This book is highly disturbing in so many ways! The author has a note that there will be triggers in the book dealing with violence, and she was absolutely correct in giving the warning. The premise of the book is that a new deadly virus is sweeping across the world, one that causes the victim to become suddenly and irrationally violent, killing whoever is nearby in some really horrendous way. The beginning of the book grabbed me with an unbelievable scene in a grocery store, but then as the story progressed, the action slowed down and became more of a story about the characters. Chelsea is an abused wife who decides to use the new virus to escape the clutches of her husband. Patricia, Chelsea’s mom, is entitled and arrogant who thinks that she can escape the far-reaching virus by going on a vacation to someplace cold. At some points in the book, I was kind of wishing it would just end already because the action was repetitive and graphic violence was rampant. I appreciate the author’s honest look at domestic abuse, but the story itself is so far out in the netherworld to make it unbelievable and totally unrealistic. Fans of domestic thrillers may enjoy this book, but one has to have a strong stomach to get through all of the horrific descriptions of the result of the virus. Kudos to the author for a good attempt, but the book was only mildly entertaining and thought-provoking for me.
Disclaimer
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255, “Guides Concerning the Use of Testimonials and Endorsements in Advertising.”

Thank you to Random House- Ballantine and Netgalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

The premise of this book is what pulled me in. The idea that a plague makes women violent is such a contrast to the thriller/horror I typically read. I just took issue in it's ability to pull me in. Once, I got into it, it wasn't bad, but it did take me a while.

I thought the characters were compelling and the story idea was so good, it just lacked a bit in execution for me. It was good, but nothing memorable.

The Violence is the latest book by New York Times bestselling author Delilah S. Dawson, and it is an emotional rollercoaster. It’s captivating and brutal, and the subject matter can be - as stated in her Author’s Note - “distressing for some readers.” I was one of those readers. “The Violence deals with themes of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse,” she explains, and I was definitely forced to relive past traumas. My heart raced and my emotions raged while reading, but the characters were sympathetic and engaging, and I needed to know what happened to them.

Dawson crafted a three generations of damaged women, all suffering in silence, each struggling with their own private demons. She placed them in the wealthy suburbs in a post-Covid version of Florida, showed us their worst character flaws, and then set a new pandemic free to rage among them. This new pandemic causes sudden, violent rages, and in the beginning of the outbreak, the government collects these infected individuals so they can’t harm others. Abusive men caught attacking women they love could be theoretically be considered infected with the Violence…

The Violence is expertly written, skipping street names and details such as house colors, subdivision titles, and store names, but focusing on a tiny corner shop at one intersection that all three main characters stop at throughout the book. It starts out as a little yellow shack with a scrolling digital sign implying men should buy new floors to make their wives happy. By the end of the book, a character sees the shack under new management and thinks about thunderstorms bringing rainbows. It’s one of my favorite lines of the book.

Dawson manages to convey that very real fear of strange men who may or may not hit on you while you’re out in public alone, and how powerful a simple hug can be after being isolated and alone for too long. The Violence is a powerful book and it is a memorable one. Dawson carefully balanced the tension of the book so that there are beautiful moments amid the darkness.

I'm disappointed in myself for even requesting this book.

******* Trigger warning*****
If you like books that rave about a cute pet and then have a character violently kill that pet, this book is for you.

What a letdown.
Also, did EVERY male character have to be violent and abusive? I was in an abusive marriage and even I'm not this jaded.

Absolutely incredible!!! This is now one of my favorite books of all time!! Following three generations of abused women during a pandemic affecting people with incontrolable fits of violence, The Violence has SO many amazing themes. It’s fast, fun, heartbreaking, thought provoking, and will leave you cheering by the end!

The Violence is an interesting type of pandemic thriller. Some parts were extremely gory, which was not my favorite. But other than that, the writing is sharp and I enjoyed this novel overall.

The story follows along with 3 generations of women. I love how the author includes backstory to each character, it really helps you understand their line of thinking when a new virus, the Violence takes over the world. The Violence can and will affect anyone and it causes them to do horrific acts of violence to random strangers and even their loved ones. As the world frantically searches for a cure, the novel dives deep into a family dynamic and how far they are willing to go to protect each other.

