Here There Are Monsters

Written by Amelinda Berube

Narrated by Suzy Jackson

The Blair Witch Project meets Imaginary Girls in this story of sisterhood turned toxic, imaginary monsters brought to life, and secrets that won't stay buried. Sixteen-year-old Skye is done playing the knight in shining armor for her insufferable younger sister, Deirdre. And moving across the country seems like the perfect chance to start over as someone different. In their isolated new neighborhood, Skye manages to fit in, but Deirdre withdraws from everyone, becoming fixated on the swampy woods behind their house and building monstrous sculptures out of sticks and bones. Then Deirdre disappears. And when something awful comes scratching at Skye's window in the middle of the night, claiming Skye's the only one who can save Deirdre, Skye knows she will stop at nothing to bring her sister home.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 6, 2019
• ISBN: 9781980055235

Amelinda Berube

Amelinda Bérubé has been a writer and editor with a small department in the Canadian public service. She holds a bachelor of humanities from Carleton University and a master of arts from McGill. Amelinda is also the author of The Dark Beneath the Ice and can be found on Twitter @metuiteme. Visit amelindaberube.com.

Reviews for Here There Are Monsters

[Anna Pemberton · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book! The author amazingly paints a picture that really stays with the reader! Especially if you have a sister! Everyone would read this book!

[Shelby Miller · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed Suzy's narration, and I really enjoyed the idea of the story. I'm the most fond of any time we meet the others and get to deal with them in their strange, bizarre speak and frustrating desire to play in horrific ways.

Sadly, the only word I have to really describe the majority of the book is lacking. The horror, world building, characters, general setting are all lacking. Nothing feels quite fleshed out enough, nothing feels quite deep enough.

I really could not relate to nor like the main character, and perhaps that was the point, though I feel we're begged to care for her and by extension her family. The story spends a lot of time trying to express their feelings, their viewpoints, nag towards those of us who have familial ties in ways we can relate. Siblings are frustrating, sure. Siblings do a lot of irrational things we tend to blow off, sure. However, both of the siblings in this story fall flat, even as we get something like a 'building towards redemption' arc regarding Skye's apparent negligence and desire to protect her sibling. There are good moments seeded through the story, but they're jarred between the 'current' and 'flashback' events.

Flashback chapters can be interesting, but I felt they really dragged here. I enjoyed learning about the sister's interactions with each other, explosive moments, but I feel like it would have been more emotional and tethering utilized in tandem with growing horror elements. We get little in the way of suspense and horror until very deep in the novel, and those moments are truly the best in the book for me. I could have overlooked not digging deeper into the thick of world and area lore, I guess, if the rest of the book's points where more solid. Unfortunately they were not, so I am left feeling like I read the premise and fleeting bullets of a storyboard and character drafts compared to a finished novel.