Fictional Candy: Brother by Ania Ahlborn (Review)

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Brother by Ania Ahlborn (Review)

Title: Brother
Series: Standalone
Author: Ania Ahlborn
Released: September 29, 2015 - Gallery Books
Format: EGalley
Pages: 336 per Goodreads

Deep in the heart of Appalachia stands a crooked farmhouse miles from any road. The Morrows keep to themselves, and it’s served them well so far. When girls go missing off the side of the highway, the cops don’t knock on their door. Which is a good thing, seeing as to what’s buried in the Morrows’ backyard.

But nineteen-year-old Michael Morrow isn’t like the rest of his family. He doesn’t take pleasure in the screams that echo through the trees. Michael pines for normalcy, and he’s sure that someday he’ll see the world beyond West Virginia. When he meets Alice, a pretty girl working at a record shop in the small nearby town of Dahlia, he’s immediately smitten. For a moment, he nearly forgets about the monster he’s become. But his brother, Rebel, is all too eager to remind Michael of his place…

If you are looking for a great book to put you in the mood for autumn and for Halloween, I definitely recommend Brother. This book was freaky and gruesome, and full of sick goodness.

When I first read the blurb, I thought it was going to be something along the lines of the movie Wrong Turn. Well, that is just wrong. I'm not going to compare it to any movie, because I think if I narrowed it down that much, I'd give away most of the secrets.

But Michael, the main character, is something interesting. I almost wanted to say special, but I am not sure I would agree with that. But he is definitely interesting. He knows his history, he knows his present, he knows what he wants for his future... yet he is almost stuck, it seems. Fear or a misguided sense of responsibility, or a sense of loyalty to certain members of his family keeps him in a house where very very very bad things happen. I liked him and I felt bad for him.

This book definitely isn't for the faint of heart. There are some seriously gruesome and fucked up things that happen in Brother. If you are a horror fan, then read on full steam ahead. This book was interesting, mysterious and scary as heck. I would almost give it five stars, except there were some parts in the first third of the book that were a bit slow for me. However, after that, it was like a cannonball, and there was no stopping it.