DESCRIPTION;
Cassie McDowell’s life in 1980s Minnesota seems perfectly wholesome. She lives on a farm, loves school, and has a crush on the nicest boy in class. Yes, there are her parents’ strange parties and their parade of deviant guests, but she’s grown accustomed to them.
All that changes when someone comes hunting in Lilydale.
One by one, local boys go missing. One by one, they return changed—violent, moody, and withdrawn. What happened to them becomes the stuff of shocking rumors. The accusations of who’s responsible grow just as wild, and dangerous town secrets start to surface. Then Cassie’s own sister undergoes the dark change. If she is to survive, Cassie must find her way in an adult world where every sin is justified, and only the truth is unforgivable.
I wanted to like this book: the description, the premise, and the possibilities. However, the strange fear these sisters feel about their father falls flat. Why does she sleep in the closet and under the bed? There are hints that they should be scared, but nothing solidifies. The creepy, sleazy sex parties where the girls serve alcohol and witness nudity and some sexual acts, it's gross and unbelievable that their mother goes along with that. Also, Mom is okay with these swinger gatherings where her husband is unfaithful but gets very upset and throws her sister out of the house for flirting with her husband. The kidnapped boys who are harmed almost seem less important than the goings on under the young girls' roof. I expected it to tie in with Dad's weird meetings with the cop or how the girls never wanted to be alone with him or SOMETHING. Such a cringeworthy town, but I was totally unsatisfied with the ending.
