WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG TO READ THIS BOOK?!

This book was freaking awesome. I read it long enough after Covid that it didn't feel redundant but close enough that I was thrown right back into the general sense of fear and trepidation that surrounded every interaction during the pandemic. I loved that this book recognized Covid and built off of it. It felt fresh, scarily plausible, and wholly unique.

Dawson did a really great job creating a detailed plot and story. I was totally invested in the characters, loved that we had some backstory, and learned of the violence pandemic in "real time" along with them. It was easy to remember how scary everything felt during the early days of Covid and I just couldn't imagine how I would feel or react if the violence was real too.

Dawson was sneaky in a few places referring to a particular president and I hope and pray she wasn't telling the future. I appreciated how she didn't use any names and let the reader draw conclusions - it was really well done.

This book is long but well worth it. I did the audio and absolutely adored it. I definitely recommend.

I freely admit, I didn’t finish The Violence. I had an awful premonition of some scenes featuring abuse, so I went to Goodreads and read some reviews. And thankfully, I learned there were some graphic scenes about animal abuse.

And that’s a hard no for me. So I quit The Violence.

It was an interesting concept, but I can’t get past that trigger warning.

Thank you to Random House Publishing for the review copy.

When this victim of domestic violence seizes an opportunity to free herself and her daughter, it's bound to cause consequences. An original plot that was a quick read for me.

I absolutely could not put this book down. It took me a little over 1 day to finish up and that is how I can tell that a book is amazing. I have always been interested in disaster/end of the world stuff, so this book was right up my alley.

The plot revolved around a survivor of IPV finding her way in a crazy world. Good, fun read and rated 5/5 stars!

The Violence is just that a book about Violence and wrestling... The Violence follows three female leads, two of whom have dealt with Domestic Violence. Throw in a second pandemic called The Violence and then random wrestling and you have The Violence by Delilah S. Dawson. Initially, The Violence starts strong and the reader is engrossed in the characters and their lives, eventually, the story starts to drag and goes off the rails making it almost unbearable to finish. In the end I just wasn't in love with this story or the characters.

A violence causing pandemic from a mosquito that causes people to blackout and do deadly things? Sign me up! Also women who finally get revenge from their abusers? I’m in!
What did not work for me is 1) ANIMAL ABUSE! I just can’t take it when animals (especially domesticated) are killed by humans. 2) For a book that was almost 500 pages, the pace was dreadfully slow. 3) I felt that the women characters were not fully developed and therefore didn’t feel much connection to them. That being said, I will absolutely try this author’s next book and hope it contains no animal violence.

I thought this book was pretty good. The first part was making so angry with how the women were being treated and sometimes treating each other. The main POV 's are able to use the pandemic to help find their voices and themselves . I thought this was a good take on women saving themselves.

I was totally blown away by this powerful story. Told by 3 different POV, all strings come together at the end... It was a dystopia, a thriller, modern horror and an own-voice survivor story. Almost each chapter ended with a cliffhanger, so I quickly turned the pages for getting to know what has happened. I liked the fact that the story is also mentioning Covid-19 and imagining another pandemic coming afterwards. How would it change our society? From all 3 female characters, I liked Chelsea the most because she has the strongest character development. Also, as domestic violence and abuse was experienced by the author herself, she described the difficult situation very well. How can a woman escape when she was told over years that she is small, without her own money and a social network? I felt empathy with Chelsea when her husband abused her again and again, followed by massive gaslighting afterwards. Huge parts of this book are dark and depressing, but I really liked the surprising change of the story. I never would have imagined that Chelsea could take a completely different job and thrives in it. But read the story!

A huge recommendation for this fast-pacing and important story. Please read the content notes before reading, as some parts of the book may be triggering.

Unfortunately this book just wasn’t for me. I’ve come to realize I’m not an apocalyptic kind of girl. I had to dnf this one. Thank you so much to the publisher for sending me a copy to review.

This is a thriller, which is interesting and kept you interested from start to finish. I enjoyed the writing style and found an interesting read.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

Unfortunately, this was not for me. I was unable to get past the first few chapters. I believe this is just an issue of my taste not aligning with the story. I recommend others try it!

Excellent writing and disturbing story. I really liked it, though I did have to skip a part. Skipping that small part did not take away from the story because I knew what happened. I just didn’t want to cry or see those images in my head.

This is the most disturbing story I’ve read in a while and I’m glad I read it. There’s not much that disturbs me but this did. Kudos!

Recommended but be mindful of the trigger warnings at the beginning!!

Hit a little too close to home, and felt a little long for me. Super interesting concept, and love the pro-women angle, overall a unique story.

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I expected. I couldn't figure out how sci-fi would be with horror/thriller. This author put them together perfectly. I definitely would recommend this book!

The title couldn’t be more fitting for sure but I had a hard time with it for that very reason. While I read many reviews to the opposite. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this copy for review

THE VIOLENCE – Delilah S. Dawson

‘They are victims. They are infected. They are survivors.’

‘“Your trauma is part of what makes you a survivor … And you’re not alone.”’

