Graveyard of Lost Children
- Katrina Monroe
- Albany, WA
- April 4, 2023
GOODREADS BOOK BLURB:
Once she has her grip on you, she’ll never let you go.
At four months old, Olivia Dahl was almost murdered. Driven by haunting visions, her mother became obsessed with the idea that Olivia was a changeling, and that the only way to get her real baby back was to make a trade with the “dead women” living at the bottom of the well. Now Olivia is ready to give birth to a daughter of her own…and for the first time, she hears the women whispering.
Everyone tells Olivia she should be happy. She should be glowing, but the birth of her daughter only fills Olivia with dread. As Olivia’s body starts giving out, slowly deteriorating as the baby eats and eats and eats, she begins to fear that the baby isn’t her daughter at all and, despite her best efforts, history is repeating itself.
Soon images of a black-haired woman plague Olivia’s nightmares, drawing her back to the well that almost claimed her life―tying mother and daughter together in a desperate cycle of fear and violence that must be broken if Olivia has any hope of saving her child…or herself.
At four months old, Olivia Dahl was almost murdered. Driven by haunting visions, her mother became obsessed with the idea that Olivia was a changeling, and that the only way to get her real baby back was to make a trade with the “dead women” living at the bottom of the well. Now Olivia is ready to give birth to a daughter of her own…and for the first time, she hears the women whispering.
Everyone tells Olivia she should be happy. She should be glowing, but the birth of her daughter only fills Olivia with dread. As Olivia’s body starts giving out, slowly deteriorating as the baby eats and eats and eats, she begins to fear that the baby isn’t her daughter at all and, despite her best efforts, history is repeating itself.
Soon images of a black-haired woman plague Olivia’s nightmares, drawing her back to the well that almost claimed her life―tying mother and daughter together in a desperate cycle of fear and violence that must be broken if Olivia has any hope of saving her child…or herself.
GENRES:
FIRST WORDS:
Hours passed like seconds. Seconds like hours. Olivia’s body twisted inside out and waves of heat and cold rippled across her skin. She smelled blood and meat. Her mouth watered. She swallowed against the nausea only for it to come roaring back.
MY REVIEW:
* Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an eARC of this book. The following review is my honest reflection on the text provided. *
solid, good read:
☆☆☆☆☆ 4/5
Graveyard of Lost Children is much scarier than anything I would usually choose to read, but by the time it got to the truly horrifying parts, I was hooked and couldn’t look away.
I flip-flopped on who was the actual crazy person here soooo many times. At some point, I was convinced every single person in this book was either perfectly sane and a victim of haunting or manipulation or was the perpetrator of said manipulation while being completely insane. This is a perfect storm of mental illness, genetics, lack of sleep, hormones, postpartum depression, and unexplainable paranormal activity.
Monroe kept a pretty tight ship for most of the book, but the edges started to fray and give the game away about three-quarters of the way through. After that, things started to move too quickly, and a few big giveaways could have been avoided to keep the mystery alive and the intensity high.
This is the second ARC I’ve read by Monroe, and while They Drown Our Daughters was interesting, Graveyard of Lost Children stepped up to another level entirely. So many believable moments ground the narrative and make the horrific moments that much more terrifying. And the way these terrible moments happen in an instant, over almost as soon as they started, makes it way too easy to second guess and try to find ways to explain them away.
I thoroughly enjoyed Graveyard of Lost Children, even if it is likely to haunt my nightmares and make me see things in mirrors and dark windows for the foreseeable future… I probably would not recommend this one to pregnant readers or those with newborns. The only thing saving me from an actual mental breakdown is that I haven’t had children and feel ‘safe’ from the consequences described here.
I flip-flopped on who was the actual crazy person here soooo many times. At some point, I was convinced every single person in this book was either perfectly sane and a victim of haunting or manipulation or was the perpetrator of said manipulation while being completely insane. This is a perfect storm of mental illness, genetics, lack of sleep, hormones, postpartum depression, and unexplainable paranormal activity.
Monroe kept a pretty tight ship for most of the book, but the edges started to fray and give the game away about three-quarters of the way through. After that, things started to move too quickly, and a few big giveaways could have been avoided to keep the mystery alive and the intensity high.
This is the second ARC I’ve read by Monroe, and while They Drown Our Daughters was interesting, Graveyard of Lost Children stepped up to another level entirely. So many believable moments ground the narrative and make the horrific moments that much more terrifying. And the way these terrible moments happen in an instant, over almost as soon as they started, makes it way too easy to second guess and try to find ways to explain them away.
I thoroughly enjoyed Graveyard of Lost Children, even if it is likely to haunt my nightmares and make me see things in mirrors and dark windows for the foreseeable future… I probably would not recommend this one to pregnant readers or those with newborns. The only thing saving me from an actual mental breakdown is that I haven’t had children and feel ‘safe’ from the consequences described here.
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