Synopsis:
Ruth is trapped. She’s stuck in her small, religious hometown of Kill Devil, Kentucky, stuck in the closet, and stuck living paycheck to paycheck. After her manager finds out that she lives with her girlfriend, Ruth is fired from her job at New Creations—a craft store owned by the church that dominates life in Kill Devil.
In an act of revenge, Ruth attempts to shoplift some yarn but is caught red-handed. Instead of calling the police, the employees lock her in the store—and attack her. As Ruth fights for her life using only the crafting supplies at hand, she plunges deeper into the tangled web of the New Creationists, who are hiding a terrible secret that threatens not only her but the entire town.
Review:
A relentless, breathless and truly… crafty survival horror romp through the aisles of hobby-hell, Jenny Kiefer’s “Crafting for Sinners,” is an incredibly fun book, and a reminder that no matter how many novels are entered into the horror genre, there are always new ways to kill someone off. With loaded commentary upon Christianity in its more extreme and literal forms, homophobia, and the deeply entwined relationship between the two, Kiefer’s latest is full of glitter glue and rage toward the church, moral panic, the justice system and the economy. This one is out October 7th from Quirk, thank you to Lane Heymont and The Tobias Literary Agency for my ARC and top-tier swag.
We follow Ruth who is desperate to leave the small god-fearing town of Kill Devil, Kentucky, with her girlfriend Abigail. Having been rejected by her parents, her ex-fiance and the wider community, now run almost completely by the “New Creationists,” after she came out as bi-sexual, the two are saving hard but barely scraping by- especially after Ruth lost her job at the church-owned craft store, again due to her sexuality. It’s because of this she takes such glee in widening her profit margins with a five-finger discount, stealing skeins of wool from her old employer, selling her wares. Whilst pinching her materials however, her previous co-workers lock her in, and when things turn violent, it becomes clear that Ruth is in a lot more trouble than a slap on the wrist.
In “Crafting for Sinners,” Jenny Kiefer confronts, head on, the homophobia within the church. The intense and yet selective hatred that often applies to queerness, but not tattoos or gold jewellery or polyester clothing, all of which are levitical no-nos, that generally seem to be glossed over. Apparently some sins are just less sinful than others. Strange that. Kiefer takes this condemnation beyond the pulpit and through the church doors, also commenting upon the justice system and how often, investigations stall and cases go cold when the victim is queer- certain lives being deemed less urgent, less worthy. An indictment of the hatred spewed by and bias held within secular and non-secular systems, arbiters of morality and justice, this novel is fun and action-packed- but it’s also incredibly worth looking beneath that.
I don’t mean to represent this book as one that condemns religion or the bible inherently, but it absolutely challenges fervent and inflexible interpretations of it, and the expectation that everyone adhere to that one belief system. The New Creationists foster a monocultural environment in which you are either a New Creationist or you are an outsider, a second class citizen, an apostate to be worn down and won over, or crushed. The New Creationists represent more however, than a faction, having been allowed to become a corporate-theocratical machine. Their power, wealth and sway over the community link directly to Kiefer’s further commentary upon how ideology has been allowed to seep into the commercial, the church and capitalism allowed to become bedfellows.
A truly compelling and equally violent survival horror that is as creative as its title suggests, Kiefer’s second novel is fun, original and really quite stressful, and, as good as “This Wretched Valley,” was, in my opinion, a clear evolution. “Crafting for Sinners,” is a real triumph that is as sharp as the business end of a knitting needle and leaves no stitch unbloodied. Jenny Kiefer is truly impressive and I am excited for what’s to come from her next.
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