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Content snapshot
Flag an inaccuracy →What's in this book, at a glance — five things readers want to know before they start.
Violence
Very heavy
Murder, gore, beatings, and weapons throughout, escalating to a violent climax
Language
Extremely heavy, including sustained homophobic slurs and racial slurs used by characters as weapons
Sexual Content
Explicit and disturbing
Substance Use
Very heavy
Drug addiction, dealing, and heavy drinking are woven through the town's decline
Emotional Intensity
Sexual abuse of teenagers by adults in positions of trust, closeted self-loathing, homophobic hostility, grief, and institutional cover-up
What this book is about
Joel returns to Bentley, Texas after his younger brother, the star quarterback, vanishes, and the search exposes what the town's men have been doing to its boys. Reviewers do not soften this one: content lists include rape and sexual assault, sexual situations involving minors, gore, murder, guns and knives, drug addiction, homophobia and antigay slurs, police abuse, and racism. One reviewer states plainly that readers put off by graphic sexual content, violence, cursing, and hate speech should pass on the book, and describes the ending as an explosion of sex, drugs, and violence. Genuinely one of the harshest books in the 2020 horror field.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Sexual abuse and sexual situations involving minors
Rape and graphic sexual content
Sustained homophobic and racial slurs
Reader Verification
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