Jess Lourey | UNSPEAKABLE THINGS

Plot (via Goodreads):

Cassie McDowell’s life in 1980s Minnesota seems perfectly wholesome. She lives on a farm, loves school, and has a crush on the nicest boy in class. Yes, there are her parents’ strange parties and their parade of deviant guests, but she’s grown accustomed to them.

All that changes when someone comes hunting in Lilydale.

One by one, local boys go missing. One by one, they return changed—violent, moody, and withdrawn. What happened to them becomes the stuff of shocking rumors. The accusations of who’s responsible grow just as wild, and dangerous town secrets start to surface. Then Cassie’s own sister undergoes the dark change. If she is to survive, Cassie must find her way in an adult world where every sin is justified, and only the truth is unforgivable. 

Review:

WOW. I mean it...WOW. This story (and that cover) definitely sparked some interest for me and made me really curious about what this novel could entail. Let's just say, I was definitely not prepared for such a stunning read that had a dazzling prose and characters that just radiated off the pages. Jess Lourey took a real life story and turned it into a work of fiction that is part coming-of-age, part thriller, and a character study into the lives of so many people that a harrowing case like this could effect. I was riveted, I was invested, and I was unapologetically addicted to this story throughout the entire thing.

This story is emotionally heavy and very well paced in my opinion. I liked that it really focused on the main character Cassie and her family and not so much about the case at hand. A tale of sexually abused and murdered children is never one that is easy to read, but Lourey handled this gracefully with little to no over-the-top gore or shock. All of the shocking moments come in an emotional grenade that leaves you almost too heavy-hearted to go on but keeps you invested enough to continue and the way she weaves these emotions together while staying on track to the story is both admirable and spellbinding. Lourey's way of writing is seducing, menacing, and effective. There were so many times where I was reading about Cassie and her non-conventional family and felt myself forgetting at certain times that there were actually crimes happening in this town, only to be walloped with a revelation or another "rumor" throughout the town that caused terror to come over me like a black cloud full of mystery and intrigue. I was so invested in this story that I just couldn't put it down. What started out as a task of reading 100 pages on a Sunday night to dip my toes into my "weekly read" ended in me staying up way too late, be unprepared for a Monday morning, and need an extra cup of coffee the next day - it was so worth it.

This story is harrowing and addictive and sensationally written. I'd love to give more detail on what I liked about this one, but it is so hard to pin point exactly what it was when the bigger picture of this novel featured so many details that come together for one fantastic read. I loved everything about it. It was at times uncomfortable to read because of the suspenseful or creepy scenes, but nothing was over-the-top when it comes to violence or details of what happened to these boys and what is happening in this family. I loved that Jess Lourey could write such a brilliant novel that toys with the readers emotions and exercises their imagination in a way that was both unsettling and dazzling. If you want a realistic and dark read that is sure to be an instant classic.

Special thanks to Jess Lourey for this copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 5/5