anti-nostalgic treatise on class and gender politics, wrapped in spandex and Remington Steele? In a word, yes – improbable though it may sound, from the book’s opening line (“When I was 18, I killed my best friend.”) to its revelatory climax, Breier makes it work.
Armed with a strong storyline and a stable of relatable characters, Breier tempers nostalgic instinct by regularly reminding the reader that the 1980s weren’t great for everyone. With her razor-sharp insight, the author peels away the veneer of Aqua Net, mix tapes, and cable TV to reveal the decade’s social ills, like the AIDS epidemic and the growing economic disparity between America’s haves and have-nots. The book’s taut prose reflects a linguistic economy I normally associate with a journalist-turned-author – like any good reporter, she makes every word tell – and it crackles with all the electrical charge of a Florida thunderstorm.
One of the book’s more remarkable feats lies in its uncanny ability to manifest itself in many different forms to as many different audiences. Is it a psychological thriller? A non-binary coming-of-age tale? An anti-nostalgic treatise on class and gender politics, wrapped in spandex and Remington Steele? In a word, yes – improbable though it may sound, from the book’s opening line (“When I was 18, I killed my best friend.”) to its revelatory climax, Breier makes it work.
January 16, 2023
Michelle Miller returns home to Lorida, Florida when her mother is in the hospital and is forced.to confront her broken past. She has not been back in 15 years and the story of how that happened leads to a shocking conclusion. In a book that alternates between 2001 and the early 1980's, we learn of a friendship between Michelle and Sissy, as well as a punk rock kid named Morrison. Sissy is outwardly confident and stylish but underneath there is a cold manipulative streak. And Morrison is holding on to a few secrets of his own. Michelle is trying to find her way out of the small Florida town but nothing is easy. And Sissy has her own agenda.
I was inspired by several themes in the book: the observation that belonging and fitting in are not the same hit home. But also the author is a familiar name in the zine world. I read the accompanying BackFill zine about the story of this book and the challenges of writing and promoting. (The zine is 1 dollar with proof of purchase of Sinkhole).
Sinkhole is enormously entertaining and a wonderful achievement.
I was inspired by several themes in the book: the observation that belonging and fitting in are not the same hit home. But also the author is a familiar name in the zine world. I read the accompanying BackFill zine about the story of this book and the challenges of writing and promoting. (The zine is 1 dollar with proof of purchase of Sinkhole).
Sinkhole is enormously entertaining and a wonderful achievement.
July 5, 2022
Promising start but then seemed like author was running out of time and ideas and threw together ending.
July 31, 2022
Disclosure: I know the author. I've read dozens of her zines, but I still had no idea what an excellent fiction writer she is. This review is not inflated by my acquaintanceship with Davida, but you should know that we've met in person at least once.
Disclosure: it's harder to write reviews about books you love than books you feel meh about or hate.
When we first meet her, Michelle is a 33-year-old medical billing administrator working in Atlanta under the name Anne, a misspelling of her middle name. Most of the book takes place when Michelle, or Chelle, is in her junior and senior year of high school, in the thrall of Sissy, a rich girl with secrets. Michelle, on the other hand, lives in a trailer with her widowed mother and (half) brother, Michael. Later Morrison joins their clique. Morrison (named after Jim, by his teenaged mother), father unknown, lives in a worse trailer and also has a secret.
Through her first-person narrative we discover Michelle's troubles and insecurities in real time, as well as from the perspective of her hollow adult self. Everyone in the story is fragile, and everyone can do damage, to such an extent that there's a current of cruel empathy around it.
Disclosure: I borrowed the book in print from NYPL and dogeared a number of pages, so I could share some passages with you. I am terrible.
Towards the end, the secrets start to be revealed and related to Michelle's true identity story--the ignominious, but devastating death of her father when Michelle was 8. The calamities in Michelle's life stem from lies and manipulations that could have been harmless longterm. I liked how that revelation dawned on me simultaneous with the revelations in the book, so I was getting it as the same time as Michelle.
There's also a crack about Florida (in)justice that I won't tell you because it's a spoiler, but lol, and then the way things come together after the brush with the law is heartwarming.
Disclosure: it's harder to write reviews about books you love than books you feel meh about or hate.
