The story goes that ´Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way´. But what about psychotic families? Are they all alike still different? If you are curious to find an answer or two, Keep Her Sweet by bestselling author Helen FitzGerald is an excellent source of inspiration. Because, we all know that literary beings can be as real as the human ones.
The web-story is built around a middle-age couple and their daughters, Asha and Camille. The parents seem to enjoy their time together and so are the two girls, except that once they are revealing their true colours they are looking less than just your influencers-in-the making kind of kids. Desinhibited is not the right term to describe them. Maybe dangerously psychotic is better? Hence their casting in a crime novel.
Around them, there is a cast of characters as dysfunctional as they are. Addicted, obsessed in various ways, emotionally unstable. Although such a combination is perfect for a horror story, FitzGerald deal with it in a very dark-comic way. Indeed, there are some emergencies and high risks, but why be dramatic when you can see the hilarious side of it? This is a very smart approach going beyond the clear limits of the genre the book is supposed to belong.
Keep Her Sweet requires a lot of attention from the reader. The situations may escalate and there is a generous cast of characters whose POVs are presented, not necessarily in a given order. One should focus on the action and voices and wait until the end to figure out the final chain of events.
Personally, I loved the ending, but equally the irony and the tragi-comic turn of events. I am still not sure what kind of label suits psychotic families but it´s sure that ´birds of a feather flock together´.
Rating: 4 stars
Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the blog tour, but the opinions are, as usual, my own
Thanks for the blog tour support x
ReplyDeleteThank you for the opportunity!
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