Lonnie feels desperate and afraid for her family's future. With the constant harassment from debt collectors to the ever growing pile of overdue bills, it seemed clear that we would be homeless before long. Until one day, a shining ray of hope appears in the form of an unusual new job at a faraway prison. But, as time passes she learns that not everything is as it seems and everything comes with a price.
Lonnie feels desperate and afraid for her family's future. With the constant harassment from debt collectors to the ever growing pile of overdue bills, it seemed clear that we would be homeless before long. Until one day, a shining ray of hope appears in the form of an unusual new job at a faraway prison. But, as time passes she learns that not everything is as it seems and everything comes with a price.
“You’re late,” the white-haired boy said.
He had the voice and body of a child with a hard-edge tone of someone who thought of themself as older. I couldn’t decide if I found it cute or disturbing right now.
“O-Oh I’m sorry. A lot happened today and it’s my first day here. Sorry, I’m being rude, aren’t I? My name is—"
“I know who you are, and I know why you’re here,” he said.
The boy’s voice held a certainty that made me pause. I could feel a sudden chill in the air that made my body tense up.
I kept a perfect façade of calm as I asked him, “You do? Well then, please enlighten me.”
Mr. White stared at me for a moment with those unique yellow eyes and slowly leaned forward over the table. “You’re our new toy for us to break.”
If ever you want a book that takes Alice in Wonderland and mixes it with the kind of horror associated with Silence of the Lambs this might be the one for you. Not only is it grisly and gory, but there’s a twisted atmosphere that permeates the already trippy narrative until all you can do is anticipate the ending, and boy is it a twist.
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At first, I was hesitant to pick this one up, what with my aversion to horror as a genre, but I couldn’t help it. I love Alice in Wonderland and I love horror concepts that are built around it. To say that I wasn’t disappointed is an understatement. I flew through this book, eager to see what Lonnie would encounter with each prisoner.
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It was quite a journey and not one for the faint of heart, though. Every chapter is an experience in itself, and it goes from dark and twisted to erotic and horrifying in seconds that you don’t quite expect but should see coming. Furthermore, it’s compounded with a sense of claustrophobia that gets worse the deeper Lonnie goes into this violent, mad world she’s unwittingly stepped into.
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The only thing I didn’t like about it was that everything came at you fast and hard, not really giving you a chance to sit with it in the end. There was only so much you could do with the major stakes of the book, only so much that you could take in at a time. As such, it didn’t quite stick the landing, despite a spectacular attempt to do so.
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Still, I do think anyone who likes atmospheric horror that messes with your mind will love this. It’s crazy and exciting and it sends chills down your spine with every page. It’s a page-turner and definitely one I’ll be reading again.