My Heart—Love The Ending!

Highly Recommend!

Thank You, NetGalley and Del Rey Books (Penguin Random House), for providing me with an eBook of THE VIOLENCE at the request of an honest review.

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book.

Dystopia is my favorite book genre. I’ve burned through the classics, so I’m excited whenever a new one comes out. And the fact that this one is also horror makes for the perfect combination. What I loved most about this book was that it was not only a great plot but an excellent study of human nature.

From Goodreads: When Chelsea Martin kisses her husband hello at the door of their perfect home, a chilled bottle of beer in hand and dinner on the table, she may look like the ideal wife, mother, and homemaker—but in fact she’s following an unwritten rulebook, carefully navigating David’s stormy moods in a desperate nightly bid to avoid catastrophe. If family time doesn’t go exactly how David wants, bad things happen—to Chelsea and the couple’s seventeen-year-old daughter, Ella. Cut off from all support, controlled and manipulated for years, Chelsea has no resources and no one to turn to. Her wealthy, narcissistic mother, Patricia, would rather focus on the dust on her chandelier than acknowledge Chelsea’s bruises. After all, Patricia’s life looks perfect on the surface, too.

But the façade crumbles when a mysterious condition overtakes the nation. Known as the Violence, it causes the infected to experience sudden, explosive bursts of animalistic rage and attack anyone in their path. The ensuing chaos brings opportunity for Chelsea—and inspires a plan to liberate herself and her family once and for all.

This synopsis is just the beginning. So much more unfolds after this point. As you peel back the layers of trauma Chelsea and Patricia suffered at the hands of men, you realize why they act the way they do. And they are excellent dynamic characters who barely resemble their earlier selves. This isn’t an “all men are bad” book, either. As the story progresses, we meet some incredible men and non-binary characters who support these extraordinary ladies. I really loved this book, not just because of the dystopian/horror aspect, but because these characters will stay with me for a long time.

I enjoyed the story and characters. I enjoyed how it showed women empowering themselves and learning to value themselves.

This book was slow in the beginning. I honestly felt like I may not be able to get through it, but then I hit THE MOMENT. That moment where I could not put it down. This is a beautifully written novel, The character development of each woman and the relationships between them made this book so much more than a book about the apocalypse. The most amazing part about this book is the fact that despite following three women on three completely different journeys, not one plot line outshined the other. They instead wound apart and back together in a way that made the ending so satisfying. This book has the perfect amount of horror, dystopia, and generational trauma to make it a highly recommendable read.

The Violence by Delilah Dawson is a surreal novel where the world has just healed from the Covid pandemic. Now it is set upon by the sudden appearance of a new and lethal disease. The Violence is the new pandemic in town. It causes people to lose control and inflict lethal violence upon whoever is nearest to them. We follow the journey of three family members as they navigate this new disease as well as their history of abuse, neglect, and future growth. Continue reading to get my take on The Violence.

The Violence by Delilah Dawson has an interesting premise with the introduction of a new pandemic, from which the novel gets its title, right after the end of the Covid pandemic. What seems to be a novel that will focus on using the Violence as a way for Chelsea to remove her and her family from an abusive husband, actually turns out to mainly be about healing from trauma, the reunification of family, and repairing broken familial relations. I will say the summary really does not do the plot justice.

Characters
I really liked the creation of the characters, they felt very unique and genuine. Switching the POV for each chapter, as a reader, you could rather easily tell who the narrator was. The characters were so distinct from each other. I also enjoyed the fact that this type of narration was multi-generational with the grandmother through to the older granddaughter.

Trauma
The Violence brought to light many concerns in the Covid era, such as income stability and domestic abuse. Before the novel even opens, Dawson reveals her own experiences living in an abusive household at the hands of her father and how that impacted her life and her relationship with her mother. This is definitely present throughout the novel, making me hope that this was a cathartic exercise for her. It is an incredibly sensitive and difficult topic but of the greatest importance. I think that brought some authenticity and gravitas to this aspect of the novel.

At times The Violence felt like a truly apocalyptic scenario with people abandoning homes, not being able to get in contact with people, and thus not being able to know if they are alive or not. Then at other times, it felt like life was normal. This did kinda feel like how the Covid pandemic has been with the attempts to get back to normal. It did not, however, translate over well to this type of pandemic where people will literally kill you with no warning or catalyst.

Pace
I guess this brings me to the main setback I had with this novel. It seemed to start off very quickly at the beginning and was fast-moving. Then at some point in the early middle, it suddenly became slow. I think it has to do with switching between pandemic apocalypse to social maneuvering at the local country club. Again, the plot summary makes it seem as though this is going to be a fast-moving and intense plot. Don’t get me wrong, it does have its moments. It does seem like the summary misses major aspects of the novel, which had actually ended up being some of the most powerful parts of The Violence.

Overall
I think the pace was really my only concern with The Violence, otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I will say it was definitely not what I thought it was going to be when reading the summary. It was still a novel with an important message regarding family and the traumas of abuse.