When we first meet her, Michelle is a 33-year-old medical billing administrator working in Atlanta under the name Anne, a misspelling of her middle name. Most of the book takes place when Michelle, or Chelle, is in her junior and senior year of high school, in the thrall of Sissy, a rich girl with secrets. Michelle, on the other hand, lives in a trailer with her widowed mother and (half) brother, Michael. Later Morrison joins their clique. Morrison (named after Jim, by his teenaged mother), father unknown, lives in a worse trailer and also has a secret.
Through her first-person narrative we discover Michelle's troubles and insecurities in real time, as well as from the perspective of her hollow adult self. Everyone in the story is fragile, and everyone can do damage, to such an extent that there's a current of cruel empathy around it.
Disclosure: I borrowed the book in print from NYPL and dogeared a number of pages, so I could share some passages with you. I am terrible.
Most of the kids at school identified with something -- sports, movies, clothes, or music. They built identities around teams, actors, brands, and bands. I loved television, but that was somehow different, maybe because it was free. You didn't have to make an effort to watch TV. There was no street cred in having never missed an episode of Scarecrow and Mrs. King. No one cared that you knew who voiced Charlie. My identity was built around a fuzzy UHF signal.UHF, dear blob, that's an unreliable thing to develop your reputation with!
Towards the end, the secrets start to be revealed and related to Michelle's true identity story--the ignominious, but devastating death of her father when Michelle was 8. The calamities in Michelle's life stem from lies and manipulations that could have been harmless longterm. I liked how that revelation dawned on me simultaneous with the revelations in the book, so I was getting it as the same time as Michelle.
There's also a crack about Florida (in)justice that I won't tell you because it's a spoiler, but lol, and then the way things come together after the brush with the law is heartwarming.
June 22, 2022
This book captured my attention from the beginning and I couldn't put it down. I'd wake early in the morning to read before everybody was up. I never predicted any part. Bravo!
July 9, 2022
The writing was wonderful and kept me sucked in page after page. The book was amazing and one of my favorite reads.
May 22, 2022
Raw, sinister, and consuming!
Sinkhole is a simmering, character-driven novel that transports you into the life of Michelle Miller who, after fifteen years away, reluctantly heads home to Lorida, Florida, knowing that the past will inevitably collide with the present, long-buried secrets will undoubtedly be unearthed, and a life littered with dysfunction, lies and insecurities will finally be confronted.
The writing is emotive and tight. The characters are flawed, vulnerable, and conflicted. And the plot is an immersive, coming-of-age tale about life, loss, deception, desperation, friendship, familial drama, manipulation, jealousy, obsession, cruelty, callousness, social inequality, and emerging sexuality.
Overall, Sinkhole is an astute, tragic, gritty tale by Breier that does a remarkable job of delving into the complex dynamics between friends and family and highlights just how parasitic and toxic some of those relationships can truly be.
Thank you to Kaye Publicity for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
Sinkhole is a simmering, character-driven novel that transports you into the life of Michelle Miller who, after fifteen years away, reluctantly heads home to Lorida, Florida, knowing that the past will inevitably collide with the present, long-buried secrets will undoubtedly be unearthed, and a life littered with dysfunction, lies and insecurities will finally be confronted.
The writing is emotive and tight. The characters are flawed, vulnerable, and conflicted. And the plot is an immersive, coming-of-age tale about life, loss, deception, desperation, friendship, familial drama, manipulation, jealousy, obsession, cruelty, callousness, social inequality, and emerging sexuality.
Overall, Sinkhole is an astute, tragic, gritty tale by Breier that does a remarkable job of delving into the complex dynamics between friends and family and highlights just how parasitic and toxic some of those relationships can truly be.
Thank you to Kaye Publicity for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.
June 5, 2022
This book was unputdownable and definitely a coming of age/thriller I’ll be recommending to everyone! The 80s central Florida vibes were so perfect and I couldn’t stop turning the pages to find out what happened next.
Michelle and Sissy’s friendship was extremely toxic and the author did an amazing job of conveying Michelle’s feelings about herself under Sissy’s spell. She was a loner, someone who wanted to fit in but didn’t know how. That really shined through and it was easy to see how she could be so easily manipulated by a seemingly perfect new friend. The writing was so good and the short chapters kept me feeling tense.
