The Violence is an intense, utterly captivating, and all too real story of a terrifying plague that has begun to spread across the nation. This is a brutal, intense story following three women as they navigate this new world and do their best to not only survive and stay healthy, but to also look out for their family members. I did not expect this book to hit me as deeply as it did, but I am so glad I had the opportunity to read this book and take away so many incredible lessons and explorations from it.

The Violence is a very terrifying illness that essentially makes an infected person a sort of ticking time bomb that could go off at any second and violently and mindlessly attack with intent to kill someone around them. There's no real warning signs and there's no way to know when an attack will occur (for the most part!). This sheer unpredictability absolutely terrifies a control-based person like me. I can only imagine how paranoid I would feel anytime I was around anyone because there's no real way to know if someone is infected until the worst happens and they attack someone. There's a weird layer of almost claustrophobia in this idea when considering you could be trapped with someone with The Violence and have no idea until you're stuck and it's too late. Not to mention the fact that you yourself could have it and could end up killing a loved one at any moment.

The story and setting and atmosphere were so well done in this book, but it's truly the characters that took this book to the next level and made me care so much about it. The Violence follows the POV of three generations of women: the grandmother, Patricia; the mother, Chelsea; and the daughter, Ella. The youngest daughter, Brooklyn, is also a part of this journey, but we do not follow her perspective at any point.

Chelsea is an incredible character that has so much intense growth throughout the story that it almost felt hard to keep up, but in a great way. Her journey was beautiful and tragic to watch. I loved getting to know her and slowly follow along as more and more of her true personality emerged and we got to see her strength and even justified anger really come through. Her entire storyline was the wildest of rides for me and I never had any idea what to expect, and I loved that there was a bit of found family involved as well.

Ella is a teenager dealing with a lot of regular teenage things, as well as the fact that she has an abusive father and what appears to be a growing abusive boyfriend who she doesn't really like, but feels stuck with. Ella's growth in this story is incredible. We see Chelsea overcome a lot and go through the most extreme changes in her entire life, but with Ella it felt like a very different victory in seeing her go from being rather indecisive and somewhat passive in her life to realizing that she does have her own strength–and this is very similar to Chelsea's growth, but something about her being a teenager and coming into her own was very powerful to me.

Lastly is Patricia, who starts out as a horribly prickly woman that's hard to be around and gradually–and out of necessity–learns more about herself and her actions, as well as how to be someone else and cope with the realities of the world around her and her family. I think Patricia's growth was somehow some of the most shocking and sudden in some ways, and I really enjoyed getting to slowly uncover her many deeply complex and buried layers that explained how and why she became the person that she is at the start of the story.

I think one of the things that struck me the most with these characters and their journeys is how well Dawson conveyed the 'mind in crisis' mindset, where you end up doing things you never would have expected to make sure you can survive and/or protect loved ones. This is truly a horrific time, and I think Dawson conveyed that terror in an incredibly raw and chilling way–I felt very emotionally moved by this book, whether anger, sadness, fear, etc. at many different points. Every page sometimes felt tough to read, but I also genuinely couldn't look away and lost track of time while reading. I sometimes made myself stop reading because I knew my mind needed a break, and that to me is a sure sign of some crazy good writing when it makes me feel like that in a good way that makes me really think. I really appreciated how Dawson incorporated a post-Covid world dealing with this new virus and how everything from the COVID era also effected this new era, as well as how the traumas only compounded upon one another.

Sometimes you see a plague premise like we have in The Violence and think it might just a be a gory bloodbath of chaos with little real story behind, and although there is definitely an abundance of gore, there is so much meaning in this story that it really felt like a huge gut punch in every sense of the word. This was honestly just so, so good. It was emotional, heartbreaking, unflinchingly honest, and unbelievably relevant. I fell so hard for each of the three main characters we follow and found myself on the edge of my seat rooting for them throughout this entire story.

This was one of those books where I genuinely struggled to put it down and would lose track of time while reading, and that doesn't happen very often these days! Incredible plot and storytelling also fill this book, and I really loved how Dawson incorporated a post-Covid world with a new virus and how everything affected everything, and how the traumas only compound. Easily one of my favorite books I've read this year. Overall, it's an unsurprising five stars from me!

What a crazy wild twisted book this was. There honestly was never a dull moment and I found myself having to put the book down on more than one occasion because my heart was racing and my neck and shoulders were so tense. I guess that’s when you know there is some good writing going on, being able to produce that kind of reaction in your reader.

I won’t say more, I don’t want to spoil it in any way. I will just say read this one if you love thrillers, and ones that stay with you long after you’ve read the last page. This is one I’m finding it hard to let go and I love that

In the year 2025, Chelsea Martin lives in Florida with her daughters Ella and Brooklyn, and her husband David. Though they were high school sweethearts, David is a narcistic abuser, controlling every aspect of Chelsea’s life from her bank account to her leisure time. Chelsea has all but given up hope, until an unexplainable illness begins to emerge in Florida. While COVID is in the past, the new pandemic is The Violence, a mosquito-borne illness causing people to commit random acts of violence without warning. And its spreading. While The Violence is terrifying to some, it may be Chelsea’s last attempt to escape her abuser once and for all. The novel imagines three generations of women and trauma, with wry wit and compassion (the author is a domestic abuse survivor herself). While the comedy in the book borders on Southern satire like Grady Hendrix’s Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, readers be warned: there are very realistic depictions of domestic and animal abuse. If you’re able to give it a try, The Violence will not disappoint, kicking off a new wave of pandemic literature at its best.

I went into this book with an idea of what it was about and it totally went a direction that I was not expecting, and that was a great thing. This author really makes you care about the characters and their situations. It was a great look into how terrifying domestic abuse is. This book follows the POV of a grandmother, her daughter, and granddaughter as they navigate a post-Covid world and their relationships. In the center, there are so many takeaways from this novel. My only complaint would be that the ending felt too quick. I would recommend this to anyone, but please look into trigger warnings before doing so!

I liked this book a lot more than I thought I would. It was a really interesting concept and while there was some gory violence in the book, it wasn't the focus. The story was character driven and well written. Chelsea, Patricia and Ella were all believable in their actions and evolved throughout the book. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC.

I was hesitant to start this book because of the 512 pages and wasn’t at all sure I was going to like reading it. It ended up that once started I could not stop. I just had to know how it was going to end.
We are seeing three generations of woman dealing with domestic violence in their own way. We notice some changes due to the time frame but on the whole not much has changed. Women are still been abused (physical and mentally) and the police in general doesn’t take it very serious.
We also notice that the abuse often is carried from one generation to the next as something to be considered as normal.
Add to this a virus that when effected gets a person to kill an animal or the nearest human in the most violent way and have no recollection of what happened afterward. Makes you think twice about current news articles about random shootings and woman getting pushed under an arriving train both in Brussels and New York. Both women were unknown to their assailant. So with this going on isn’t hard to believe when people are picked up with the virus to be kept in some kind of prison that somebody might be tempted to have their abuser be arrested as having the virus.
Lots of people do not like to read about this kind of violence but to me it important that we keep aware of the fact of its existence and be ready to assist in a helpful manner when needed by either providing a place to stay or as simple as giving a phone number or transportation to a shelter. Back in the seventies I knew a woman that ended up going to prison for stabbing her husband, no attention was given to the fact that she was defending herself and for ones wasn’t willing to let herself been beaten. I wasn’t close to the person and don’t know what happened later in her live but it left a lasting impression that if I ever found somebody in need like that I would try help in whatever way I could.
A lot of woman that have survived domestic abuse will recognize themselves in Chelsea

Chelsea Martin is an abused wife, walking on eggshells and only vaguely aware of the news stories, which started when a woman used a bottle of salad dressing to beat another shopper to death in a grocery store. Other brutal murders quickly follow.

The Violence is absolutely chilling. After the Covid pandemic, another highly infectious virus appears, transmitted by mosquitos and causing its victims to lash out in a mindless rage, unaware of their own actions and not stopping until whatever bystander their rage was directed towards is dead. The book doesn't focus too much on how the virus work, focusing on Chelsea's family and their struggle to survive. The book contains some brutal, heartbreaking scenes. It's longer than most of the books I've been reading lately, but by the end I still wasn't quite ready to say goodbye to the characters.

The Violence is one of those books that you start reading and end up staying up to the wee hours of the morning finishing. It was absolutely terrifying at times, but one of those books that you literally can’t put down. I could feel bile rising in my throat while I was reading this, but yet I was so captivated that I kept on reading. Hands down this is going to one of my favorite books of 2022.

The Violence follows one family, a grandmother, mother, and the mother’s two children during a pandemic that has happened after the Covid pandemic. Mosquitos have infected people and if you are infected you go into a violent rage and kill the person closest to you. When it’s over you have no idea what happened, only that you’re usually covered in someone else’s blood. I think it was such a fascinating concept to read about and very disturbing as well. The author sure knows how to write very descriptive gruesome scenes.

What I absolutely loved about this book was the main storyline. Going into this I thought it was about some pandemic filled with violence, but the main plot is so powerful. We see three generations of women realizing they’re much more than the men around them say they’re worth. While no one wants the Violence, Chelsea, the mother, thinks it is her perfect escape from her controlling, abusive, POS husband. It was so heartbreaking reading what was going on in her life. I wanted to put my hands into the pages of this book and choke her nasty husband. It was a thought provoking book that will stay with me for such a long time. The journey that this family went on, all alone but coming together in the end was beautiful.
Also, the author’s note in the beginning really made this book so much more powerful. I will definitely be reading whatever the author writes next.

TW: domestic abuse, gaslighting, animal death, animal abuse.

The Violence kept me enthralled from beginning to end. Told from three points of view we see how the pandemic effects Chelsea, her mother and her daughter. Each taken advantage of and then using the circumstances to their advantage.
There are themes of abuse throughout the story but I was not put off by them. First, because we are told to expect it going into the story and secondly, because it is integral to the storyline and not merely for shock value.

**Many thanks to NetGalley, Del Rey, and Delilah Dawson for a gifted copy of this book!**

Once in a while, I grab a book SOLELY based on its cover, without reading much of a blurb.

Unfortunately, when I have an experience like I did with this book...I remember exactly WHY this can be such a terrible idea.

In a post-COVID world, there is a new deadly threat: The Violence. What is it? A disease, spread by mosquito, that takes the infected from 0-60 and leaves them in a blackout-type state where they demolish whatever or whoever stands in their way. Chelsea Martin, mother to teenage daughter Ella and 5 year old Brooklyn, has been desperate to keep life moving forward safely for her family, as her husband David is a chronic abuser who has left her feeling like she has little left to call her own. She would do anything to break free and end the reign of terror in her home, and her mother Patricia knows this, but is too entrenched in her own social climb to care. As The Violence becomes more prevalent across the nation, an idea strikes Chelsea and sets forth a chain of events set to change life for these women forever. But when their swift removal from reality as they know it leaves all of our protagonists adrift, can they avoid The Violence...and escape from David, once and for all?

I struggled to get through this one for almost two weeks, and here are some of the reasons why it took me SO long to finish:

*The Violence is essentially one giant Trigger Warning. Dawson warns you of this from the start, which is much appreciated, because this book truly runs the gamut from physical abuse to animal abuse to sexual abuse. If there's one thing Dawson does well, it's making the icky parts very icky. She did write this from a place of healing from personal trauma, which is incredibly admirable, but the animal abuse portions are INCREDIBLY graphic, and while that sort of thing isn't normally enough to bother me, in this case I felt actually sick to my stomach.

*COVID Fatigue. Honestly, I did a word count on this when I finished and was sure it was more, but the word COVID appears in this book 35 times. That might not sound like a lot, but The Violence was ALWAYS mentioned in reference to the 'previous' pandemic. This might work reading this years from now, but right now it felt ridiculous to have to be 'reminded' of things people did during COVID while we are...still doing them. I think a couple references here and there would have been fine, but this 500 page tome could have easily been cut down if some of this talk was eliminated.

*Character building. I wanted to like these characters...I really did. I certainly felt sympathetic towards Chelsea at the onset, but as the book went on, all of the characters introduced seemed to fall into stereotypes that felt unrealistic. Youngest daughter Brooklyn's dialogue in particular just felt very off to be.

