‧͙⁺˚*･༓ {NEW} The Screaming Child Review - NO SPOILER ♡
"She screamed and our lives went on."
{↪NO SPOILER}
☾Trigger Warnings: kidnapping, murder, death of child, affair, abuse, profanity, sexual content mentioned ☽
↪Story Synopsis: When a writer named Eleanors’ son goes missing she slowly loses her sanity as she begins hearing screaming from the woods at night.
↪Length: 175 pages
↪Rating: 4.75
★★★★☆
↪Review:
First off, my thanks to Booksirens and Ghoulish Books for the complimentary advanced reader copy of, ‘The Screaming Child,’ per my request. This review is being voluntarily given and contains my honest thoughts and opinions.
↪Get a copy of the book here (not affiliate link)
When I say I was taken aback by the depths of the grief, pain, and horror within this very short read. It’s haunting, and ruminating, you can’t let it go but you also can’t quite put your finger on it. It’s ambiguous, and in its ambiguity it’s terrifying.
The ambiguity mentioned earlier stays, even after becoming more and more exposed to the skeletons Eleanor and Bill keep in their closets. Eleanor still has it in their mind that they were a perfect family, even as her obsession with her book drives away all intimacy between her and her family. There is a constant comparison of pain that is all too real, as she wonders whether it would be better to know if her son was dead - even if he died horrifically; or if she’s lucky to have the tattered shreds of hope in her hands. I appreciated that Grahame was an older child, with his own personality and secrets - it helped drive my own curiosity as well as sympathy. It adds to the speculation, and the psychological terror as your own thoughts begin to ruminate in exactly the same ways as Eleanors. The mental anguish is omnipresent, and it’s amazing. The streams of consciousness that come with ruminating thoughts of grief for someone you don’t know if you’ve lost.
The story is woven in with flashbacks, and streams of consciousness from Eleanor - which blend seamlessly with the rest of the story and do nothing to distract or jar me from my concern for Grahame. Its length was short, but it was incredibly used. I felt there were no loose ends, and it was well developed enough for me to not disdain it’s length. It does well to show the different ways people deal with their grief; Bill, Eleanor, and the screaming woman. The capturing of the characters slipping sanity, as trust begins to disintegrate.
The screaming woman, I couldn’t forget about her for some reason that - ironically - I also couldn’t put my finger on. Not long before Grahame went missing, this woman’s own son was found dead in a brutal manner. She serves as a juxtaposition, or perhaps a warning, of Eleanor's own fate. One that Eleanor herself acknowledges they all failed. Leaving her to wallow in her own misery. Her character did a great job of setting the story, despite being mostly mentioned and seen only once - and sets the stakes for the rest of the read. As it begins to show the way the family’s own relationships strain.
Do not get into this book with any expectations, you will be given the same treatment as life gives us - no answers and no promises. You’ll also find your experience reading this will be a whole lot more fun when you aren’t waiting for a ‘whodunnit’ thriller ending, which isn’t something you should be expecting after the tone of the first chapter. Finding who did it is not the true horror, that comes from the raw unfiltered look into a mother driven mad by her speculation of her son’s disappearance. It’s incredibly atmospheric grief. You are never quite sure what is real and what's not, but to the authors credit NOTHING is used as a cop-out. Either a cop out of reality, or of horror. It is in a league of its own when it comes to thriller-horror, and doesn’t fall into the too often used pit of ‘marketing as horror for horrors marketing sake.’ You can clearly see the passion, the research, and the experience and respect the author has for the genre and it translates into every sentence of this novella. I say this not to be vague or convoluted, but because I genuinely appreciated it.
The only thing that kept it SO CLOSE from a five star was how the ending fell so flat for me after so much emotional investment in the story, and my struggle to like Eleanor. In the end, enjoy the journey not the destination, as many of us do everyday we live our lives.
↪Bookish Pros:
👻A deeply emotional story with great exposition
👻Will keep you absolutely interested all the way through
👻Well written despite a very short length, with significant exposition
👻A sensitive, and well researched depiction of grief and mental health that is tastefully done
↪Bookish Cons:
👻The beginning can be quite confusing, and serve to make you distrust the main character
👻No clear answers are given for the disappearance, and nothing is solved. This is because the main purpose is psychological, but this can serve as a con for those reading this because they wanted a crime thriller
👻I personally struggled to like Eleanor, as she seemed very self interested. I had a hard time trusting her - despite her being a well made character.
↪💌I’d Recommend To:
♡ Psychological horror fans
♡ Readers who love suspense, but not puzzles
♡ Fans of emotional books with high stakes
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