Suffer the Children

I read a lot of horror, but I don't usually blog about those books. (I've gotten it into my head that quilters might not be the most avid horror readers.) But when I find a really good one, I've got to share it.

Suffer the Children by Craig DiLouie is seriously unsettling. Imagine what would happen if every child on Earth simply dropped dead. Now imagine what would happen if they all came shuffling back from the mass graves. Creeped out enough yet? It gets creepier. In order to return to the living, breathing, happy children their parents remember, the children need to drink blood. Its effects are wonderful, but they last for only a short time. And their parents can only give so much blood, no matter how desperately they want to keep their children with them.

Based on the publisher's description, I was expecting ravenous little vampires with sharp teeth. This book is a lot more subtle than that, and a lot more chilling. It focuses on a number of inter-connected families and the question of what parents would be willing to do for their children. The parents and their desperation were completely believable, which is what makes the book hit so hard.  If you read horror, I definitely recommend this one!

Disclosure -- the publisher provided me with an ARC.