Credit where it's due, this book is beautifully designed and presented. I think the cover, in particular, is amazing. The story itself, well - I liked it, and I appreciate that, for a novel, it's short and punchy. Sonny is a young teen who's lost his dad to suicide, and he and his mum, with few financial resources, end up living in a trailer in Oregon. The mother gets involved with a total loser, and Sonny himself makes a friend who is, in his own way, equally difficult: Death. Turns out Death is looking to find himself a replacement, and it all goes pretty much as you would expect. As I said, I liked it, but I did find the scattered moments of sadistic violence to be a turn-off. I'm not such a fan of sadistic violence, despite my love of horror, but if it's going to be there it should be absolutely necessary to the story, and the scene of Eugene torturing a cat, for instance, added nothing whatsoever. He's sufficiently nasty without this, and it never impacted the story in any other way (much like the old lady being tortured with a piece of chicken) and I'm just not here for it.