This is a prequel novella to "The Devil in the Silver" which shows how Loochie got the blue knit hat. It's a fantasy in which she goes into an alternate reality and is chased by monsters. It is a fun piece with a sad theme of death and is enjoyable to see Loochie as a young 12-year-old girl.

How I found it: Full disclosure: I have had this one on my NetGalley shelf for so long that I don’t remember if it was a Read Now, offered by a publisher, or if I requested it because of the description. Let’s assume all three just to be safe.

What’s It All About? It is Lucretia (Loochie)’s birthday, but her best friend can’t be there to celebrate. Instead her mom invites three other girls from her class, girls who feel they are too grown up for Loochie. They go so far as to make fun of her in her own home at her birthday party. It does not end well, for the party or for Loochie’s social life. But Loochie doesn’t care. The reason her best friend Sunny could not come was because instead of being in her own apartment directly above Loochie’s, Sunny is out of state receiving cancer treatments. Loochie’s brother, Louis, tells her horror stories about the apartment two floors up. A place where children disappear and never return from. When Sunny goes missing, Loochie follows her up to apartment 6D and finds not only a family straight out of a horror movie, but a portal into another world, a world where Sunny is no longer sick. Will Loochie stay with Sunny, in this paradise named Shea, or will she return home? And what will the consequences be for either choice?

Reading this felt like reading a metaphor for the grieving process, especially of losing someone to a slow but terminal disease (such as cancer). Running from monsters, needing to say goodbye, making a choice to return to life or not. Spoilers below in white text, highlight to read or scroll down for my thoughts:

I was not expecting the end, with Lucretia being diagnosed as bipolar, with no one, not even her brother who told her the story in the first place, believing her. This was actually the part of the story that I liked least. Not that I expect that everyone (especially adults) would believe her, it brings in the question of whether or not the events really happened, as Lucretia was the only witness, and she cleaned up all the evidence (because she didn’t want to get in trouble for a mess). On the other hand, it could be seen as an additional level of horror: the horror of being diagnosed instead of believed. Maybe it works better than I originally thought.

My thoughts: . This wasn’t a slasher story. Instead it offered plenty of creepiness, a dash of urban legend, and plenty of emotions. There was so much going on in this novella, so many emotions to be had, and the author merged it all with the horror beautifully.

I wasn’t sure that I would enjoy this when I first started, as I don’t generally read horror, so this is a pretty big leap out of my usual reading. But I really did! This wasn’t a slasher story. Instead it offered plenty of creepiness, a dash of urban legend, and plenty of emotions. It is a short novella, and I read it over a couple days. As stated in the spoiler section above, I am ambivalent about the ending. While I didn’t notice the writing much, it didn’t get in the way of the story and I could relate to what Lucretia was feeling. The anger, the guilt, the grief. I might even go read other books by this author.

Genre: Horror
Themes: family, friendship, letting go

Recommended For: Fans of horror (especially non-gory horror); readers who may not have a lot of time; someone who wants something scary-but-not-too-scary; a younger person going through the loss of a peer

I'm thinking this book is more middle grade than young adult because the main character is 12. My kids are adults now but I think they would have really enjoyed this book when they were younger. The character and world building could have been a little better and more descriptive but, this was a good book. I must be a wimp because it was a little scary for me. LOL. I finished this in a few hours. I'm thinking there was a little lesson there but, I'm not sure what it is. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone with middle grade kids and older.

Lucrecia, aka Loochie, is a 12-year-old girl living in an apartment in a New York inner city. Her best friend Sunny who lives in an apartment upstairs, is battling cancer and has been in a children’s hospital in another state. When Sunny comes home, Loochie can’t wait for Sunny to come down and spend some time with her. Only, after Loochie does a quick fire escape visit to Sunny, Loochie’s world gets turned upside down. Thinking back to an urban legend story her brother tells her, Loochie discovers the urban legend might not be a legend after all.

What transpires is an adventure through a 6th floor apartment featuring a dark and twisted nightmare through the city. She encounters disfigured versions of the residents in apartment 6D, is chased through haunted playgrounds, and comes up against flying rodents. When she finally makes it through this horrific fantasyland, her world will be forever changed.

Lucretia and the Kroons is not on my list of favorite books. One of the biggest reasons for the 3-star rating is there are too many themes for a novella. Cancer, death, mental illness, typical pre-teen/teen drama, and family dynamics are great themes, when executed properly. Lucretia and the Kroons is not awful but had so much potential yet fell a bit flat for me.

I forgot I had this book in my to-be-read pile and finished it today. Not a favorite for me, I must admit. Young Lucretia has had her best friend since early grade school; her friend Sunny. But Sunny is battling cancer and cannot make it to Loochie's 12th birthday party. Three other friends come instead, and turn into 12 year old mean-girls, causing Loochie's heart to break. After Sunny come home from the hospital, Loochie talks her mother into letting the girls celebrate her late-birthday together, alone, in their apartment in Queens.

From there Loochie heads into the mysterious, dark world of the Kroons; troubled souls that inhabit the world, unseen by most people. She meets her friend Sunny, and together, along with Alice, an intimidating female Kroon who decides she wants to change for the good, they battle the viscous, evil Kroon souls. It was dark, and twisted. The intended audience is YA I believe, and I can understand the appeal of a twisted, nightmarish tale. I tried to remember the intended audience as I read the story, and I thought that maybe YA readers may appreciate the dark fantasy of it. I could understand Loochie's story; she is experiencing the trauma of her friends dying breaths, but there is a final sort of epilogue about Loochie and her future which disturbed me - spoiler alert; a year after her adventure she is diagnosed with bipolar disorder. For me, that clinched that fact that I truly did not like this story at all.

