Hey everyone! I’m back again! I’m on a bit of a roll with finishing books and I intend to keep the momentum. I’ll get to my longer books sooner than later, but I have a couple of shorter ones I want to finish. Ania Ahlborn is an author I have been wanting to read for a while now. I have a soft spot for female horror authors so I want to discover as many as I can so I can then pass along recommendations to all of you. With that being said, it’s time to talk about Brother.

Content Warning: Violence and Gore, Strong Language (including slurs), Sexual Assault, Child Abuse, Incest, Distrubing Imagery

The Morrows live deep in the Applachian mountains, tucked away from civilization where they can carry out their crimes. Girls go missing and no one thinks to look where the Morrows live. While the rest of the family takes sick joy in hunting these girls, Michael wants nothing more than to live a normal life. He fantasizes about seeing the rest of the world, far away from the suffocating landscape of West Virginia. One day, Michael meets Alice who also has hopes of seeing the world. Just as Michael dares to hope that his dreams might come true, his old brother plots to show Michael where he truly belongs.

This was one of the nastier books I have read in a bit, and I have read plenty of gross books in my life. That statement, though, is a compliment in this case. Ania Ahlborn creates a violent and hauting tale of a twisted family of serial killers in the 1970s. Every character felt more human than I expected, but they all still creeped me out in every sense. Ahlborn does an excellent job balancing the humanity of the characters and gruesome, stomach-churning violence. There was a bit of a twist towards the end that, while a tiny bit predictable, made this all the more tragic. I am glad that this was my first foray into Ania Ahlborn’s novels. Once I recover from this one, I will definitely check out another book by her. If you are a fan of gruesome family dramas, then this certainly the novel for you.