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Book Review: Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

Cover art for Hell Followed with Us by Andrew Joseph White

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White.

Peachtree Teen, 2022

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1682633243

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition ( Bookshop.org | Amazon.com )

 

Hell Followed with Us is an incredible and original book, but it is not an easy read. It is a scream of rage. Make sure to read the author’s content warnings at the beginning of the book.

 

Benji is a trans boy injected with a virus that will turn him into a genocidal monster, a Seraph, for a doomsday cult, the Angels. He tries running away but is captured by the cult’s death squad. A group called the Watch, queer teens inhabiting their destroyed teen center for LGBTQ+ youth, attacks and kills everyone in the death squad except Benji, who is offered refuge by the leader, Nick, an autistic gay boy. Nick knows Benji is the Seraph, but hides it to protect him, believing that his powers will allow him to control the Graces, monstrous creatures made from infected bodies trained by the Angels to attack nonbelievers.

 

The Watch successfully attacks a church with Benji’s help. Benji discovers his fiance, Theo, is hiding in the church, and visits him there, only to find that the visit was used by the Angels as an opportunity to burn down the home of the Watch. As Benji continues to physically disintegrate into the Seraph, he makes a plan with Nick to pretend to return and cooperate with the Angels, despite their murder of his father, transphobia, and religious extremism. While the first plan is botched and Benji turns fully into a Seraph, a second plan unleashes a bloodbath on the Angels and frees the Watch from fear and persecution..

 

Andrew Joseph White wrote this for trans kids facing a hostile world, to give them a mirror of a trans boy who fights back. But it’s not necessary to be trans or queer to be wowed by it.  So many of the major characters were queer that I got to see many different aspects of how they characters experienced their queerness, and it also didn’t become the only factor defining their identities. I loved the found family feeling of the members of the Watch, looking out for each other in a hostile world.

 

It’s difficult to imagine how hard-right evangelical Christianity in this country could get more repressive and violent than it currently is, but somehow White takes it to an even more terrifying extreme. Highly recommended.

 

 

Contains: transphobia, deadnaming, misgendering, graphic violence, domestic, child, and religious abuse, body horror

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

 

Posted on December 18, 2022 by , Reply

Book Review: The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

cover art for The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

Tor Nightfire, 2021

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1250812629

Available: Hardcover, Kindle edition, audiobook (  Bookshop.org |  Amazon.com  )

 

The Last House on Needless Street takes as its starting point the abduction of a little girl, Lulu, from the beach, ten years before the events of the present. Lulu’s disappearance was a turning point in the lives of two children at the beach that day: her older sister Dee, and a young man, Ted Bannerman, who was briefly suspected of carrying Lulu off.  Since then, Dee has been obsessed with finding Lulu and the man who abducted her. A photograph from a news article about the search for Lulu sends Dee in Ted’s direction, and she moves into the house next door to observe him and look for evidence of Lulu.

The book alternates between a variety of first person narrators, and the reader will soon pick up that none of them are reliable. Tragic, violent, and terrible things happen but it’s not clear to whom or when. Characters are not who they seem to be and their actions and thoughts are often scrambled or inexplicable. Ward has constructed an intricate, layered, maze of a book with tragedy, horrific abuse, and trauma at its core.

Mental illness is often demonized in the media and especially in horror fiction and Ward avoids that, writing with compassion and respect. Her author’s note indicates that she did detailed research before writing the book. While it’s possible to read through this quickly, it deserves the time it takes for the reader to process. It will stick with you long after you are done. Highly recommended.

 

Contains: emotional and physical abuse, child abuse, suicide. violence.

Posted on October 24, 2021 by , Reply

Book Review: Litani by Jess Lourey

cover art for Litani by Jess Lourey

Litani by Jess Lourey

Thomas & Mercer, 2021 (release date: Oct. 19)

ISBN: 9781542027014

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition, compact disc, MP3   ( Bookshop.org  |  Amazon.com )

 

 

Set in the mid-1980s, Litani is a mystery/thriller dealing with the unpleasant subject of child molesters, but the book is couched into language that will work for younger readers.  While written for adults, it has value as a “crossover” title to the young adult crowd. Fourteen-year-old Francesca “Frankie” Jubilee moves in with her mom after her dad’s untimely demise.  She is quickly beaten up by three 10 year old girls. The girls allude to The Game, something many kids know about and fear.  Frankie finds her town to be one with an unpleasant past that centers around children that have gone missing over time.  The story follows a fairly predictable path, with Frankie trying to find the truth, and getting it in bits and pieces.  There’s a minor story thread of Satanism, but it’s really just window-dressing and could have been left out.  There’s a big reveal at the end to explain it all, and everything ends up okay, more or less.

 

The writing is simple and to the point, and the plot devices are familiar: Frankie’s past may have secrets, she makes one friend with a troubled past of his own, she doesn’t get along with her mom due to her being absent from her life for years, etc.  The Game itself is no big mystery, and most of the characters act in a pretty predictable manner. The predictability and basic nature of the writing may not be enough for adult readers to get caught up in the story, but for high school kids, it’s perfect. Entertaining enough to keep teens enthralled, there’s mystery, some excitement, a dead body, characters that kids will understand, and nothing too violent or graphic.  Example: while some of the characters are child molesters, the author wisely doesn’t use any graphic firsthand descriptions of molestation.  Same goes for the Satanic angle: no elaborate ceremonies or sacrifices, just a few pentagrams and candles.  It takes skill to write about vile subjects for a younger age bracket, and Jess Lourey does it extremely well.  The violence is also mild: a couple fights, a rock to the head, nothing over the top.  All of the above and the straightforward nature of Litani make it a good choice for teen readers.

 

 

Recommended for high school readers.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson

Posted on October 10, 2021 by , Reply
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