All Smoke Rises: Milk-Blood Redux by Mark Matthews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
First off, let me say that this author never fails to disappoint with a horrifying and gruesomely detailed story.
All Smoke Rises begins with Lilly’s body being presented on a table, with a book of her life and a begging for her story to be heard. Once that book is opened, it takes you down a path of a poor child born into a life of neglect and abuse. Lilly’s uncle gave her the first taste of heroin and got the poor child hooked on it.
After the fire that killed Oscar, Lilly is different and she needs the ‘milk-blood’ to survive. Lilly now feeds off the blood of those high on heroin. Although twisted and sickening to the normal person, this is completely plausible, which in turn makes it even more haunting.
Lilly meets Crystal, Oscar’s mom and Crystal hopes that Lilly will help her find closure. She locks Lilly up in the basement while she travels back to meet with her parole officer. Jervis, who was taking care of Lilly in the beginning, is looking for her after she disappeared with Crystal.
Lilly’s story is unique and terrifying. The thought of the horrors this little girl faced will leave you filled with nightmares. The story of Oscars demise will leave you heartbroken and hating is unintelligent mother.
What’s even more horrifying is that this is reality for some of the children in the world. Matthews is an excellent author. His stories are realistic and well designed. There is true depth to the characters and a sadness in the trauma that is poured onto the pages. He really builds a strong relationship between his characters and readers. He pulls you into the story and wont let you go until the characters have said what they needed to.
Connect with Matthews on his WEBSITE
And on TWITTER
And on GOODREADS
