I think the magic of this book is that the horror comes as a sneak attack. Everything seems as fine as it’s able for Margot. Her mother is distant, emotionally abuse, and she raises herself. But she wants a family, she wants to know where she came from. Then as she finds the freedom she’s longed for, in the bosom of her grandmother, the mystery unfolds. Things take a turn and the fantastical elements that we were expecting seep to the surface.
Margot is an abused teen. The mind games her mother plays are just unbelievable. And Margot, in typical abused kid fashion, has learned how to navigate the minefield of her mother’s psychological warfare. But it’s not enough for Margot, who knows there is a life out there waiting for her. Perhaps a family that has always wanted her, a place she can truly call home. Then you start to get a bad feeling, but it’s only slight, so you put that in the back of your mind, and continue reading, hopeful that your gut feeling is wrong…
The thing is, Margot is experiencing signs from her grandmother: the grip on the shoulders, the anger, and she just brushes them off. Why? Because for 17 years she’s lived abuse, and the power of family is stronger for her right now.
“But it’s not love, to give your wounds to someone else.”
The characters played their roles perfectly. Even Margot’s impossible mother Jo was a good, wretched woman. This was a fun read from start to finish. I loved the farm setting, which made it perfectly creepy even if there wasn’t horror lurking around the corner. The creep factor made this book stand out for me. I was expecting it, but then bam, I wasn’t expecting *that*. A well-written and unnerving read. So much fun! Thank you, Random House Children’s/Delacorte Press, for sending this along.
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Burn Our Bodies Down is available on Amazon for $10.99
Blurb:
Ever since Margot was born, it’s been just her and her mother. No answers to Margot’s questions about what came before. No history to hold on to. No relative to speak of. Just the two of them, stuck in their run-down apartment, struggling to get along.
But that’s not enough for Margot. She wants family. She wants a past. And she just found the key she needs to get it: A photograph, pointing her to a town called Phalene. Pointing her home. Only, when Margot gets there, it’s not what she bargained for.
Margot’s mother left for a reason. But was it to hide her past? Or was it to protect Margot from what’s still there?
The only thing Margot knows for sure is there’s poison in their family tree, and their roots are dug so deeply into Phalene that now that she’s there, she might never escape
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