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A review by cantfindmybookmark
The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book is DARK. It’s nihilistic and violent and hopeless. You will want to sit in the dark and stare at a wall when you finish it. You will wonder if there is any good left in the world, anywhere. You might sob.
I loved it.
Minor spoilers ahead (all within the first 50 pages of the book).
Mario, the narrator, and his wife Melisa find out that their daughter Anita has been diagnosed with an extremely aggressive form of leukemia. Shortly thereafter, Mario is fired from his job for taking off too much time to care for Anita. The bills pile up. Mario grows desperate. Mario reaches out to a person from his past for a job. The friend gives him a photo, a location, and a gun and Mario kills a man for $6,000. Mario feels no guilt. He did it for his daughter. But when he returns home, his daughter is dead and his marriage is over.
That’s just the start of the book. Mario’s decent into darkness is just beginning. The book contains supernatural elements, but this is definitely one of those horror books where hell is other people. Hell is also yourself. Hell is the darkness of society and the cycles of violence we engage in just to make it through the day.
I loved it.
Minor spoilers ahead (all within the first 50 pages of the book).
Mario, the narrator, and his wife Melisa find out that their daughter Anita has been diagnosed with an extremely aggressive form of leukemia. Shortly thereafter, Mario is fired from his job for taking off too much time to care for Anita. The bills pile up. Mario grows desperate. Mario reaches out to a person from his past for a job. The friend gives him a photo, a location, and a gun and Mario kills a man for $6,000. Mario feels no guilt. He did it for his daughter. But when he returns home, his daughter is dead and his marriage is over.
That’s just the start of the book. Mario’s decent into darkness is just beginning. The book contains supernatural elements, but this is definitely one of those horror books where hell is other people. Hell is also yourself. Hell is the darkness of society and the cycles of violence we engage in just to make it through the day.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Gore, Child death, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Cancer, Gun violence, and Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty