Calla has terrible nightmares that she must save her younger brothers from a bloody end. Dre is two years younger but seems to have his ducks in a row. Jamie, who is only sixteen, is busy trying to fight, or charm, his way out of every self imposed bad situation. One night, Jamie gets talked into going to a Black Lives Matter protest where everything that could go wrong does. He should have followed the simple and sound advice of Listen to Your Sister and stay safe at home—not join his hormone-fueled friends on their reckless adventure.
The blurb above does adequately summarize the plot of this horror book. However, it doesn’t explain the feeling of dread that suffices the entire book. Everything feels like a bad drug trip from which your future lifelong PTSD will emerge. I have never read a book that caused me such anxiety just from its prose—not really its plot. In fact the plot is pretty simplistic and not what made me stay up all night reading. This first-time author knocks it out of the park with the dreamy, nightmarish writing style. Just as the characters do not know what twist is coming in their life journey, neither will you, as the reader, see the plot until it passes you by.
Listen to Your Sister is in the horror genre but written like old school literary fiction. You are really thrown into three strangers lives and heads. Could you survive with their history? With their past choices? With their future hindrances? This book reminds me of college English Literature authors like James Joyce, where it may take more than one read through to understand what this book is really about. However, I enjoyed letting the unusual style just wash over me without attempting to explain how it works or where it was leading.
If you are uncomfortable with uncertainty, this may not be a good choice for you. Please, read a golden age Christie mystery instead. But for those readers with adventurous souls, Listen to Your Sister is a 4 star read!
Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Griffin for providing me with an advanced review copy.