*The Violence couldn't decide what to be. I always struggle when a book claims to be one genre and reads like another, and that was certainly the case here. I picked up this book looking for horror, and found practically none. A few gruesome bits, absolutely, but no true horror. This was sort of a bizarre family drama in an dystopian-type world, and the happy-go-lucky ending felt incredibly out of place to me.

After finally reaching the end of this journey, I have now capped ANY reading of books related to pandemics, COVID, and the like. In this case, real life has proven to be scary enough. While this book might strike an emotional or pulse-pounding chord with other readers, 496 pages later I am thoroughly relieved to be able to leave THIS particular pandemic firmly in the past.

This is not an easy book to read. Honestly, it should come wrapped in multiple layers of trigger warnings, and an author’s note states the issues this novel deals with (physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and includes animal death and graphic violence) before the story begins. Sadly, some of it is based on the author’s personal experiences.

Three generations of women – Patricia, her daughter Chelsea, and Chelsea’s daughter Ella are all victims of abuse in one form or another. Leaving a previous abusive relationship, Patricia is now in a loveless marriage of convenience to a wealthy man. Chelsea uses makeup to hide bruises and walks a daily tightrope around her husband, afraid of what might happen when he returns from work if something isn’t perfect in their home or he’s had a bad day. Ella takes her five-year-old sister and hides from him – he’s starting to take his rage out on her, and he could turn on her sister at any time. And then The Violence begins and people and pets are killed in brutal, violent ways. Soon after, due to various circumstances, the women become separated and are unable to contact each other. As a pet lover, I had to skim several pages in this book – I couldn’t bring myself to read them – but the scenes aren’t for shock value. They convey the atrocities of the plague and what these characters experience.

Maybe you’re wondering why I read this book. I wanted these women to escape, live their best lives (even Patricia, who’s not very likeable at first), and watch their abusers get what they deserved. I felt like I needed to see them through this plague and know they’d be okay. That should tell you something about the outstanding character development. Speaking of Patricia, for me, she had a tremendous character arc and was transformed by the end.

Something I found difficult to buy into was a career decision Chelsea makes – it seemed a little too cheesy and far-fetched, although it works out for her. I came close to calling it quits at that point, but I’m so glad I finished.

The action starts immediately and once I began, I couldn’t put it down. At over five hundred pages, I read it in two days. Clearly this book isn’t for everyone, but if you decide to take the plunge you’ll find a powerful story about family and survival.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Great read. Interesting and could not put it down. Story focuses on the trauma of domestic violence told through three generations of women, Nana, the grandmother, Chelsea, the mother and Ella, the 17 year old child. And then it gets crazy as mom joins a wrestling circuit.

This book reminds us of all the inconveniences of COVID, while showing us how much worse it could have been. The Violence infects people without showing symptoms until they become zombie-like and quietly stomp, beat, and rip another to death. It is gruesome but does not focus on the killing. It is an intricate story about how relationships are affects by this horrible pandemic.

The story pulls you in and is so intense that you simply cannot put it down. The reader wants to know what happens. While some of the events may seem fantastical, if one takes the time to think about them, the reader will find that they are not so far-fetched after our recent catastrophe with Covid. The writing is good, giving just enough information to allow the reader to ponder thoughts, feels and actions of the characters. The characters, themselves, are believable and relatable. It is an easy read as to the flow but a difficult read as to subject matter. However, it is highly recommended.


I received an ARC from Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine/Del Ray through NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion or rating of this book. I am voluntarily submitting this review and am under no obligation to do so.

Thank you Netgalley for this Arc!

Omygosh... this book freaked me out. Centering around a disease called The Violence that basically will create a sudden rage in a person and this rage is taken out on anyone unlucky enough to be around them.

This book does have a theme besides violence. It shows the reader the lengths someone will go to protect themselves and their loved ones. This survival instinct is possibly what is stronger than The Violence itself. And, even when things look dire, there is that spark of hope when someone carries on against all odds.

This was a tough read for me. Lot's of trigger warnings: Physical and sexual assault and, of course, violence. Although I had a hard time getting through parts of it, I would recommend this to anyone who can handle the emotional impact of this book along with an overt amount of violence.

Pub. Day is the 1st of February!