Morrison was such a lovely side character. He and Michelle were so much alike and I loved their friendship. I felt sad for him, but also hopeful.
My only gripe with this book, and the reason it didn’t get a full five stars was that I had to suspend a lot of belief at the end with everything that happened. It was strange to me that as an adult in her thirties, Michelle still couldn’t bring herself to speak up or ask any questions about her past. I see why she couldn’t for the ending to happen the way it did, but I kept thinking it was just too unbelievable.
I still really enjoyed the way things ended and will definitely be on the lookout for more from this author.
Michelle and Sissy’s friendship was extremely toxic and the author did an amazing job of conveying Michelle’s feelings about herself under Sissy’s spell. She was a loner, someone who wanted to fit in but didn’t know how. That really shined through and it was easy to see how she could be so easily manipulated by a seemingly perfect new friend. The writing was so good and the short chapters kept me feeling tense.
Morrison was such a lovely side character. He and Michelle were so much alike and I loved their friendship. I felt sad for him, but also hopeful.
My only gripe with this book, and the reason it didn’t get a full five stars was that I had to suspend a lot of belief at the end with everything that happened. It was strange to me that as an adult in her thirties, Michelle still couldn’t bring herself to speak up or ask any questions about her past. I see why she couldn’t for the ending to happen the way it did, but I kept thinking it was just too unbelievable.
I still really enjoyed the way things ended and will definitely be on the lookout for more from this author.
December 26, 2022
One of those books I just couldn't put down. Possibly the best read of the year.
July 9, 2022
I had very high hopes for this book from other reviews, but it felt like a slow, agonizing train wreck. The writing was awkward and each character became more and more unlikable as the plot progressed. And the ending was not a surprise at all: I never thought Sissy would change and Michelle never got past the 13 year old stage of her life. In fact, at the end of the book, all three characters were still acting like teenage versions of themselves. And the final "natural" act that occurred, just seemed ridiculous and forced. I unfortunately would not recommend this book to anyone.
August 11, 2022
Facts:
1. The 1980s weren't all shiny and perfect for many teenagers, especially those without disposable income from a fat allowance or access to their parents' credit cards.
2. Some Monsters exist only to prey on the quiet and struggling, to destroy them for their own amusement.
3. For many of the victims who were mentally scarred by these Monsters during adolescence, it's difficult to go home again, even during a crisis.
Alternating between the mid-80s and the present using a long drive home through the south as a framework, SINKHOLE is a lean, tight, and smart novel that never falls down a shiny 80s nostalgia hole. Michelle, Sissy, and Morrison are not caricatures of the poor kid, rich kid, and closeted kid, but characters with layers and dimensions that explain why they act as they do. There are reasons behind their actions, in both the past and the present. There's nothing in SINKHOLE that doesn't make logical sense, although the characters' actions are often illogical, since that's what you do as a teenager - every little thing is a big deal and you act/react in the moment, not thinking about the consequences. I emphasized with the characters and was also repelled by them at times, and it's not an exaggeration that some of the antagonist's actions disturbed me deeply. But that's what a great read does: it churns up your emotions and keeps you thinking about long after you finish it.
SINKHOLE is a compelling, recommended read for those who lived through the 1980s as teens, suspense fans (think G. Flynn and T. French), collectors of Florida Literature (eg, K. Russell), and those who know (sometimes unfortunately) that Monsters never go away, even if you run from them.
1. The 1980s weren't all shiny and perfect for many teenagers, especially those without disposable income from a fat allowance or access to their parents' credit cards.
2. Some Monsters exist only to prey on the quiet and struggling, to destroy them for their own amusement.
3. For many of the victims who were mentally scarred by these Monsters during adolescence, it's difficult to go home again, even during a crisis.
Alternating between the mid-80s and the present using a long drive home through the south as a framework, SINKHOLE is a lean, tight, and smart novel that never falls down a shiny 80s nostalgia hole. Michelle, Sissy, and Morrison are not caricatures of the poor kid, rich kid, and closeted kid, but characters with layers and dimensions that explain why they act as they do. There are reasons behind their actions, in both the past and the present. There's nothing in SINKHOLE that doesn't make logical sense, although the characters' actions are often illogical, since that's what you do as a teenager - every little thing is a big deal and you act/react in the moment, not thinking about the consequences. I emphasized with the characters and was also repelled by them at times, and it's not an exaggeration that some of the antagonist's actions disturbed me deeply. But that's what a great read does: it churns up your emotions and keeps you thinking about long after you finish it.
