A review by lilmooniex
Brother by Ania Ahlborn

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Spoiler filled review / summary: 

Michael is having trouble sleeping due to a woman screaming, he seems used to it. His mom and brother Rebel (Ray) are both involved in harming people - and Michael tends to help if all goes wrong. But for the most part him and his sister Misty sit out. The woman that is running and screaming had been picked up by Reb while she was hitchhiking. Michael has to do the dirty work when the girl runs into the woods and gets away, causing him to use his larger stature to do Reb's job and chase after her. Reb left behind Michael during one of their alcohol runs, due to them usually ducking out with the booze without paying. Momma is sexist apparently and directs all her anger at Misty and Lauralynn, never really either of her sons. Ray (Reb) had killed their dog and begged for a new one after telling his family that the dog had disappeared. Michael would listen to Reb over Wade his father. BACKSTORY: Michael was really born Merrel and he was stolen by Reb to give to his sister Lauralynn as a present and his mom yelled and told him he wasn't able to give him back to his family or they would get caught. Now Reb is responsible for Merrel and renamed him Michael because Lauralynn rejected the gift and wanted to bring him back to his own family instead. Reb brought Michael home as a gift to Lauralynn to stop her from moving away, wanting her to basically feel guilty and held down because their mother did NOT want to raise Mikey. Reb says Lauralynn is at grandparent's house and if Misty keeps pushing she'll go there, too. It's sounding like she's dead. Especially because both their parents tensed after hearing that, too. Ray was jealous of Michael and Lauralynn's relationship, especially how she reassured him and was sweet on him after he got scared at the fair in the room of mirrors. Michael and Reb usually scout of women for Momma. They all have weird relationships. Reb had a hard on for Lauralynn. Michael has a hard on for Reb and his sister Misty. While Misty seems to really care for Michael in return, too. While at a record store Michael meets this nice girl named Alice (While Reb is banging a girl of his own in the back named Lucy). He lets her in on his real name for the first time ever with any woman and he is starting to get over his uncomfortableness around women. Never spoke to women outside his kidnapped family and it seems like Misty has a thing for him and is trying to seduce him.  Michael is disgusted and only pictures Alice but Misty pushes on asking how he's meant to handle a girl when he's never been with one. There was an old flashback again of Michael after the whole mirror room fiasco, Reb is still angry and is seeking revenge for him getting Lauralynn's attention and he gave him a firework and lit it with the intention of him being severely injured and his parents having to murder him due to them not believing in drs. Reb swore he would replace Michael with a girl instead. After the kiss fiasco with Misty, Reb woke Michael up from his sleep and drove him into the woods, forcing him to dig. Michael is finally tired of Reb after he practically threatened the next hole he would dig would be his. He realized he didn't think of him as family and he was a manipulative prick until Reb finally apologized. Michael in his childhood killed Lauralynn's pet Rabbit after getting a hunting rifle as a gift for hunting and instead took it into the woods. Michael and Reb are on the look out for a new victim, she knew Michael's name and begged him to reconsider. Michael asked Reb how she knew and he just cackled. Makes me feel like it was Michael's mom especially because she had a M necklace around her neck. Momma and Lauralynn got into a major fight that resulted in Reb seeing Wade carry out her stiff body in the middle of the night, after her beating momma claims she is staying at grandma's house and is never coming back. Though Reb is SURE she's dead. Reb goes for women without a family and if they did have a family, a family that at least didn't care. Claudine, Momma, waited until one girl was completely drug free before terrorizing her so that she would remember what was going on. Misty comes back when Reb's gone and she's jealous of Alice. Reb ratted on Misty for trying to seduce Michael and Momma ended up slitting her throat. Reb only assumed after Misty practically begged him to leave Alice and protect her at home. Michael tried to protect her one last time but to no suffice, after her blood ended up splattered all over him he AGAIN realized this wasn't what family was supposed to do. Reb is a sociopath that clearly doesn't give a fawk about anyone but himself. Reb ended up bringing the Lucy and Alice home to "meet the family." When Michael got to the house they were both taped up and restrained from moving, Michael killed Lucy hoping it was enough to save Alice long enough for them to run away. Reb gave Michael a map and forced him to go to the place. It was the one lady's house that they kidnapped, with the 'M' necklace. He searched around only to find he had helped kidnap and get rid of his own mom. Also after searching the home further he found Alice was his younger sister, and Reb had planned their connection from the beginning as a sick plan. Throwing up, Michael planned actual revenge now. After heading back to the Morrows house he kills both Momma and Wade in the middle of the night with an Axe waking them from their sleep. He comes into one last battle with Rebel and actually wins, stabbing him with his own switch blade after Reb had confessed to Alice the horrible truth about how Michael killed their mom and her best friend. It was satisfying how it went down, Rebel was surprised he did the non-cowardly thing and killed him instead of comforting his sister. Alice ends up stabbing Michael in the ribs, not caring to hear his reasoning leaving him to die as she limped bleeding away. In the end, Alice probably died, too, because the keys were in the now dead Michael's pocket.

 

Final thoughts: 

I feel like the book could have been condensed a little bit and I would have enjoyed it more. Like the premise alone is VERY entertaining - and I think the storyline with Misty and Michael is so sad. Especially with their demented ass mom. It's nice to see a female villain. This was a sick tale altogether, I was rooting for Michael at one point but not all tales are happy. This book went incredibly slow I was going to rate it 0 - but for the end and end alone I give it 2/5. Not so big of a fan of this author, not sure if I would read another book as this is the second book I finished by her and have not been super impressed.