UNSPEAKABLE THINGS by Jess Lourey
Thomas & Mercer; 1/1/20
CBTB Rating: 4.5/5
The Verdict: a dread-inducing, gripping coming-of-age tale
Some books terrify with blood and gore, others with the realities of life’s darkest corners. Jess Lourey’s stunning suspense novel UNSPEAKABLE THINGS falls into the latter camp. Inspired by a true story from the author’s hometown, UNSPEAKABLE THINGS explores exactly what its title suggests: the unspeakable horrors of a small town with unthinkable secrets. Something is rotten in the town of Lilydale, Minnesota. Young boys are disappearing, and then they’re returning… changed. For protagonist Cassie, the world is a strange and dangerous place; threats both outside and inside her own home make her young life a treacherous one. Told through the eyes of a girl on the brink of becoming a teenager, struggling to understand the dangers lurking on the periphery of her life, UNSPEAKABLE THINGS is an exceptional piece of suspense fiction. This book is sure to provoke strong reactions on both sides of the fence, in large part owing to the challenging themes explored within its pages, but it was a home-run for me. Vivid, atmospheric, and genuinely unsettling, UNSPEAKABLE THINGS is a coming-of-age story as you’ve never read it before.
Plot Details:
Cassie McDowell’s life in 1980s Minnesota seems perfectly wholesome. She lives on a farm, loves school, and has a crush on the nicest boy in class. Yes, there are her parents’ strange parties and their parade of deviant guests, but she’s grown accustomed to them.
All that changes when someone comes hunting in Lilydale.
One by one, local boys go missing. One by one, they return changed—violent, moody, and withdrawn. What happened to them becomes the stuff of shocking rumors. The accusations of who’s responsible grow just as wild, and dangerous town secrets start to surface. Then Cassie’s own sister undergoes the dark change. If she is to survive, Cassie must find her way in an adult world where every sin is justified, and only the truth is unforgivable.
There are few things quite as exciting to me as books that provoke strong and divided opinions, and that’s exactly the kind of book Lourey has given readers with UNSPEAKABLE THINGS. Part dark coming of age tale, part “whodunnit,” part rural noir, UNSPEAKABLE THINGS takes readers on an unsettling journey into the dark heart of a seemingly idyllic community, and into the twisted secrets at the heart of an eccentric family. This book is not your typical crime novel, and it’s not likely to resemble any domestic suspense you’ve read lately, either—Lourey has crafted something entirely her own here. UNSPEAKABLE THINGS is one of the most disturbing books I’ve read this recently; its emotional and psychological impact were, for me, all the more heavily felt for the author’s skilled and restrained portrayal of horror and crime on the page. In UNSPEAKABLE THINGS, it’s the things that aren’t discussed - the things that the reader never sees firsthand - that are the most terrifying of all.
Cassie McDowell is an ordinary young girl on the cusp of becoming a teenager when we meet her in UNSPEAKABLE THINGS. She has, by all accounts, quite an ordinary childhood; she has a close relationship with her sister, attends the local school, and has a crush on a nice boy in her class. Cassie’s life should be all about playing with her friends and soaking up the freedom of childhood. But Cassie’s life has dark secrets. At home, Cassie and her sister have trained themselves to stay under their father’s radar—the threat of what he might do to them if he were to notice them too much looms large. And in the town, something strange is happening, too. Rumors are swirling that young boys are going missing. When a boy Cassie is close with disappears, she and her friends decide to investigate the disappearances themselves. Before she knows it, Cassie finds herself in the heart of a twisted web of secrets and abuse, uncovering a disturbing reality that lies beneath the surface of her community.
UNSPEAKABLE THINGS is a story steeped in menace and tension. It’s a book that is so genuinely dread-inducing, I found myself gripping the pages, anxious about what might happen next yet unable to turn away. Central to the impeccable atmosphere Lourey maintains throughout her novel is her clever decision to allow this story to be narrated by a young girl. Told through Cassie’s innocent eyes, UNSPEAKABLE THINGS has an almost dark fairytale-like quality about it; the horrors here don’t leap off the page immediately, but rather unveil themselves slowly. Cassie’s innocence acts as a filter through which the reader understands her world, and it takes time - and discernment - for the reader to begin to understand the extent of the horrors lurking all around our protagonist. The more you learn, the more desperate you will become to protect Cassie from her world. At first glance, UNSPEAKABLE THINGS is a suspense novel about missing children—but the more you dig into this story, the more you discover that the string of abductions fueling this story are only one piece of a larger, and far more disturbing, puzzle.
Yes, there is a mystery to be solved here, but the question of “whodunnit” is not, in fact, the driving force behind UNSPEAKABLE THINGS. The thread of this story that captivated and scared me the most - and the one which is likely to provoke the strongest reactions from readers - is the thread that delves into Cassie’s home life. Cassie’s family is far from ordinary; they are eccentric, artistic, and free-spirited, known for throwing wild parties at their family farm. For Cassie and her sister, home is a source of terrible fear, the kind that no child should ever have to experience. From her father’s mercurial moods and nighttime strolls through the house to the bizarre nature of her parents’ parties, Cassie knows just one thing: she needs to stay as under-the-radar in her own home as she possibly can in order to stay safe. Lourey subtly and slowly paints a picture of a home in which young girls are the object of too much attention by their father and their father’s friends—a sickening environment that genuinely affected me and turned my stomach. It’s important for readers to be very aware of the subject matter this book will explore; while abuse of children is not explicitly shown on the page, the threat and consequences of abuse will be explored in depth. Proceed with caution. Cassie’s story and circumstances will break your heart and make your blood boil, and, if your reaction to this book is anything like mine, you’ll be determined to see this story through and see justice done.
UNSPEAKABLE THINGS is, of course, also a mystery: a story of young boys disappearing and returning, scarred by the trauma they have endured. The pure mystery element of this story was, however, the least impactful for me as a reader; the ultimate conclusion to this mystery was mildly unsatisfying for me personally, but a quick read through the author’s Epilogue (which was cut from the book but has been posted on her website - beware of spoilers, but do read it after you’ve finished the book itself!) provided a more concrete finale that gave clarity in a way that suited me and my reading experience quite well. I am personally convinced that this book wasn’t intended to be read as a mystery or a “whodunnit”; if you’re in the market for a book that is purely focused on catching a bad guy, this book may not satisfy what you’re looking for. That’s not a negative, though. UNSPEAKABLE THINGS excels at being exactly what it is: an unusual and harrowing blend of rural noir and dark coming-of-age story.
Cassie McDowell is an authentic, deeply sympathetic protagonist, and to follow her on this journey of self-preservation and survival is to enter into a world that is all the more frightening for the ways it might just be real. UNSPEAKABLE THINGS is an exceptional work of suspense and ever-building dread, a story that will enrage and terrify in equal measure.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. All opinions my own.
Book Details:
Paperback: 299 pages
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (January 1, 2020)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1542008786
ISBN-13: 978-1542008785
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