A review by rosiereadz
The Groomer by Jon Athan

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Couldn’t believe the stuff I was reading. Couldn’t put it down. Really upsetting and graphic.

^ This was my initial review but after sitting with this one for a while now I’d like to elaborate.

This was my first ever extreme horror novel and I got it on Kindle Unlimited from the short description of a vigilante father determined to find his kidnapped child. Seemed wild and I expected it to push towards the edge… or something? Didn’t actually have any clue what I was signing up for.

If you have children or even have children in your life, I’m not sure if you should read this. Or if you could read this. 

I was UNABLE to stop reading this once I started. It was unbelievable. I could not and still cannot wrap my head around the detail to torture I was reading immediately, and by chapter 5 I contemplated Jon Athan’s sanity, my own sanity, and felt more afraid of the world than ever before. 

I LOVED the balance of this book for the first 1/3 of it. The pattern of Groomer, family set up, groomer, family, groomer, family kept me right where I needed to be on a level of intrigue.
The chapters with the little boy in the beginning were so mind blowingly horrible I cannot stress it enough how upsetting and heart breaking they were. And disgusting. The chapter where we read about what the groomer did online to the teenage girl? Seriously haunted me. Unreal. Then I was right back to reading about the kids and their mom shopping in the grocery store with a sense of impending doom. It was crazy


The long 2nd act that focuses on the father kind of got repetitive for a moment there, but I was already along for the ride no matter what.
I will never look at cheese graters  the same. Also? The description of piss, vomit, and blood OVER and OVER again throughout this book was so weird to me. Did not need to be said more than once. But alas, it was.
 

The conclusion was mind boggling for me. I was disgusted, mortified,
heartbroken
angry, and shocked. I 100% cried while this wrapped up.
Lets be honest, we all could guess that the daughter was gone within the first day if we referenced the little boy from the beginning but man was I ever hoping to be wrong. I couldn’t believe it that she had been gone for days. I felt so horrible and sick for the father. The authors note revealed that Athan originally was going to describe her death but felt it was too upsetting since we had gotten to know her. I need to personally thank him for not making me endure that.


All in all, this book changed me as a reader. I read Athan’s “Into The Wolves Den” immediately after this. I thought splatterpunk extreme horror was my new genre, but I wonder now if I can touch it again. It is not for the weak lol. This book will stay with me forever. I look at kids away from their parents with panic and fear everywhere now. I’ll nevvvvvvver be the same after this one. I reccomend it — somehow — but brace yourself.
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