I needed a book to break a reading funk, and was immediately drawn into The Violence. Completely believable and impressive in a post-COVID world, I appreciated the different stories, choices, and character development. I will definitely be looking for more of Ms. Dawson's books.

I received this book to read via NetGalley.

Definitely something different but in an amazing way! The characters are fully developed and easily relatable. Chelsea and Ella's journeys were ones that are truly engaging when reading this story. Although, the scientific part of this story was vague; however I can understand why. The in and out virus is complicated. The ending was satisfying and yet not when it came to David. It was a great read.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for letting me read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Is it too soon to say that The Violence by Delilah S. Dawson is going to be one of my favorite 2022 reads? Nah, didn't think so.

As per my aforementioned statement, I devoured The Violence in two sittings and, readers, this book is not short. It follows three generations of women within the same family, all victims of abuse, and how they navigate the strange illness sweeping the world (called The Violence) five years after the end of Covid. This is where I thank the publisher and author for the author's note at the beginning of the book with the content warnings. This allowed me, a survivor, to reframe my mind to jump in and enjoy this book to its fullest. I rooted for each of the characters, cursed their abusive partners, and hate-read the chapters where Patricia was at her narcissistic height. But as each of these women grew, discovered their agency (and their hearts) kept me invested and turning pages. So yeah, this book is hard to read at times, will push and pull at your emotions, but for me it was cathartic and empowering. And Chelsea's storyline is SO MUCH FUN and not at all what I expected. No spoilers, but I can definitely say I would tune in, fresh popcorn in hand.

Quick mention that I loved the queer side character inclusion, especially a teacher who uses Mx. I use Mx. and it is so wonderful to see used casually in fiction. Thank you!

And because I am who I am, when I shared this book on my IG, I made a fancy blurb that no one asked for:

"Harrowing and thrilling, Dawson has delivered an undeniably cathartic pandemic story with one major consequence: me, unable to put the damn book down."

Thank you for approving me for the eARC! You bet I'll be in touch for a physical copy.

Dawson REALLY understands how to write something incredibly suspenseful - I didn't want to put this down as I was HOOKED. I wasn't expecting this book to be a pandemic novel, and I've typically not enjoyed any content I've consumed that mentions covid-19, but this really works -- primarily because it explores domestic abuse and the pandemic is used as a tool here, rather than the singular large event of the text.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle by Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine and #NetGalley for my honest opinion.

Didn’t want to put this one down. I hated finishing it too. Thrilling, suspenseful story with twists and turns.

Excellent story! Totally engrossing!. Looking forward to reading more by this author! Could not put this down!

Kudos to the author addressing such a strong and sensitive subject of abuse. The author’s note at the beginning gives us insight of her warning that there will be much of this topic mentioned and that she lived through such an awful ordeal herself. So big trigger warning that this book is heavily covered in talk of being abused in many ways from spouse to children. That being said I felt it lacked a bit more of a plot point being so focused on this topic. I felt it was being drilled into my head of the many scenarios that can happen in abuse and while I know that is a big part of the book I was missing the mystery thriller part of it all. The Violence which is to be a spin off of COVID with a big aggressive horror factor just felt lackluster. It also was overly lengthy and could have been told in much less wording. Unfortunately this book just wasn’t for me.

Thank you to Random House and netgalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Wow! The Violence felt so real. Delilah Dawson has written a book so rich in detail and description, I could picture it happening. If we thought Covid was bad, The Violence makes it look like a cold. It's 2025. A new pandemic has arrived. One that turns people into killers. The President voted in 2024 election has served during the last pandemic. He is useless again. Only the rich can afford the vaccine. We see how Chelsea, her daughter Ella, and mother Patricia cope and try to survive. All of them have suffered from abuse. None of the abusers feel they have done anything wrong. Thank you, NetGalley for allowing me to read this amazing story.

I loved this! It was so angry and fierce that it almost took my breath away. It's apparent that Dawson is writing from personal experience, which makes this even more harrowing. Ella was my favorite of the main female characters, but Patricia was the most interesting to read about. Is it weird that the most depressing thing about this book is that Donald Trump is still President? I've already recommended this to a coworker at the library and will definitely recommend it to patrons once I have it in hand.