SINKHOLE is a compelling, recommended read for those who lived through the 1980s as teens, suspense fans (think G. Flynn and T. French), collectors of Florida Literature (eg, K. Russell), and those who know (sometimes unfortunately) that Monsters never go away, even if you run from them.
July 31, 2022
A brilliantly dark read!
I read the synopsis and saw the story would be taking place in the 1980’s. Done! I love anything 80’s. The story has a dark vibe to it and I was there for it. Growing up and trying to fit in is hard. We’ve all been there. Michelle wants a friend and meets Sissy.
The characters are all very well written. I found myself relating and connecting to some of them and what they were going through. High school is rough. Fitting in is rough. There were times I shouted out loud because I saw the signs. Those red flags. I wanted to warn them. I was fully invested in the book! I found it hard to put the book down but I needed to know how it ended! The twist was a really good one and the ending felt like the sun rising on a new day.
I highly enjoyed this book. It is very well written and the author’s storytelling is fantastic. I can’t wait to see more from this author. If you’re a fan of thrillers and mystery, give this book a try! You won’t be disappointed. I give this 5 stars.
I read the synopsis and saw the story would be taking place in the 1980’s. Done! I love anything 80’s. The story has a dark vibe to it and I was there for it. Growing up and trying to fit in is hard. We’ve all been there. Michelle wants a friend and meets Sissy.
The characters are all very well written. I found myself relating and connecting to some of them and what they were going through. High school is rough. Fitting in is rough. There were times I shouted out loud because I saw the signs. Those red flags. I wanted to warn them. I was fully invested in the book! I found it hard to put the book down but I needed to know how it ended! The twist was a really good one and the ending felt like the sun rising on a new day.
I highly enjoyed this book. It is very well written and the author’s storytelling is fantastic. I can’t wait to see more from this author. If you’re a fan of thrillers and mystery, give this book a try! You won’t be disappointed. I give this 5 stars.
June 25, 2022
"Sinkhole" takes the reader back into the murky swelter of a trailer park in Lorida, one of the non-Disney parts of 1985-86 Florida. Think "Stranger Things" only more humid and the only monsters are snakes, alligators and over-privileged country club kids. From the vantage of slightly pre-9/11 2001, Chelle is reluctantly heading home for a family emergency. Along the drive from Atlanta, Chelle revisits the tangled knots of all her estranged relationships, along with the undealt with guilt over the death of her best friend in high school. When she gets home, there is a deadly reckoning she never expected.
This book is a slow burner that begins with the discomfort of being a teenager, and builds into a tense and very satisfying finale. The book also lead me to reflect upon my own life. I think lots of people have someone like Sissy in their past. What this book explores is what if that person was actually much more dangerous than you remembered?
This book is a slow burner that begins with the discomfort of being a teenager, and builds into a tense and very satisfying finale. The book also lead me to reflect upon my own life. I think lots of people have someone like Sissy in their past. What this book explores is what if that person was actually much more dangerous than you remembered?
September 7, 2023
Sinkhole is a wonderful book. I first heard about it on the Stuck in the 80s podcast and bought the book before the episode ended. I started it and put it down longer than expected. Life got in the way a bit. But after I picked it up again, a few more pages in and I was hooked and devoured most of it in a single sitting, and used every opportunity thereafter to finish it. I won't delve into the plot, but will share that as the remaining number of pages dwindled, I feared a disappointing ending might be in the offing. Thankfully I was wrong, and I ended up with some tears in my eyes. While the red curry I was eating as I finished (that's another sign of a book I love - I eat while reading it) may have contributed to the tears, the conclusion was most satisfying.
January 31, 2022
4.5/5 stars; I really enjoyed this book! I love thrillers/psychological thrillers and what not, so I was excited to read this book! It didn’t disappoint, and I wasn’t prepared for the twists that happened! Definitely didn’t turn out the way I thought it would!