This book broke me over and over again. The start of the book we have three generations of woman. At first mother and grandmother are broken down to shells of woman. It very hard to like them, I can feel for them but they are just what society has assigned them.
The daughter is my favorite through out. She is the hope and the fire the world needs. But slowly as the book goes on you see the woman stand up and break out.
This book goes on a journey and takes turns I didn't see. It boils down the violence woman experience just existing. How it shapes and breaks woman. How it generational and is passed down.

Smart and gripping thriller. Well written and driven plot. Eerily similar to things during our pandemic. I would definitely recommend this to anyone.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and Netgalley for the chance to read and review this e-ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

After COVID people are supposed to be safe from a worldwide pandemic. But soon people find themselves back in COVID behaviors such as wearing masks and social distancing as a new pandemic appears. This pandemic causes people to blackout and do terrible violence to someone near them. After they remember nothing. There is no warning when it is going to happen and no one is safe.

I was extremely intrigued by this book. I’ll admit I didn’t read the blurb carefully so I didn’t know what I was getting into. Once I started reading I couldn’t put it down. The story focuses on the three generations of woman. It is not a gory book with a lot of details on what happens when people black out. It’s a perfect balance of letting the reader know what happened without a ton of details.

It is also a story of what people can be capable of. After COVID people are still out for themselves. I laughed at many of the references to the government.

I highly recommend this book. I absolutely loved it!

Wow wow wow wow. Those are my main thoughts while reading the Violence. From even reading the plot summary I knew I would be engrossed in this story. I weirdly felt like this was a fun take on the Purge, but if it was a disease that finally allowed those who had been abused, hurt, and mistreated to finally feel the freedom to live out their urges, even if they don't have control over them.

The story follows Chelsea Martin, Chelsea is the perfect, wife, mother, daughter but she is not treated that way. When a disease spread by mosquito (aka my personal nightmare) causes those inflected to have suddenly attack those around them Chelsea can finally find a way to possibly break free from her abusive husband. She sees the Violence as a positive and makes a plan.

I loved this book, I loved how dark, graphic, and gory it was but understand that it may not be for everyone. There are a lot of trigger warnings in the book but as it is called the Violence that is to be expected, I loved Dawsons writing style from the ver cinematic opening to not shying away from what a disease like the violence would actually cause people to do. I can't wait to read what she writes next and honestly hope this book somehow gets adapted into a movie or mini series cause its just perfect for that.

Copy provided by NetGalley for my honest review.

The Violence was so good. It reminded me of Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris with the pandemic twist. I DNFed this one to start out with but decided to give it another go with a print copy. And luckily I ended up with one so score. I have to say that this was one thrilling story that I couldn't put down and I will totally need to read again soon.

I absolutely loved this book. It was a struggle to put it down especially when you get about halfway through. I was so invested in Chelsea, Patricia and Ella that I was sure by the end I was going to end up crying! So fantastic.

This is a very character driven book in my opinion. We are following three different POVs all living through a new pandemic where people are experiencing something ‘the violence’. People are essentially blacking out and killing someone or something around them and when they come to they have no memory of what happened. Now, is this a concept we haven’t read before? Not necessarily. But I felt the commentary about vaccines and domestic abuse was great when it came to this plot.

Now it was a bit unsettling at first to read this takes place in a world that experienced Covid.. I personally didn’t want to read any books talking about Covid since I’m still living in a pandemic, but after awhile I found the whole thing pretty amusing and not as bad as I thought it would be. This book is about much more than a virus that makes people kill people and you see that when we are following Chelsea’s story. I was happy to see the direction it took and I loved the ending. I loved how she as well as Patricia grew. I knew the character who I disliked so much in the beginning was going to end up being someone I liked.

This does has some gory bits to it, but at least for me it felt less ‘horror’ than the description on good reads. We are definitely following three generations of women healing from generational trauma and I loved that. That part of the character growth was awesome to me.

I would absolutely recommend this book! I would say don’t go into this thinking it’s going to be a horror novel. It’s pretty dark, but I don’t think it’s horror. I would read it again and definitely plan on buying the physical copy. Dawson had some lines in here that had me wanting to annotate so bad!! “What do you do when you’re chained to a monster that isn’t particular about what it destroys?” That one got me.

Enjoyable. Will have you flipping pages as fast as you can because you absolutely must know what's going on. Take a look. You won't be disappointed. Fast paced and well written. Happy reading!

