Something to mull over...


Monday, October 31, 2016

Child's Play by Merry Jones - A dark, demental thriller



As psycho-thrillers go, this is a dark and twisted tale.  The title should give you a clue about its subject.  The narrator is unreliable, being a middle-aged lady with constant mind “check-outs”.  She (the narrator) is part of a group of four girlfriends, who inevitably reminds me of a slightly younger cast of Steel Magnolias.

The cast alone provides a lot of noise and humor to the story.  The narrator is a grade school teacher, so the rest of her world revolves around kids, both present and previous.  The conflict is provided by historical relationships that she has had, as well as her current realtor and an ex-convict student who is now an adult.

The story is quite well-written.  Because of the chatter of the girlfriends (both the narrator’s and another key character’s posse), it sometimes feels like a Lifetime-meets-CW network show.  However, the twist and climax is so demental, that it kept me reading up to the end, despite the constant chatter.  This is a creepy and insane read that is surprisingly entertaining.

I received a review copy of this book from Oceanview Publishing via NetGalley.

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