I was fortunate to receive this arc in exchange for an honest review
I was fortunate to receive this arc in exchange for an honest review
July 14, 2022
Living in Lorida FL, teenage Michelle has the feeling of being invisible that a lot of us can relate to. Then she meets Sissy. The relationship starts a chain of events that is like the proverbial train wreck and like that train wreck, we can't stop watching it unfold.
August 9, 2022
Kudos to Davida Breier, whose debut novel transports its readers to the challenging and sometimes cruel world of young adulthood. Her prose often astonished me, as I wondered how she could recall the angst of adolescence with such realism and clarity. Suspenseful and satisfying until the end, Sinkhole will make one long for an uninterrupted weekend of reading pleasure.
October 17, 2022
Super fun read. The writing was energetic and focused. Now to pester her to write another!
June 17, 2023
Besides the story’s vivid atmosphere and literary aestheticism, SINKHOLE is the ideal thriller. I couldn’t see the ending coming, and when I thought I did, I was proven wrong yet again.
January 9, 2022
Michelle Miller finally got herself out of Lorida, Florida on a swimming scholarship and never looked back. Now, 15 years later, she’s returning to see her dying mother, and, unavoidably, confront her painful past. Back then, she was poor—she shared a bedroom in a trailer with her brother—and reclusive; she didn’t come alive until she met Sissy, a rich and rambunctious classmate. They were soon joined by Morrison, a queer punk rock kid, and their dysfunctional little family was complete.
From shoplifting in department stores to hanging out in gay bars, Sissy offers fun in technicolor, but it comes at a price: possessiveness, dramatic mood swings, and ultimately violence. But it isn’t until she’s at college in Georgia that Michelle begins to understand how much of her youth Sissy destroyed, and how little of it she’ll ever get back. The surprising ending—with some extraordinary revelations—is downright healing. And while there is criminal behavior, it’s on the sidelines of the story, never at the center.
A wonderful tale about the power of friendship to transcend evil that young adults should also appreciate.—Brian Kenney, First Clue
For more reviews of forthcoming crime fiction, subscribe to our weekly newsletter, First Clue: https://www.getrevue.co/profile/First...
From shoplifting in department stores to hanging out in gay bars, Sissy offers fun in technicolor, but it comes at a price: possessiveness, dramatic mood swings, and ultimately violence. But it isn’t until she’s at college in Georgia that Michelle begins to understand how much of her youth Sissy destroyed, and how little of it she’ll ever get back. The surprising ending—with some extraordinary revelations—is downright healing. And while there is criminal behavior, it’s on the sidelines of the story, never at the center.
A wonderful tale about the power of friendship to transcend evil that young adults should also appreciate.—Brian Kenney, First Clue
For more reviews of forthcoming crime fiction, subscribe to our weekly newsletter, First Clue: https://www.getrevue.co/profile/First...
May 29, 2022
I thought that the story was interesting, especially as it unfolded; the beginning was a turnoff for me, and I almost didn't continue; but the more I read, the more I got into the story, to the point where I couldn't put it down!
January 11, 2024
4.5 stars
I surprisingly LOVED this book more than I expected I would.
It’s a dark coming of age novel about a girl, Michelle, who loses her father and feels like she is just trying to find her way through life and school, until she meets Sissy and they become best friends.
Unlike Sissy who comes from a wealthy family, Michelle is poor and lives in a trailer with her mom and brother.
You’ll end up hating Sissy at times and probably being annoyed at her, because I sure felt that way!
The book is set in the 1980s and also in the present. The 80s are about her childhood and why/how she leaves her home and the present day is of Michelle coming back “home” after many years.
There is mystery to this novel as Michelle states at the beginning that she killed her best friend when she was 18.
I surprisingly LOVED this book more than I expected I would.
It’s a dark coming of age novel about a girl, Michelle, who loses her father and feels like she is just trying to find her way through life and school, until she meets Sissy and they become best friends.
Unlike Sissy who comes from a wealthy family, Michelle is poor and lives in a trailer with her mom and brother.
You’ll end up hating Sissy at times and probably being annoyed at her, because I sure felt that way!
The book is set in the 1980s and also in the present. The 80s are about her childhood and why/how she leaves her home and the present day is of Michelle coming back “home” after many years.