This book is amazing ! I would highly recommend this book to everyone. I really enjoyed it and the cover is beautiful. Thank you so much Delilah S. Dawson and your publishers for recommending this book to me.

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

I loved this one. Very fast paced, had me turning pages as I tore through it – I had to see how it would end. The characters were well rounded and the narrative felt believable. Wild ride.. Solid five. Definitely my favorite of all her books so far

𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐣𝐨𝐛, 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞, 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞: 𝐁𝐞 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐦, 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞'𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬. 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐚 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐬 𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝.

This should not have been an easy read. With one of the darkest subject matters I've tackled lately AND coming in and just under 500 pages, I finished this book in under 24 hours.

THE VIOLENCE is completely original, even with some nods to early Koontz and King, as it is a different kind of apocalyptic story. Fresh on the heels of Covid, another pandemic is sweeping parts of the nation, especially in warmer climates, and it's been dubbed The Violence. The afflicted will randomly zone out and violently attack and kill whoever is in close proximity.

The story centers around three generations of women: Chelsea, her mother Patricia, and Chelsea's two daughters, teenage Ella and five-year-old Brooklyn. Chelsea is living in hell with her abusive husband, and be forewarned: the abuse is graphic, and her daughters are victims as well; Ella is also the victim of gaslighting and physical abuse from her boyfriend. Her mother Patricia is a narcissistic trophy wife who does nothing to help her daughter from her abuser. One fateful night, Chelsea goads her husband into attacking her so she can call the hotline and report him as infected. Once he's taken away, that buys her some time to pack the girls and leave. The character development is astonishing, and how a writer can take such a dark subject that is truly a commentary of our current social situation and do it in a way that isn't didactic and preachy was refreshing.

One of the best books I've read this year. Be advised there are plenty of trigger warnings, including the graphic death of an animal, and be sure to read the author's notes at the beginning of the book.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this chilling book.

If I tell you that The Violence is a novel about domestic violence, about the effect of abuse on three generations—a mother, her two daughters, and their grandmother—do you picture a domestic drama? What if I tell you The Violence is also a pandemic novel? With Covid-19 still fresh and raw in Americans’ minds, with Trump reelected, a new virus called the Violence causes explosive, murderous rage at whomever is closest to the infected, often resulting in death. Finally, what if I tell you that a new version of professional wrestling plays a prominent role in the novel? What are you picturing now?

Whatever that is, whatever you have in your mind’s eye, The Violence is so much more.

The scenes of abuse are harrowing, even hard to read. There is harm and violence of every kind—physical, verbal, psychological, emotional—and Dawson never allows you to look away, or even to blink. It’s like she’s poking at an open wound. The intimacy of these scenes is extraordinary. The victims of that abuse—Chelsea Martin, her mother Patricia, her teenaged daughter Ella, and her young daughter Brooklyn—may be beaten down, but they are fighters, with hidden reserves of strength and resilience. Dawson puts these characters through the wringer. As The Violence progressed, I often found myself cheering for them, no matter how tense and hopeless the situations they found themselves in.

When it comes to describing the Violence pandemic, Dawson again excels. She’s sharply critical of the pandemic response, both the previous one and the current. After what we’ve all experienced with Covid-19, this new pandemic feels painfully real. The Violence, when it happens, is unnerving, even terrifying. Dawson is unflinching in describing it.

And the professional wrestling? Dawson has a great feel for that world, all the little details that make it seem just right. And that includes the idea that family isn’t just what you’re born into, but any group that takes you in and treats you with love and respect.

Dawson has written something truly special here. As I mentioned earlier, The Violence is often hard to read, but I think it’s also important, even essential. It releases February 1, 2022, but is available for preorder now.

4.5 Stars. This riveting domestic thriller will have you fist-pumping the air as it’s trio of abused women conquer domestic abuse and emerge courageous and full of hope. Despite the heavy backdrop of violence, abuse, and pandemic, I could not put this book down. Seriously, I can’t usually read anything about animal abuse or death, and while those scenes were tough, I had to know what happened to Chelsea, Patricia, and Ella.

