Wormwood - A Real Coming of Age Horror
I received this limited edition copy of Wormwood from the November 2020 Night Worms package. It has a really great cover that leaves the mind spinning to try and put together what the story might be about.
It is a coming of age story and a tale of first love, it turns out. But it is dark and upsetting because it takes characters you really like and changes them before your eyes in a way that mostly, cannot be undone. A lot like what parents must feel when they watch their kids hit puberty and start growing up and away from them.
We are introduced to Baker, a teenage boy who has been moved across the country repeatedly due to his mother’s career. He starts going to his new school and meets Seb and Cass. Seb is his age and shows him the ropes, especially pertaining to the local bully. Cass is two years older and takes an interest in both Seb and Baker outside of school and starts hanging out with them a lot, only to become their ringleader due to her feminine wiles and wicked ideas. We get to watch the progress of their fun getting darker, more adult, and more sick, and how each of them handles it.
I read nearly the whole book in one night. The writing is superb, with manageable chapters that leave you ready for more. Chad Lutzke and Tim Meyer are clearly a great team, as the collaboration is seamless. All of the characters are interesting. It felt a lot like looking back on my own childhood, where I could identify people I knew who were similar to Baker, Seb, and Cass. However, I was lucky that I never had to experience some of the horror and deep-seated issues that are unveiled in this book, although who knows what is happening behind closed doors? That is the real theme of this book; you never know how the people around you are treating others and then treating you, how they are being treated at home, or what vile things they are up to, by choice or not.
I loved it. I loved the voice it was written in, the growth and change of the characters, and the sad and disturbing unfolding of the plot. This book felt like a carnival ride. You know, the one where it carries you up to a great height and then drops you after you spent all that time anticipating, shaking, curious yet excited. Then it all unfolds and drops you, wipes your feet from under you. You’re left breathless and wired. At that point, you know the way up was maddening and almost painful, yet you’re ready to go again by the time it’s over.
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