Book Review: The Screaming

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The ScreamingThe Screaming by David Graham
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Teenagers are mysteriously and creatively coming up with ways to murder their parents and commit suicide, and no one can figure out the impetus. When officer Dale Franklin with the Kansas City Police Department walks in on a gruesome scene and finds himself an unwitting extra in the deceased’s YouTube video, a multinational whirlwind investigation leads to his partnering with the CDC, MI5, and a boy genius from Kenya to uncover the reason these teenagers brains are shrinking and causing them to commit vile acts.

The Screaming is a thriller that is fast paced and graphic (for those of you with weak stomachs, this might be one to preview first.) Both the murder-suicides are written in gruesome detail, but also the scenes inside the teenager’s heads depict an awful environment that leads to their own destruction, which is necessary but intensely sad. While well written, I still found myself having to willfully suspend my disbelief at some points, as it felt like a rehash of the whole cell phones will melt your brain urban legend that surfaces every so often, and the pop culture references, while amusing, made me wonder if the plot could be just a little more sonic… In short if you are pro-gay love and anti tech, this story will resonate (pardon the pun.) If not it’s still a good fast read, with insight into the British royal family that will make you wonder if they are both telepathic AND werewolves. And for those of you Americans reading this, yes the author is British. He did a good job, but as a native Missourian who knows how Kansas City operates, I pick up on these things, in addition to the British spelling and terms, so I’m afraid both Dale and Steve at best sounded like Captain Jack Harkness in my head. An apt comparison, now that I think about it!


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Please note, while there may be affiliate links or payment for reviews, all opinions are my own. You can't buy a good review from me, people. I am way too mouthy for that.

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