A review by kyletells
Red X by David Demchuk

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This is the perfect book of hauntings. It's devastating and perfectly devastating. Centered around queer communities and the AIDS crisis in Toronto across multiple timelines, Demchuk somehow weaves every type of haunting in one novel. Time slips by, and it feels real (new relationships; changing city landscapes; deaths—everything moves by with so little comment but with major impact); meanwhile, people slip into the maws of a monster. Every man who goes missing in this book is deeply characterized in the smallest amount of space. That's not a spoiler—you're informed in chapter 1 that a man goes missing. And while the monster is horrifying, what's really scary is forgetting these incredibly depicted people you knew so well because there's another very deep character, another year, and another man missing within a few chapters. This book has a large cast but with very identifiable, rich characters. The language is perfect, the pacing amazing, the dialogue and commentary sometimes so biting I cackled, and while it's a hard-to-stomach read at times, it's a novel I'll likely re-read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Rape, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Murder, Homophobia, Hate crime, and Suicide attempt

The graphic horror is shown mostly after the event or described at a time after it occurs, though it is still graphic. Example: police violence is not depicted in the scene but by the police cleanup, which still is quite graphic through suggestion.