My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/kggHvfXMVmI

Enjoy! ( )

It's brutal, bloody, and gory and contains acts of cannibalism. It was almost too much for me...but it began to drag me into the story and I had to see if any of the characters survived, so I kept reading. This book may well have created a genera of its very own...called "Hillbilly Terror". Think Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes, and Wolf Creek. If you are familiar with any of these books...compared to this one, they are bedtime stories. In spite of the terrible topics covered in the story, it is well written with interesting characters and good dialog. The Merrill family are the antagonists of the story. They are in equal parts both terrifying and fascinating. The story takes place in Alabama. I was born raised in the south, (Florida), and while reading this I had thought to myself that I sincerely hope that no one believes for a minute that southerners favorite pass time is attacking and eating people. It's a story that could easily give an area a bad name. Seriously...if you are prone to nightmares...skip this one. ( )

Where most stories end, KIN picks up. A young girl named Claire is wandering--beaten, raped, and maimed--down a road in the kind of southern dead end town you’d never want to go to. Her three friends have been brutally murdered by a family of cannibalistic religious nuts known as the Merrills and they are hunting for Claire, the one that got away, even as she is rescued.

Claire’s rescuers, a young boy named Pete and his Pa are introduced as well as a cast of supporting characters that include a well-intending old physician and the victims’ families, most prominently Finch, one of their brothers who is an angry war veteran that had once dated Claire's sister.

Each character in KIN has their own run-ins with the Merrills, their own motivations for engaging with them, and their own reasons for not wanting to. The story deals with what happens when dysfunctional family dynamics and back woods justice meet the need for revenge.

I am a Kealan Patrick Burke fan. His descriptions are bar none and his flawed characters have a way of drawing me in. Having read Currency of Souls, I was curious to see what he cooked up with KIN and the tale did not disappoint. The writing was engaging, descriptive, and often disturbing. The story was evocative of the Last House on the Left, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and I dare say a bit of the Devil’s Rejects.

Claire was by far my favorite character and it was her story that compelled me to keep reading even when part two of the book introduced Finch and a line of war-related commentary that had me a little ugh. Not my thing, it’s purely preference, but the comments about the war feel, at times, like the author intruding on the characters and that’s my only complaint.

Overall, KIN was suspenseful and written in Kealan’s signature powerful prose. Many stories start with a group of kids taking a wrong turn. None that I’ve seen or read pick up in the emotional aftermath of their torture. The raw feeling and realism that follow Claire’s recovery has you rooting for her until the very end. An excellent read and highly recommended.
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I have had this on my kindle for quite some time. It was part of a boxed set I scooped up for 99 cents back when I had barely heard of Kealan Patrick Burke. The only thing I had read by this author at that time was The Turtle Boy, and not too long after that I bought the The Number 121 to Pennsylvania after seeing it mentioned in Cemetery Dance magazine. That was when he turned into a "must read" author for me. Believe me, it's a short list. There are not many authors whose name on a cover is enough for me to get my wallet out, but that is all it takes, I see his name, I make the purchase. Why? because he has never let me down, ever. I won't bother to mention who has fallen off my must read list, the big names with bigger price tags and the lazy crazy plot because they know they have hit the big time and all it takes is their name on a book for the money to pour in.
So anyway this gem has sat there trapped in my kindle for years, this week I finally set it free. It was worth the wait.

Personally I think Deliverance pales in comparison and I don't know who it was that decided to describe this book as being "in the spirit of Texas Chainsaw Massacre." To that I say no. Oh no no no. This can not be compared to such simplistic blood and guts and cannibalistic gore. This book has real heart. It is a story not just of horror, but of loyalty, love, greed, and revenge.

Papa-In-Gray and Momma-In-Bed believe they are the righteous, the chosen, doing as the Lord sees fit. They have raised their children to believe the same. That is why people go missing in Elkwood. No one escapes the Merrill clan. Not until Claire Lambert sees her chance to make an escape. She is not satisfied with being the sole survivor. There's no justice in that. She wants revenge and she isn't afraid to go after it.This isn't just gore and show me your tits. It's a masterpiece of horror. ( )

There is a small warning with this book as some parts are extreme, so tread carefully if you have a queasy stomach and are not able to handle extreme situations. For those of you that love the extreme and want to take a walk on the wild side, then by all means pick up this book!

This was my first time reading author, Kealan Patrick Burke, and I am so happy that I finally read this book as I have had this book for awhile on my kindle waiting to be read. The book starts off with a bang and doesn't let up all the way to the end! What a ride into the backwoods of horror!



With that being said, let us move on to the review!

Place: Elkwood, Alabama (backwoods - out in the country)

A truck rumbling down the road comes across a bloody naked woman laying by the road and she is still alive. A father and son get out of the truck, pick her up, and decided to take her to a doctor. What they don't know at the time of them rescuing her is that they are being watched from the woods.

The other thing that they don't know is that the woman (Claire Lambert) is really an escapee as she was running from captors that live out in the woods. Oh and one more thing they don't know is that by rescuing her, they have just put a bulls-eye on their backs as now what was watching them in the woods will be coming after them.

The "watchers" in the woods are the Merrill family - dangerous, crazy, cannibal, loony tune family that have lived there forever and that own almost the whole county. People in town and neighbors fear them, meaning they also leave them alone as everyone minds their own business.

The Merrill family doesn't like that Claire escaped, so they will do everything in their power to get her back one way or another, even if they have to turn the county upside down, they will get her back.

With Claire escaping it starts a chain of events that no one sees coming and though the Merrill family goes on a hunting spree, they don't realize that the rules of the game have changed as friends of Claire decide to take matters in their own hands as they go on a revenge spree.

What kind of havoc do the Merrills stir up? Is Claire recaptured? What happens between the Merrills and Claire's friends? No spoilers here as you will just have to read the book!

This book was a wild ride into the torturous unknown as I wasn't quite prepared for the opening scene for one thing and then the book started getting more deeper into the cannibalistic world of the Merrill family.

This book was fast paced and there is no let up from one chapter to the other as you don't have time to come up for air as the book continues with heart pounding excitement, trepidation, and suspenseful dread!

I have found another author that can twist the gore into a bloody mess and throw it against the walls for some decorative splatter! Giving this book five stars. ( )