Synopsis:
When 14-year-old Mitch Graves, bored with festivities at a Memorial Day block party in 2006, decides to ride his BMX to a set of train tracks near his home, he discovers something that would tattoo the fear of God into any ordinary child’s memory-a wayward drifter hiding in the shadows of an abandoned railcar in the midst of taking another man’s life. Where most kids would be terrified beyond belief, Mitch finds himself intrigued. Taking the young boy under his wing, the drifter unlocks something horrifying deep within Mitch that he never knew existed. Together, they unleash their own brand of terror onto unsuspecting townsfolk.
That is, until tragedy befalls the Graves family, leaving Mitch as the only hope to save his baby sister, Myrna.
16 years later, Mitch and Myrna Graves embark on a road trip of a lifetime, with their sights set on an exacting revenge on the person who tried to take everything from them all those years ago…to find him and kill him.
Filled with revenge, murder, twists and turns, Find Him and Kill Him mixes horrifying elements into a sick, twisted coming-of-age tale. A road-trip novel dripping with suspense, tragedy, familial bonding and of course, lots of blood.
Review:
“Find Him and Kill Him,” by Cody J Thompson is a twisted coming of age story, dripping with sweet revenge, and saturated in bodily fluids. In this darkly humorous and unapologetically gritty adventure, we learn that adolescence and vengeance are in fact a killer combination. This bloody road-trip across the West is a tumultuous journey to say the least, and perfect for readers on the lookout for a short, sharp and gruesome read. Thank you to Cody for providing me with an ARC in return for an honest review, “Find Him and Kill Him,” is unleashed upon the world on May 23rd 2024.
Mitch Graves is a normal 14 year old boy navigating the trials and tribulations of adolescence in 2006. With a disdain for school, a passion for biking and a penchant for talking back to his parents, he’s as stereotypical as a teenager can get. (until…) It’s memorial day, and despite his mother’s best efforts, he hustles down to his spot near the train tracks, abandoning the street party. Alongside his friend, Moe, he has accumulated a stash of “nudie magazines,” stolen from his neighbour Mr. Looney’s recycling bin, and naturally, he needed to ensure they had not been stolen. When, instead, he accidentally stumbles across a fresh murder scene, in a moment of morbid interest and audacious curiosity he asks the guilty “drifter,” for a closer look, and then to be taught the craft himself. On the condition he keeps his mouth shut, the drifter obliges. With a date set to return to the same spot two weeks later (with a change of clothes) his father, mother and baby sister (Myrna) will soon be living with a killer.
16 years later, we follow Myrna Graves, who following a chilling revelation (I’m sure you can guess) about her older brother, joins him on a road trip through Nevada to Eureka, California. There’s lots of sibling rivalry, lots of slightly dodgy motels, and lots and lots of blood.
As our teenage protagonists’ lives careen down this unexpected path, a multitude of themes are explored: innocence lost, secrecy and the murkiest depths of human nature- all in the lens of adolescence. Myrna grapples with the weight of secrecy and the moral ambiguity of her actions. Puberty is already a difficult time for teens without throwing murder into the mix… you can only imagine the anguish and pain Myrna experiences. The turmoil endured by Myrna is palpable, and perhaps relatable (if you can bring yourself to look back upon your own teenage experience) and Thompson paints a vivid portrait of the raw and often brutal journey of growing up. That being said, we can’t put everything down to teenage angst, she is also a reminder that the line between innocence and complicity is razor thin, and that the choices we make often have far-reaching implications.
Both the prose and pacing are very palatable indeed. Thompson’s writing is utterly fluff-free, and you can tell he puts his energy into relentlessly ratcheting up the tension, and developing his characters. It’s not novella length, but it’s compulsively readable, incredibly suspenseful and really compelling- the type of book you could quite easily read in a day. I always seem to forget to remind readers this is an extreme horror novel, absolutely chocced with brutal killings from beginning to end. As with any horror novel ever written, if you have them, you should check triggers. Look, it’s common sense that if you want to try out extreme horror, perhaps test your limits, you don’t immediately go for Aron Beauregard’s “Playground,” or “Cows,” by Matthew Stokoe- you go for something like this. Whilst yes, there’s a lot of yuck, it will make you raise an eyebrow as opposed to gag.
“Find Him and Kill Him,” by Cody J Thompson emerges as a blood-soaked odyssey through the twisted corridors of adolescence and vengeance, seamlessly blending dark humour with relentless suspense. Innocence is a luxury, and every choice comes with a price. If you’re looking to start “extreme exposure therapy,” and have a bloody good time, then this may well be the novel for you.
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