This book includes every trigger - not recommended for highly sensitive people!! Some parts were overwritten/boring, so it could have been 100 pages shorter and probably would have been 5 stars. Very entertaining and suspenseful!

Thanks to publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

#FirstLine ~ Chelsea Martin sits in a perfect sunbeam at her perfect kitchen table, staring at the piece of paper that's going to destroy her life.

Ok, so there is a warning about this books contents right at the start of the book, so you will be warned right away before you start that this book is heavy and has some things in it that require a trigger warning. Do not skip it, make sure to read that part before you start, so you are fully informed.

This book is not for everyone. It is graphic and violent. Some will be overwhelmed by it and others will lean into it and get so entrenched in the story. It was a tough read and admittedly I had to start and stop several times. But, I went into the book knowing what it was and I have to say that there is a good story in this book. You will be pulled into this thriller, will feel that the story comes from the authors heart and the themes are important and timely. This is a book I may never forget!

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC. This is a novel about abuse within several generations. It begins with what appears to be a happy family of Chelsea, her husband David, and their 17 yr old daughter, Ella. From the outside this family looks about perfect, but the reality is far from that. If things are not perfectly done according to David's "unwritten" rule book, or if his mood isn't good, life is miserable. Chelsea has no one to turn to for help. This is when the rest of the story happens...a mystery condition dubbed, 'The Violence' comes about, which makes anyone with it susceptible to bursts of rage upon anyone in their path. With no idea how to fix her own situation, Chelsea wonders if this 'Violence' may be her way out. I liked this book and it was a page turner, I do recommend this book.

Wow! Excellent thriller. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey for the ARC.

I read a lot of psychological thrillers and this is one you don't want to miss. It is tough to read, especially because of the ongoing theme of domestic abuse, but well worth it.

This book is an interesting mix of sci-fi and horror that made me question which of my shelves I wanted to leave it on. It has a wonderful discussion on violence and the cycles of abuse and following one family through this plague. An interesting read no doubt.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Mystery Thriller + Horror

The Violence is a story that takes place in the near future, specifically in 2025 post-COVID pandemic. There is another virus spreading that causes the carrier to be extremely violent. In this world, we follow the lives of three generations of women who have to live during these difficult times and be able to survive this new pandemic.

I like the concept of the book a lot. It is something I have not read in literature before. However, if you are familiar with the video game Tom Clancy’s The Division then there is somehow a similarity between the two concepts where violence becomes the prevailing behavior.

The book is a mixture of horror and thriller. I feel it leans more towards the thriller genre. But that does not mean that there are no scary or horrific moments here and there. It has an atmosphere that makes it something chilling and unpredictable at times. When you start the book the author in the author’s note talks about the abuse she was exposed to and tolerated in real life. That was something important to know giving you a brief background of what she had to go through. Some of the abuse scenes in the story are based on her own experiences.

I appreciated how the author depicted the female characters differently in her book. However, the male characters were all stereotypical and abusive in one way or another be it David (Chelsea’s husband), Hayden (Ella’s boyfriend), Randall (Patricia’s husband), or Chad (David’s friend). That didn’t go well with me. Not all men are bad and abusive. I wish she had made the men in this story more unique. They all felt immoral and wicked which should not be the case. For me, this took some of the realism from the story. Usually, in such cases, I would rate a book lower than a four-star rating but I’d be cheating myself here because despite this huge shortcoming I still enjoyed reading this book a lot.

Keep in mind this book is true to its title. It is full of violence, abuse, sexual abuse, and animal abuse. Just be sure you check the trigger warnings.

Many thanks to the publisher Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey, and NetGalley for providing me with an advance reader copy of this book.

Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

TW: This review contains subject matter that may distress survivors or current victims of domestic abuse. You are not alone, and there is hope. Please fight on.

My people. Hear, ye.

This book is fantastic.

The biggest overhanging theme will speak to so many people who feel like they themselves cannot speak out, and Dawson writes from personal experience. Which makes it that much more heartbreaking.

Chelsea lives with her abusive, narcissistic husband and aims every day to please and placate him so he’ll stay away from their two girls—Ella, 17, and Brooklyn, 5. He employs a chokehold so that even though he forces her unconscious and demeans her, grabs her throat and throws beer bottles around the kitchen, Chelsea doesn’t sustain bruises and visible scars. Besides, David is such a kind man to his friends and a ladies’ man! How could he be abusive? Chelsea must be exaggerating.

