jd 지훈's Reviews > Little Monsters

CW/TW: physical violence, murder, mentions of past abusive family relationship, slut-shaming

"Hope is the most dangerous thing you can give someone."

Broken Falls, Wisconsin (2017) — When Kacey moved in to Broken Falls with her father, she was given a brand-new life to spend with her stepmother, stepbrother, and strangely, her younger half sister. As the new girl in town, Kacey finds her new life eerily charming compared to her abusive past with her volatile mother, especially when she was easily welcomed to a tight new circle of friends with Bailey and Jade. This was her life until everyone started acting distant, leaving her uninvited to the biggest party of the year.

However, these changes don't feel like an accident, and Kacey would not be able to get answers from Bailey herself because she never makes it home from the party. Suddenly, everyone starts looking to the new girl for answers, and Broken Falls seems not so welcoming after all; ultimately teaching Kacey her biggest life lesson: never trust anyone because you don't know who the real Little Monsters are.

With her solid narrative and fast-paced, gripping prose, Kara Thomas sets herself apart from other YA mystery/thriller authors through her adequately entertaining sophomore novel Little Monsters which deceives with its masterful reimagining of the claustrophobia-inducing small-town killer trope that ends with a satisfying twist.

That was when I decided that all the ghost stories got it wrong: evil isn’t a spirit or a monster or a ghost. It lives inside regular people, and it doesn’t know the difference between night and day.

Thomas' suspenseful and accessible writing style formatted in easily digestible, short chapters makes Monsters a light and fun read. What highlights the building tension of the novel is Thomas' masterful craft of chapter-making, showcasing her deliberate control over dropping significant plot points through the exchange over two perspectives: from first-person Kacey to first-person Bailey through her journal.

Another commendable aspect of the novel is its avoidance on subscribing to the twisted, abusive stepfamily trope through its depiction that such can be as loving and supportive as one's biological family. Moreover, the normalization of seeking help from mental health professionals and taking prescribed medication are also points to be appreciated in the novel.

However, over the course of its 300-plus-page narrative, the novel has tendencies to pretentiously seem to be deeper and more complex than what it is. This causes the reader to feel underwhelmed, so as to seem cheated, by the introduction of the main protagonist's distorted view of her past (i.e. saying she is a bad person) that never took off and was not expounded further. Obvious and undercooked red-herrings like this alongside the blatant misdirection of the reader take some of the fun away. Luckily, Thomas has other cards on her sleeves that make up for the novel's deficits; if they manage to satisfy the reader.

Little Monsters is an enjoyable, above-average YA mystery/thriller which, at times, falters yet still roars with its favorably stifling writing and inventive final twist perfect for a fun Halloween scare.

Rep: POC

Personal Enjoyment: 3.25 stars
Quality of the Book: 3.7 stars
- Use of Language: ⭐⭐⭐+
- Plot and Narrative Arc: ⭐⭐⭐+
- Characters: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
- Integrity: ⭐⭐⭐+
- Twist/Scare: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

AVG: 3.48 stars

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