This is a horror/drama/fantasy for kids, which is kind of a strange choice in itself. I found it rather dark and not a good fit for my kids. Readers should be aware that there are topics like smoking, swearing, drug use, death, kidnapping, etc.

Let's be real. I didn't really know what I was getting into when I started this. It's about a little girl losing her best friend to illness and how she processes it.

I love the Lucretia and the book but it's a bit rough. (on the emotions)

Sorry for the nearly seven year delay in feedback! :-)

Lucretia and the Kroons by Victor LaValle
One of the perennial problems for the book blogger/reviewer is the guilt that hovers over you because of the books you received or requested but never reviewed. Once the pure joy of receiving free books begins to wear off, and it does wear off even if not completely, this guilt begins to hang around.

The guilt has multiplied for me the past year or so as I have been in something of a funk when it comes to reviewing books. I still love to read and read quite a bit but the motivation to post has been spotty at best. As a result, there are quite a few books that I requested and read but never really reviewed or offered feedback of the sort publishers would prefer.

But this is not a new phenomenon. Lucretia and the Kroons by Victor LaValle is a perfect illustration. Seeking something to read on my Kindle before bed (I have far too many serious nonfiction works on my Kindle which are not what is needed for bedtime reading most nights), I decided to finally read this novella.

"Lucretia’s best friend and upstairs neighbor Sunny—a sweet pitbull of a kid, even as she struggles with a mysterious illness—has gone missing. The only way to get her back is for Lucretia to climb the rickety fire escape of their Queens tenement and crawl through the window of apartment 6D, portal to a vast shadowland of missing kids ruled by a nightmarish family of mutants whose designs on the children are unknown. Her search for Sunny takes Lucretia through a dark fantasyland where she finds lush forests growing from concrete, pigeon-winged rodents, and haunted playgrounds. Her quest ultimately forces her to confront the most frightening specter of all: losing, forever, the thing you love the most."

Having finished reading, I went back to NetGalley and discovered that I had requested this book in 2012! It was a companion to The Devil in Silver. I was just looking for an interesting story; the fact that it was a novella was a bonus.

Nearly nine years later I can say that it was an interesting read but I am not sure LaValle pulled of the trick or stuck the landing to mix my metaphors. It is supposed to be a middle grade fantasy with a dash of horror. And the publisher isn’t shy in its marketing:

"From one of the most acclaimed young writers of fiction in America today comes a fast-paced and fantastical novella about a young girl’s journey into a dark netherworld to find her missing best friend. … Lucretia and the Kroons is a dazzlingly imaginative adventure story and a moving exploration of the power of friendship and the terror of loss."

Um, for me? Not so much …

Despite a strong start that pulls you in, and a interesting central character in Lucretia (“Loochie”), it soon becomes clear that the story’s identity is fuzzy. At times it veers toward inappropriate content (just straight up inappropriate depending on your tolerance for such things) for middle grade readers. It also jumps from realism to fantasy with little set up or transition; one minute it is realistic the next metaphysical/fantastic. This is jarring and leaves the reader confused about the fantasy world/horror Loochie gets trapped in; why it exists, how it operates, if it is “real” or in her mind, etc.

And the ending just makes a mess of it all. Rather than offer insight or tie up loose ends, it just drops an anvil on things and calls it a day. It was neither satisfying nor thought provoking. I’m guessing it was something of a set up for the novel it is a companion to, but it undermined any of the enjoyment that might have been had from the story.

Which is too bad because there is a lot of creativity here. But the whole is somehow less than the sum of its parts. Points for the attempt I guess but a frustrating read. The good news? It is only $.99 on Kindle and roughly 100 pages so the risk is low for those who want to make their own judgement.

Loochie was a believable character and I found the idea of the Kroons fascinating. This wasn't really horror per se, but it had some creepy elements and I enjoyed the pacing.

Free copy given in exchange for an honest review.

Hooked from the beginning! This is a novels but the writing and story are so strong they sent me off to read other novels by Victor LaValle. The story felt so real to me and I could relate to exactly how the 12yr old protagonist was feeling. Fantastic!

Then there was Lucretia and the Kroons, part of a new series by Victor LaValle. It came from NetGalley (You have been pre-selected to read …!) and of course I should have reviewed it but I disliked it so much I shan’t be able to. It wasn’t made quite clear whether this book is intended for children but I wouldn’t let a child near it, as the story is one long nightmare. Lucretia has a friend who is dying and when she disappears, gets the idea that she has been taken by the Kroons, who live in the top storey of their apartment block. These are mutant creatures, once human, who lead Loosie and her friend through a terrifying alternative version of the neighbourhood. Right at the end, we learn that Loosie later spends time in an asylum, so maybe none of it happened at all? I hope not.

Lucretia and the Kroons is a peculiar book and I mean that in a good way. Every once in awhile, I am drawn to books that stretch my imagination and this author has definitely done that. Lucretia embarks on a wonderful, but odd adventure to find her best friend. She encounters all sorts of amazing and weird things along the way as she tries to save Sunny.

This was a treat to read and definitely a story that I won't soon forget. I may just have to read The Devil in Silver to find out more about Lucretia and to get another taste of this author's work.