Tender Beasts is another chilling, brilliant tale from Liselle Sambury, grappling with public perception, complicated family dynamics, and gruesome, folkloric haunts. 

Sunny Behre is the perfect child. And after the death of her mother – the matriarch of the wealthy Behres – she’s supposed to be the one to lead the family. But all she got in the will was a post-it nate, saying “Take care of Dom.”

Dom is the youngest of the five Behre siblings … and he’s been charged with murdering his girlfriend. Sunny’s not sure whether he’s innocent or dangerous, but when one of their classmates is brutally killed and she finds Dom at the scene of the crime, things get a lot trickier. Dom swears he’s innocent, and the two of them start to work to track down the real murderer. But the bodies start piling up, and the family Sunny was so ready to lead is at risk.

Sunny is a complicated main character, but it’s fascinating to live inside her head. She’s hyper-focused on how she is perceived and how she treats others – she needs to be liked by everyone, because she thinks that’s how a leader needs to behave. But in the process, Sunny shuts off her real self. She doesn’t allow herself to express any sort of negative emotion, she doesn’t know how to authentically make friends, and she keeps everyone at a saccharine distance.

I thought each member of the Behre family was well-developed and interesting, and my heart was touched by many of the supporting characters. Jeremy (Dom’s best friend)  and Shyanne (in Sunny’s circle)  in particular both showed what authentic friendships could look like. They’re funny, they’re real, and they stood up for themselves while making sure Sunny got some needed-but-loving feedback.

This book is really a reflection on the things we pass down. It’s about generational trauma, but it also highlights cycle breakers – you can be the one to stop the toxicity. You don’t have to keep the cycle going.

It’s also about complicated family dynamics. Sunny’s mom did not value all of her children equally, and each child felt a different pressure to contribute or be left behind. And Dom in particular was intentionally brushed to the side.

And it navigates the intersections of wealth and race and class with nuance (while still staying clear enough for young readers). It covers racism, and the maneuvers that different Black characters had to do to preserve their image and their safety. There’s so much pressure, and wealth is a bonus that only the Behre family characters had access to.

I loved the folk horror vibes - loved, loved, loved them. I will say that by the ending, I still didn’t completely understand the Milk Man as a reader, and the initial spark and background felt a little fuzzy. It felt like we were missing some information, and I was overflowing with questions about the opening scene that were never addressed. That was a bit unsatisfying, and the mystery aspect of the plot was also sometimes a tad too convenient for my taste. 

But overall, this was another extraordinary read from Liselle Sambury. 

CW: murder, death (parent/child), gore, animal cruelty/death, child abuse, infidelity, racism, mental illness, self harm, torture, body horror, grief, fire, cultural appropriation, classism, suicide, stalking, gaslighting, vomit

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(I received an advance reader copy of this book; this is my honest review.)