Blood Sugar
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
From the co-author of the New York Times–bestselling novelization of The Shape of Water comes the blood-curdling story of a Halloween night where trick-or-treat becomes life-or-death
In a ruined house at the end of Yellow Street, an angry outcast hatches a scheme to take revenge for all the wrongs he has suffered. With the help of three alienated kids, he plans to hide razor blades, poison, and broken glass in Halloween candy, maiming or killing dozens of innocent children. But as the clock ticks closer to sundown, will one of his helpers—an innocent himself, in his own streetwise way—carry out or defeat the plan?
Told from the child’s point of view, in a voice as unforgettable as A Clockwork Orange, Kraus’ novel is at once frightening and emotional, thought-provoking and laugh-out-loud funny. It’ll make you rethink your concepts of family, loyalty, and justice—and will leave you double-checking the wrappers on your Halloween candy for the rest of your days.
“A Stephen King tale told by a pidgin Artful Dodger, it’s a twisted little miracle with a sneaking, beating heart.” —Megan Abbott, New York Times–bestselling author of Give Me Your Hand
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When kids come trick-or-treating down Yellow Street, the disgruntled, slovenly Robbie Glinton intends to lace the Halloween candy with poison and razor blades in this meandering excursion into hoarder noir from Kraus (The Shape of Water with Guillermo del Toro). Robbie enlists kids who hang out in his decaying home in the project. The principal narrator, Jody, speaks in a language distinctly his own: "Todays getting real. Realer than any day previous. Robbies made plans in the past but nothing this heavy. All a us are feeling it." Other eccentric kid voices include those of Dag, a rebellious resident of a nicer suburb who dotes on a tick-infested street dog, and brain-damaged Midget, who talks to bugs and wraps herself in flypaper. Kraus makes an impassioned case for the value of family with his marginalized cast of characters, but the plot is one that could have worked just as effectively in short story form. The novel lives or dies by how a reader reacts to Jody's point of view. As an entry in the literature of Halloween, this is much more icky than eerie. Correction: An earlier version of this review referred to the character Jody as female.
