Review: All These Bodies by Kendare Blake
All These Bodies
by Kendare Blake
Thanks to Go Spark Point for this gifted book.
Publisher: Quill Tree Books
Publish Date: September 21, 2021
Kindle Edition
304 Pages
Standalone
Genres: Young Adult, Thriller, Horror
Sixteen bloodless bodies. Two teenagers. One impossible explanation. In this edge-of-your-seat mystery from #1 New York Times bestselling author Kendare Blake, the truth is as hard to believe as it is to find.
Summer 1958. A gruesome killer plagues the Midwest, leaving behind a trail of bodies completely drained of blood.
Michael Jensen, an aspiring journalist whose father happens to be the town sheriff, never imagined that the Bloodless Murders would come to his backyard. Not until the night the Carlson family was found murdered in their home. Marie Catherine Hale, a diminutive fifteen-year-old, was discovered at the scene—covered in blood. She is the sole suspect in custody.
Michael didn’t think that he would be part of the investigation, but he is pulled in when Marie decides that he is the only one she will confess to. As Marie recounts her version of the story, it falls to Michael to find the truth: What really happened the night that the Carlsons were killed? And how did one girl wind up in the middle of all these bodies?
My Review:
Imagine living in a small town where you hear about a serial killer going around.. and then it shows up on your back door. But in this case, there is a survivor - Marie... and she will only speak with Michael. As her story unfolds, it's really up to him (and his journalistic aspirations) to find out what is true and what is not.
Again I'm reading a more character driven book. This starts off strong and I am immediately pulled in. A teenage girl covered in blood.. none of it hers? The only "survivor" of a family gruesomely murdered? Who aided her? Why is it THIS time that we find someone alive at one of these kinds of scenes? SO MANY QUESTIONS.
I enjoyed the relationship between Marie and Michael... though this part did feel a bit slow at times. It was annoying at times to see Marie give no real answers... and someone please just give her a damn pack of smokes already. Then we get to the end... and well, ambiguity is a real big hit or miss for me and in this case, it was a miss unfortunately. I think had other things been explained a bit more, I wouldn't have minded it as much. I wanted a sandwich and all I got was bread. Where's my meat?!
Blake does deliver in giving us a real small town feel and a sense of ominous throughout. I appreciate what she was trying to do here and I think it's going to be a love it/hate it kind of read for most people and I stem somewhere right down the middle.
★★★
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