5hadow_girl's review
5.0
Original review posted @ B³: 11/4/25
Reformatted, converted, and demons exercised: 10/8/20
Nothing lasts forever, except a mother's love.
In every small town, in every section of the world, there is always that family. The family that is whispered about in the grocery store, and used as fodder for campfire horror stories. There is one family that urban legends are based on, and local children dare each-other to spy on in the dark.
In Brockton, Michigan, the Richardson family is that family.
In 1966, a very pregnant Marie Richardson helped to perpetuate the stories when she arrived at the hospital – she was about to become very non-pregnant, and claimed that she had never been with a man.
The things that happened during Marie’s labor, and the birth of her child, almost killed her, caused a lifetime of therapy for two nurses, and led the attending physician into retirement. Since that day, not a soul had seen the product of those horrors – until Brockton PD was sent to the Richardson place some 40 years later to investigate complaints of a bizarre smell.
What the deputies found was described as being ‘worse than the most horrible car wreck in the world’. Chained to the wall in the basement was a man of about 500 pounds. He was about 7 feet tall, balding, and could be compared to Chunk from The Goonies – on a good day.
The man was sent to the Blessed Arms State Hospital, (formerly Michigan’s official State Tuberculosis Hospital, and has a striking resemblance to ELOUISE psychiatric hospital in Westland, MI), and into the custody of Dr. Godfrey and nurse Angie Fletcher.
Cherub, as he comes to be known by the staff, quickly becomes a special project for Nurse Angie and her sinister plans for Blessed Arms.
We all know how much I love hometown authors, and David C. Hayes is one of my Michigan Madmen <3 The little details placed in MI stories always make me smile. The town of Brockton is described as a town in southeast Michigan, almost on the Ohio border – exactly where my ass is sitting right at this moment. The day that Cherub was born was a brisk autumn day in November with leaves changing color and blanketing the ground everywhere – just like today. I mentioned above, Blessed Arms feels like it is based on Elouise Psychiatric Hospital, and I’ve had an obsession with that place for YEARS. (They’re making a horror movie at Elouise now, too! Awesome!) David also mentions ‘Kroger’ – a MI based grocery store.
I highly recommend CHERUB, no matter where you live ;) The story shines some light on nature vs. nurture, and the author proves that sometimes humans are the worst monsters of all.
View my full review, and join the [b:Cherub|22015966|Cherub|David C. Hayes|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1398571994l/22015966._SY75_.jpg|86477808] discussion on BeckisBloodyBookBlog - http://wp.me/p37DRX-1iH
One of the original videos posted with the original was no longer available, and trust me - I searched.
Reformatted, converted, and demons exercised: 10/8/20
Nothing lasts forever, except a mother's love.
In every small town, in every section of the world, there is always that family. The family that is whispered about in the grocery store, and used as fodder for campfire horror stories. There is one family that urban legends are based on, and local children dare each-other to spy on in the dark.
In Brockton, Michigan, the Richardson family is that family.
In 1966, a very pregnant Marie Richardson helped to perpetuate the stories when she arrived at the hospital – she was about to become very non-pregnant, and claimed that she had never been with a man.
The things that happened during Marie’s labor, and the birth of her child, almost killed her, caused a lifetime of therapy for two nurses, and led the attending physician into retirement. Since that day, not a soul had seen the product of those horrors – until Brockton PD was sent to the Richardson place some 40 years later to investigate complaints of a bizarre smell.
What the deputies found was described as being ‘worse than the most horrible car wreck in the world’. Chained to the wall in the basement was a man of about 500 pounds. He was about 7 feet tall, balding, and could be compared to Chunk from The Goonies – on a good day.
The man was sent to the Blessed Arms State Hospital, (formerly Michigan’s official State Tuberculosis Hospital, and has a striking resemblance to ELOUISE psychiatric hospital in Westland, MI), and into the custody of Dr. Godfrey and nurse Angie Fletcher.
Cherub, as he comes to be known by the staff, quickly becomes a special project for Nurse Angie and her sinister plans for Blessed Arms.
We all know how much I love hometown authors, and David C. Hayes is one of my Michigan Madmen <3 The little details placed in MI stories always make me smile. The town of Brockton is described as a town in southeast Michigan, almost on the Ohio border – exactly where my ass is sitting right at this moment. The day that Cherub was born was a brisk autumn day in November with leaves changing color and blanketing the ground everywhere – just like today. I mentioned above, Blessed Arms feels like it is based on Elouise Psychiatric Hospital, and I’ve had an obsession with that place for YEARS. (They’re making a horror movie at Elouise now, too! Awesome!) David also mentions ‘Kroger’ – a MI based grocery store.
I highly recommend CHERUB, no matter where you live ;) The story shines some light on nature vs. nurture, and the author proves that sometimes humans are the worst monsters of all.
View my full review, and join the [b:Cherub|22015966|Cherub|David C. Hayes|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1398571994l/22015966._SY75_.jpg|86477808] discussion on BeckisBloodyBookBlog - http://wp.me/p37DRX-1iH
One of the original videos posted with the original was no longer available, and trust me - I searched.
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