Clearly. Mmhmm. Because men like David aren’t depositing daily at the Bank of Bullshit. I should know. My biological father was a one such man.

So here we are in Florida, Chelsea and her daughters suffering at the hands of the man who’s supposed to protect and defend them, and uh-oh! Mosquitoes are carrying a little extra somethin-somethin along to unwitting targets. The start of this new pandemic is a poor grandma who suddenly loses all control over her conscious self and beats a woman to death with a bottle of salad dressing in a Costco. This new pandemic is quickly named the Violence.

Chelsea’s mother Patricia married a very rich (clearly very crooked) judge and has enough money to get vaccinated, and to also vaccinate her granddaughters. See, the person who discovered the vaccination method for the Violence sold it to a pharmaceutical company (that CLEARLY wasn’t based off Purdue or anything), and now only the ultra-rich can either 1) flee north where mosquitoes don’t have such an iron-fisted grip, or 2) shell out $30,000 a pop for a bifurcated needle in the arm.

Unfortunately, Patricia herself was abused by her mother and her mother’s “man-friends.” The story never specifically mentions sexual abuse, but one has to wonder if these men turned their predatory eyes on a shivering bunny trying to hide. There’s a theme here, but we’ll discuss it later.

One night Chelsea goads David into attempting to beat her to death with a softball bat, and as she hides in the bathroom, she calls a hotline to report a possible case of the Violence. The police come and arrest the bastard, and then Chelsea discovers in her brief stint of total freedom that she has the Violence herself. The thing about this virus is that the person seized in a bout of storming has absolutely no idea what they’re doing. They black out, and when they eventually come back into their right mind, their brain has held no memory of the fatal event. The nearest living thing is dead, and the attacker must deal with a heavy case of survivor’s guilt.

Chelsea knows that her mother may feel enough compassion on her granddaughters to want to vaccinate them, maybe take them north while things play out in the dirty south. But Patricia has the condition that Chelsea surrender the girls to her and go get a job so she can earn money for her own vaccination.

Going any further is spoiler territory, and I won’t do that to you.

So. We’ve got some themes here. Domestic abuse. Generational trauma. Class disparity. Misogyny. Late-stage capitalism. Facing and tearing down stereotypes by revealing how silly and ridiculous they are.

“But, Caitlin!” You say. “This is a suspense/horror novel!”

I know! Isn’t it great??? One of the best mediums for exploring the problems plaguing our world—and how we can address them—is through story! Delilah S. Dawson threw what looked like wild darts at the start of this story, but by the last page, and on closer examination, every dart hit its own bullseye. We get character growth. We get healing wounds. We get the gap of life quality and availability of resources depending on the amount of money you have or earn.

GUYS. CURRENCY IS A MADE-UP CONCEPT ANYWAY. WE COULD BE TRADING IN CHEESE WHEELS, FOR HEAVEN’S SAKE, AND IT WOULD BE THE SAME DAMN THING AS A DOLLAR BILL.

Anyway.

There are moments that had me clenching my whole body, and flashes of hope, and pockets of seething rage. Dawson’s handling of domestic abuse is 100% spot on, and I’m so sorry that she had to live under that oppression growing up. The signs are not always obvious, and we see that here. The telegraphed signals aren’t always taken to heart before a relationship can commence, and we’re shown that the fault never lay with the victim. People can become desperate for human connection, or are never taught what red flags to look for in any type of relationship, or those red flags are normalized in someone’s mind as the standard for a loving marriage/friendship/partnership/whatever.

We could go on and on about the tiny details, but only after you’ve read the book. Make a hold at your local library, or support independent bookstores by purchasing your volume on Bookshop.org, but any way you get it, you have GOT to read THE VIOLENCE!

If you or loved ones are suffering from domestic abuse, or an abusive relationship, here are some numbers you can call—confidentially.

In the US: 1-800-799-7233

In Canada: 1-866-863-0511
Also the website: www.domesticshelters.org

In the UK: 08082000247

In Ireland: 1800 341 900

You’re not alone. Help is just on the horizon. Fight for one more moment. We will hold you up.