A review by readundancies
All The Blood We Share by Camilla Bruce

challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I like to think that I’m open-minded enough that I’m willing to dole out second chances to authors that have initially disappointed me in the past. Granted, time away is definitely a requirement for this kind of gracious benevolence, but I’m trying for character growth this year with my reading habits. 

So of course when I found out that Camilla Bruce was coming out with another female serial killer historical horror thriller read, I couldn’t help but have my interest peaked in spite of my rather tumultuous reading experience with her previous novel, In the Garden of Spite. Serial killers are a morbid fascination of mine and Camilla Bruce always seems to focus on ones with mysterious backstories that I just can’t seem to leave well enough alone. 

And so where Belle Gunness spent the entirety of In the Garden of Spite trying to construct a family out of murder, Bruce’s newest novel, All the Blood We Share, follows a different femme fatale in Kate Bender who comes prepackaged with the Bender family, consisting of her mother Elvira, stepbrother John and stepfather William. And where In the Garden of Spite displayed the evolution of Belle Gunness into “serial killer extraordinaire” from the brutal trauma she endures in Norway that sets her upon her murder path, Kate Bender has already undergone her first kill upon her introduction in All the Blood We Share and we instead watch the rather quick escalation and climax that her actions inspire in the whole Bender family. 

Now, I definitely liked this reading experience more than the last reading excursion I took with Camilla Bruce, but it still didn’t do much for me overall. I didn’t have any issues with the pseudo-incestuous implications between John and Kate that never amounted to anything but were still very prevalent throughout the story. I even thought there were proper serial killer vibes in this one, as Kate definitely had a thirst for spilling blood that could not be sated. And I especially enjoyed how the Bender family worked as a dysfunctional family unit; the constant bickering and butting of heads between Elvira and Kate was a great relationship dynamic between mother and daughter to explore and the power struggle that they displayed was in perfect contrast to how Elvira and Kate, the main female characters of the story interacted and managed their male counterparts in the family, William and John. 

I don’t think the overall plot and execution were particularly engaging in terms of intrigue but that may have something to do with slower pace of the novel not really introducing enough tension for my tastes. It may also be tied to the fact that there were three POVs we as readers get to read from, Kate, Elvira and Hanson, a boy who acts as an outside perspective to the Bender family and yet becomes quite involved with them outside of their murdering practices. Hanson’s perspective didn’t pack the same punch that Elvira and Kate’s did, likely because the character dynamics between mother and daughter were a lot more fraught with drama. 

I also think that the very vague and open-ended conclusion to the story ties loose threads up nicely but also leaves the reader with a bunch more questions that will never get answered. It’s not that I’m looking for any sort of established conclusion with Bruce’s stories, but I seem to find them wanting for some reason because they never really end in a satisfying manner for me. This one was much of the same, however per the Author Notes, it seems to end in the same way that the Bender family’s reign also ended, shrouded in mystery and unknowing. 

All in all, a different reading experience with Camilla Bruce for me and since I didn’t leave it with such a negative emotional reaction, I’m counting this one as a win. Not sure I’d be able to recommend it to anyone specifically, but I enjoyed the Spiritualism aspects incorporated into this one and wouldn’t necessarily deter anyone from it.