Content warning for domestic violence and animal abuse and death. Elements of gore.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine, and Delilah S. Dawson for this free eARC in exchange for my honest review.

First off, trigger warning: If you have been a victim of domestic abuse, physical or mentally, or been a victim of bullying or negative peer pressure — you are warned. In the first third of this book, there are only two characters who are appear to be decent people. Literally everyone else they interact with is abusing them in some sort of way (yes, everyone from family members, friends, spouses, significant others, parents, police officers, teachers, classmates, EVERYONE). This extreme amount of negativity in the first third of the book almost caused me to quit reading on a couple occasions.

That being said, if you can get through all of that —the book is definitely worth reading. Here’s my review:

The Violence follows a family of women (grandmother, mother, and daughter) who are all victims of abuse, in one way or another, as they deal with that abuse and discover their own strength while in the middle of a violent pandemic on the tail end of the covid pandemic.

3 stars. The first third of this book was hard. Every situation, as the author painted the picture for the meat of the story, was abuse and any character that was mentioned turned out to be a horrible human. It was a challenge to get through the constant barrage of a-hole men that only think of women as property and the shallow women that are manipulative and self-serving. With this groundwork laid, however, following the three protagonists as they get themselves out of their abusive situations, discover their self worth and find good people was actually quite good. The author creates a clear and very believable picture of where our society could go with another pandemic and greed/mismanagement at the forefront. The womens’ struggles are real and a person can empathize with them. The three different pathways they take on their respective journeys are also unique and each captivate the readers attention in a unique way. This novel is definitely not for everyone, but I ultimately enjoyed reading it.

Review based on digital Advanced Reader’s Copy from Net Galley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine

Sort of interesting book with domestic violence and emotional abuse at the core, with a strange illness called The Violence that overtakes sufferers and they kill whoever is in their way with no memory of the violence they caused after they leave their fugue state.

Every kind of domestic abuse shows its ugly face here. The book is literally a catalog of these horrors without a strong plot to hold them together. Addressing so many kinds of abuse within one family, while certainly tragic, diluted, for this reader, the horror and tragedy of countless women literally enslaved by abusive men. The story could just as easily been told without The Violence, although it certainly added an ominous background to what the real story is.

I found the characters flat and difficult to relate to. The entire book reeked of formulaic.

I received this book from the publisher and NetGalley.

I could not get through this one. So much violence against women. Very triggering. I tried to skip ahead per other reviews, but, nope. Still more.

I enjoyed this book. The plot was well paced and the characters were well thought out. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

This was a good book, the author told a very believable story that involved abuse, the story did not dwell on the abuse, most of it occurred at the beginning and if you can get by that, you will find a very good story. Chelsea and Dave have been been together since high school, married since college. Chelsea has devoted her life and very being to meet all of Dave's needs, she cooks, cleans, looks after their two girls and is ready every evening when he comes home with their two girls to greet him and say how happy they are that he's home. Until that is a virus begins going around, The Violence. people who get it become exceptionally violent, usually fatally to the person or animal they attack. Chelsea realizes this may be an opportunity to finally get out from under Dave's control and provokes him into hitting her, she calls the police and she says he has the violence and he's taken away (after being tased and handcuffed). Now she has to figure out how to survive, she eventually enlists the help of her mom, who reluctantly takes them into her mansion (her husband is mega rich). Though she turns on her daughter and tells the guard at the gate to not let her in when Chelsea steps out to get some belongings. Chelsea is now on her own, wondering how she'll get by. Chelsea's oldest daughter, Ella, leaves the mansion one night not long after to go back to their house to get some personal belongings, including her car, when she attempts to return, she finds she is also not allowed back in, she's on her own without her mom or younger sister. How these four women (Chelsea, her mom and two daughters) survive is an uplifting story, the author does a very good job of tying all the separate lines into one very good ending, if you're like me you will be riveted. Highly recommend. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Wasn't in the mood to read anymore since I got into a slump but when I opened my kindle this book popped up and I decided I would give it a shot and I'm so glad I did. Started to read and I couldn't put down you can very easily put yourself into the story. Fast pace and easy to read. The women have all the issues and the men are just there for dressing.