l'appel du vide

Hear me out, this cover is probably one of the spookiest out there and not because of the bloody ears - poor kid just look at his eyes.  I mean then the opening sentence is that ... yeah okay. Matt Shaw is fast becoming a favorite horror author and that's saying a lot because I went from no horror books on the shelves to 30 days of Horror for October.  Who knew I could build up my tolerance?

Plot/Storyline: A 10 year old boy with intrusive thoughts his  family on the brink of breaking.  Excellent pacing, I don't think I could have stomached a full length novel but a novelette, sure.
Characters:  I hate bullies with the fire of a thousand suns.
Also, yeah dogs are the best.  Shout out to Sammie. You were a good boy!
Ben, Alice and Roy - for a horror this made me really sad.

Favorite scene: The dream sequence in Chapter 12.  Something very unnerving about it because it was beautiful until it was not.  And plus, a boy and his dog.
Favorite Quote/Concept:
The intrusive Thoughts, The voice in the head, Ben's Cancer - the thing was such a cheeky creepy tosser. 
"The back was always where the idiots sat"Good to see this is universal in schools
"If the victim laughed with the bullies then, the bullies weren't doing their "job" properly"

StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Short stories by 2025