There is mystery to this novel as Michelle states at the beginning that she killed her best friend when she was 18.
November 5, 2022
I read this as a Young Adult novel for people in their forties and fifties, but misfits of any age will appreciate the skill that Davida brings to the tale.
I loved and hated the way she illuminated the complex but melancholic feelings outcasts experience trying to fit in--loved because it is good to be seen, hated because who wants to revisit those feelings you thought were left behind with graduation?
As you will see, leaving high school and your hometown doesn't dissipate those feelings magically--that takes work and confronting the past.
I loved and hated the way she illuminated the complex but melancholic feelings outcasts experience trying to fit in--loved because it is good to be seen, hated because who wants to revisit those feelings you thought were left behind with graduation?
As you will see, leaving high school and your hometown doesn't dissipate those feelings magically--that takes work and confronting the past.
October 11, 2022
B- Audible
October 23, 2022
Terrible.
Multiple timelines (yawn) took forever to get to the story and in a short book that's hard to do.
Multiple timelines (yawn) took forever to get to the story and in a short book that's hard to do.
February 10, 2024
This will be a slightly strange review. Sinkhole opens with Michelle Miller returning to her hometown of Lorida, Florida after a fifteen year absence from her family and the two friends she had in high school. Her mother is in the hospital, her relationships with family and friends are in tatters, and she is all but overcome by the knowledge that she had let everyone down. But maybe that's not quite how it was. As she replays her teenage experiences and faces new revelations, a terrible truth begins to emerge.
It's a fascinating, expertly woven story that is hard to put down. But...and here comes the strange part...I couldn't really get into the characters. This is not the author's fault. It's that the people populating this novel are rather far removed from my own experience. Time and again, I wanted to shake Michelle and scream, "What is wrong with you?" I suspect it will be obvious to most readers what's going on. The question is whether you can relate to how Michelle reacts to it. I just couldn't.
As I read, I half suspected the tale was intended as a tragedy. It's not. It's more of a redemption story. But the final chapters had a different feel from the rest of the book, as though suddenly the characters were pressed into service explaining everything to the reader. True, they had a lot of explaining to do to each other, too. But after such a long time watching everyone hide things, it was a jarring to see them come clean with such enthusiasm.
Even so, I kept reading. It says something about the author's skill that in spite of the above two issues, I didn't want to put the book down. The only true criticism I would offer concerns the periodic overuse of obscenity. I've complained about this from time to time before. (It's probably becoming a bit of a rant. Sorry.) Once upon a time, writers and editors understood that overuse of any word is a writing flaw, but somewhere along the line obscenity gained special status. Bad idea. If you were to replace overused obscenities with "clean" synonyms ("stupid" could often work), the flaw would become hilariously evident.
But on the whole, I consider Sinkhole a fine debut novel, even though it didn't quite connect with me personally.
It's a fascinating, expertly woven story that is hard to put down. But...and here comes the strange part...I couldn't really get into the characters. This is not the author's fault. It's that the people populating this novel are rather far removed from my own experience. Time and again, I wanted to shake Michelle and scream, "What is wrong with you?" I suspect it will be obvious to most readers what's going on. The question is whether you can relate to how Michelle reacts to it. I just couldn't.
As I read, I half suspected the tale was intended as a tragedy. It's not. It's more of a redemption story. But the final chapters had a different feel from the rest of the book, as though suddenly the characters were pressed into service explaining everything to the reader. True, they had a lot of explaining to do to each other, too. But after such a long time watching everyone hide things, it was a jarring to see them come clean with such enthusiasm.
Even so, I kept reading. It says something about the author's skill that in spite of the above two issues, I didn't want to put the book down. The only true criticism I would offer concerns the periodic overuse of obscenity. I've complained about this from time to time before. (It's probably becoming a bit of a rant. Sorry.) Once upon a time, writers and editors understood that overuse of any word is a writing flaw, but somewhere along the line obscenity gained special status. Bad idea. If you were to replace overused obscenities with "clean" synonyms ("stupid" could often work), the flaw would become hilariously evident.
But on the whole, I consider Sinkhole a fine debut novel, even though it didn't quite connect with me personally.
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