A review by phaedraismyusername
The Vile Thing We Created by Robert P. Ottone

Did not finish book. Stopped at 20%.

I spent the 80ish pages I read feeling kind of... unconvinced (?) by the characters and I couldn't really put my finger on why but it sort of felt like the author noticeably wasn't writing from a place of experience with a lot of the smaller parts of this couples life (smoking bongs, baking, cash based businesses, quiet discrimination etc) that just kept nagging at me and when I googled the author it made a lot of sense that its a white author whose writing about a black couple feels kind of inauthentic, you know? It was just lacking some foundational depth that I just don't think can be pulled off now at this point in the novel. 

The horror could be promising but I'm just not invested or immersed enough to continue at this point and while I'm not sure I'd recommend it I wouldn't try to dissuade someone from trying it for themselves