Doll Crimes by Karen Runge.

Crystal Lake Publishing. 2019

ISBN-13: 978-1646693146

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition

Karen Runge is a force that will leave a scar on the genre. Jack Ketchum mentored her, and those influences are felt within the novel, but she’s her own writer and has a style that’s nobody else’s but her own. Doll Crimes is more of a nod to Elizabeth Massie’s Wire Mesh Mothers; it’s the horror novel Gillian Flynn should have penned.

Doll Crimes  examines the human soul: the good, the bad, and the downright evil.  It’s written in a manner that digs so deep that readers will have a tough time forgetting the characters, long after the final page is turned. Yes, it might disturb some, but only in the way a good horror novel should.

Runge opens the novel with a mother and her daughter on the run. From what, or who, we have no idea, but they’re moving in a direction that appears dangerous and devolving. The daughter is the main character; her mother is a mere fifteen years older than her, which makes for a relationship dynamic that is closer to sisters or close friends than a maternal bond.

The two travel from town to town, scamming people for food, shelter, money and more, but are aiming higher. They seek something permanent, even if they’re not quite sure what that entails. They shack up with a pair of interesting characters at different places in the story. One may be helpful to the girl, or simply another shadow with varying degrees of darkness. The other, a drug dealer, just might be a bit more stable than the mother.

More details regarding the plot would spoil the emotional heft of the book but please give this one a shot. The gut punch, the visceral impact Runge inflicts upon the reader, is a tough one, but there’s a strong reason to wade through the razor-tinged gauntlet of the travels of these two broken characters: the writing.

Doll Crimes should turn out to be one of the strongest efforts of 2019, and a portent of things to come from Karen Runge, through her ability to wrench the emotion from the everyday pain characters navigate. She knows this pain. She’ll also likely know success if there’s any justice left in this twisted society.

The loss of one’s innocence is key here, and made much more powerful by the fact that the character believes it to be what families do. Recommended.

Contains: child abuse

Reviewed by David Simms