Wow! This book kept me at the edge of my seat. How the author combined two extremely different genres made this story exciting and enjoyable. Just the right amount of everything. Totally caught off guard by this book. Thank you for this great ARC.

This book was interesting - a bit strange but still interesting. It’s based on the author’s experience with domestic violence & she does a great job of putting the reader in each character’s shoes/experiences. The story was not necessarily what I expected but it was good.

I would like to thank NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

Well I sure devoured The Violence. If you’re okay with reading pandemic type books while still in the middle of a pandemic, then pick this one up!

In The Violence, several years after COVID finally ends, a new pandemic sweeps the world. This one is caused by mosquitoes and anyone who catches the disease is prone to extreme violence which usually results in the death of whoever happens to be near. The person blacks out and has no recollection of what they’ve done.

The story is told from the POVs of 3 generations of women from one family and how this new pandemic affects each of them.

From the author “The Violence deals with themes of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and includes animal death and graphic violence.”

It was definitely crazy and very violent at times. But the story was really good and made it all worth reading.

*Thank you so much to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey and NetGalley for the advance copy!*

THE VIOLENCE by DELIAH S. DAWSON

This was a highly anticipated 2022 read for me, it started out strong at a 5 star read for me, but about 50% in and that all changed. I was so disappointed with the last half of the book, and at about 70% I considered DNF but continued on.

This is a not a thriller, but more so a domestic suspense read. This book follows a family post COVID when a new pandemic emerges called THE VIOLENCE. Those infected with The Violence have spurts of uncontrolled rage, killing anything in their path, and usually having no memory of doing so or the moment where The Violence took over.

We follow a family of four-the mother Chelsea is an abused (physically and emotionally) housewife and mother to two girls. Her daughter, Ella, witnesses the beating and abuse. She does her best to avoid her father’s rage, and help protect her little sister, Brooklyn, from the abuse and from witnessing it.

After a night of brutally being beat by her husband, Chelsea thinks she has found the key to getting out of her awful marriage. She calls a hotline number used to report those with The Violence. Rachel lies and tells them that her husband has The Violence, when really he does not and is just an abuser. The police will take away those with The Violence. Her husband is friends with some police, and therefore his being put away is only temporary. Rachel and her daughters make a run for it. Rachel leaves her daughters with her overly self-absorbed mother, Patricia, and Rachel ends up having no other choice than to make a run for it on her own.

The reader is led on an adventure of cat and mouse, while learning to overcome ones fears and learning to cope under extreme circumstances.

Let me just say that this book was long, too long and drawn out, I feel like a lot could have been cut out as a lot of it was repetitive. There are a lot of mentions of physical and emotional abuse. This story has three different POV- Chelsea’s, Patricia’s, and Ella’s, so there is a bit of bouncing around. I did enjoy all of the characters, each of their POV’S and how they overcame their hardships and grew from it.
One thing that I really disliked and I feel like could have been left out entirely was the author’s constant banter of political call outs. This was unnecessary and the author over did this as there were constant remarks throughout the book. I hate books that whine and gripe about a certain political party, and this one over did it!

This book is not scary, but pretty disturbing as the author does do a good job at making her writing and the scenes very descriptive, which could be disturbing for some readers. The woman are at first very submissive, bowing down to the men in their life and letting them walk all over them. I don’t like how all the men in the story are portrayed as mean, abusive, scary men, and all the women are innocent and submissive and let the men walk all over them. I do get the feeling that the author incorporated a lot of her own real life experiences into the story and her writing, and that I can appreciate.

Overall, I am glad that I read this one, but it did not live up to all the hype for me. I do think that a lot of readers will love this one, but unfortunately I am not one of them.

Chelsea is struggling in an abusive relationship that her family overlooks continually and she doesn't have anyone to go to for help. As she battles this issue in her life the world is struck by a virus called violence that causes people to burst into rage and violence if they are prone to it. Her situation is now dire and she needs to find a way out.

The Violence is such a page turner! This book was more enjoyable than I anticipated and I liked the pandemic storyline. The novel follows three generations of women including a narcissistic mother, spousal abuse, wrestling.and a mysterious disease. There is alot going on in this book but its very well written. I enjoyed seeing the relationships between the women repair and develop. Thank you so much to NetGalley for allowing me a read an ARC copy of this book.