Lee Thompson
Bloodberry Market
Reviewed by: Nancy
5 out of 5 stars
Bloodberry Market
Reviewed by: Nancy
5 out of 5 stars
Summary
In the first Division Mythos novel Red Piccirilli is a runt, a dreamer, a naive boy with an imaginary friend and little else. But right before summer vacation starts he finds an albino girl trapped in a shed behind a local house. After Red frees her, the world he knew quickly unravels into something more mysterious—an unsteady reality where a man with silver teeth and buzz saw voice points him toward the true meaning of sacrifice.
My Review
Lee Thompson has written an online serial novel, The Collected Songs of Sonnelion, which was available at DarkFuse.
I started
reading and it looked really good, but I wanted to get to know Red Piccirilli
as a little boy first and then see him grow up.
So I started with the first novella in the Division Mythos which takes
place during the 1960’s in a small town in Michigan.
Red is 13
years old and looking forward to his summer vacation. He has an imaginary friend named Pig who
doesn’t disappear as such friends are supposed to; instead, he becomes a close
friend who wants to prove to Red just how real he is. Red is a kind and sensitive boy, but the
bullies who torment him think he’s weird.
Their
adventures begin when they encounter a scary looking guy who lives on the wrong
side of the tracks and a girl who needs rescuing in a big way. When Pig starts to act differently because
of Leonora, and Red’s friend Amy goes missing, Red has some serious choices to
make.
This is a
horror story, but it is also a coming-of-age tale. I love the relationship Red has with his
sister, Maggie, and his parents. Unlike
other stories where parents are undeveloped, flat, unrealistic or unlikable,
Red’s parents are very real and sympathetic characters.
Red’s
conversation with his dad after he caught him smoking a joint in the garage was
very touching. There was an
undercurrent of sadness, hurt, a sharing of secrets and quiet understanding.
“Just because someone believes something doesn’t make it true, and all of our opinions are colored by things that have hurt us. She’s not always right, about what she says or believes. Neither am I. Sometimes we think we have all the answers, but we don’t. We’re lucky if we even have partial answers.”
Poor
Red...if only life was so simple and people didn’t change and good friends were
forever.
The sweet
ending warmed my heart and brought a little tear to my eye. I know this is only the beginning and Red’s
story is far from over. I just hope that
his inner strength and determination is enough to keep battling the dark forces
that surround him.
I thoroughly
enjoyed this story and look forward to the rest of the series.
Also posted
at Goodreads.
