Starred review from January 8, 2024
Starck (Noah’s Wife) terrifies and captivates in this profound meditation on the power of stories that doubles as a twisty and possibly supernatural mystery. Sylvia Gray once had the perfect life: a romantic marriage, a good job, and a lovely young daughter, Faye, who destroyed it all at age nine when she and a friend stabbed their babysitter multiple times. The two children claimed the Kingman, a mysterious and monstrous internet figure, inspired them to do it, but that doesn’t stop the girls from being “sent to separate detention centers, to be released when they turned eighteen.” Now, Faye, 21 and free, vanishes, leaving her toddler daughter behind. Sylvia, divorced, miserable, and estranged from everyone in her life, takes over custody of the child and is forcibly reminded that her own daughter is a mystery to her. What really happened all those years ago and where has Faye gone now? Seeking answers, Sylvia gathers everyone involved in the original incident to help find both her daughter and the rationale behind the worst thing that ever happened to them all. Starck’s prose is by turns gorgeous and unsettling, creating a dreamlike tale that slides effortlessly between fantasy and reality as it interrogates such themes as forgiveness, generational trauma, and the responsibilities and burdens of motherhood. This is sure to resonate.
September 13, 2024
Starck's (Noah's Wife) latest explores the power behind stories as it meditates on the inherent traumas of parenthood. Sylvia Gray loved her family, which included her adoring husband, Jack, and beautiful, precocious daughter, Faye. That vision of a perfect family dissolves after nine-year-old Faye and her friend repeatedly stab their babysitter on the orders of an entity called the Kingman. This event tears the family apart. Thirteen years later, Faye is missing, and she's left behind her young daughter, Sylvia's granddaughter. Sylvia tries to find Faye, going deeper into the Kingman's world, a world that once swallowed her daughter and might also consume her. While the Kingman bears many similarities to the Internet-famous Slender Man, this unsettling story is no mere copycat. Starck has stacked this tale full of layers of evocative descriptions and fractured family drama that reads as both a beautifully written dream journal and a psychological dissection of its characters. Narrator Patricia Santomosso bares Sylvia's soul to the reader as Sylvia struggles with the guilt caused by her daughter's crime. VERDICT This book is a haunting portrayal of the defining power of stories and family, perfect for fans of cerebral horror.--James Gardner
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