Lilith is hands down one of my favorite novels of 2024. A masterly crafted work of fiction that brilliantly captures the tragic, shocking, devastating & disgusting realities of brutality & corruption, all realities of our broken world today, so viscerally that it could be categorized as non-fiction.

It is a powerful, impactful & intense reading experience that will stick with you long after you finish reading it. It left me heartbroken, agitated, anxious, fearful, apprehensive, as well as panic & horror stricken. I don’t think I have ever felt so many different emotions from one novel.

Favorite Quote: “Has it always existed, this vulgar compulsion for destruction, germinating, populating and repopulating, until now it is an insidious, noxious weed, its roots too deep and fixed and stubborn to rip out from the hardened earth of so called humanity, its thorn stems too tough for the axe, its fruit poisoned?”

My sincere gratitude to NetGalley, Blackstone Publishing & Eric Rickstad for an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

Lilith by Eric Rickstad
⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

This was a powerful and eye-opening read. The words leaped off the page and got you right in the heart. I felt the mother's pain. And her need for retribution. I felt it. I broke too.
However, I didn't expect this book to feature so much politics and one-sided thinking. I came out a bit disappointed in the overall political vibe of this book. Look. I hear about the politics in our world enough without having to read it in a book I was previously so eager to start. That in itself kind of ruined this book for me. Personally, I'd have appreciated this book more if it stayed within the parameters of giving mothers stories. However, I'm giving it the stars for the phenomenal writing throughout.

Elizabeth Ross, single mother and school teacher, has had enough.
Her son Lydan has been seriously wounded in a school shooting and she herself was shot.
Men are on television advocating for more guns. Gun sales are increasing.
Elizabeth, under the guise of Lilith, takes matters into her own hands.

I read Lilith with white knuckles, with an elevated heart rate. It's been quite a while since I was so consumed by words on a page. This was an engrossing read and I took small breaks while reading this because I felt the anxiety, fear, and stress Elizabeth was under.

I am sure to recommend frequently Lilith frequently.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Lilith is a gritty crime novel taking place in the aftermath of a school shooting. Elisabeth is a single mother and a kindergarten teacher. One morning her son Lydan tells her he has an icky feeling and he doesn't want to go, but they go anyway. He is injured in a shooting and Elisabeth is lauded as a hero after she saves her class and goes back for Lydan. However, this episode of violence uncovers an anger inside of Elisabeth at all of the men who allow these events to happen, which leads her to commit an act of violence in return. There is a huge amount of violence in this book, which might not be to every readers' taste. At times the writing could also be a bit preachy in a way that didn't feel totally realistic. Despite that, the story was very compelling and the chapters were short and snappy, building anxiety as the story progressed. Would recommend for fans of Cormac McCarthy or Paul Lynch.

Lilith is a compulsively readable novel about a mother who has been pushed to the edge because of a mass shooting at the school she teaches in. The narrator, Elisabeth, is a thirty something single mother of Lydan, a seven year old boy. Early on in the novel, a shooter targets their elementary school, leaving many children dead, injured, and/or traumatized. Lydan is grievously injured, but survives due to his mother's bravery.

Understandably, Elisabeth, becomes enraged by what happened at her school and continues to happen every week in the United States. She keeps seeing a gun enthusiast, Clay Akers, on the news, proudly proclaiming that the answer to gun violence is more guns. The writing style was a bit clunky and old fashioned for my tastes, but I was so enthralled in what might happen. Elisabeth is determined to quiet the voices of narcissistic, violent, foolish men like Akers.

This book is very thought-provoking and Elisabeth ponders what we're doing and why things have become so bad in the US. We express our opinions online, but to what end? Does anything actually change? How can we protect our children when mass shootings are so prevalent? Are school administrators helping or hurting when it comes to violence? Children are traumatized by drills and safety protocols may put children in the crossfire. Overall, a fascinating read about violence and how hard we can be pushed by it.

Thank you Blacstone Publishing and NetGalley for providing this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

Lilith
by Eric Rickstad
March 19, 2024
Blackstone
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
From the internationally bestselling author of I Am Not Who You Think I Am—a New York Times Thriller of the Year—comes Lilith, an incendiary powerhouse of a novel that strikes straight at the wounded heart of America.

Mother. Hero. Villain. Killer.
Powerful and a book you will remember.
4 stars

I feel like I was punched in the gut with humanity. What a powerful and feminist read! Humanity is slowly slipping and this book brought so many new thoughts to life.

After her son is irreparably harmed in a school shooting, one mother decides she’s not going to standby and let men in power continue to do nothing. Elisabeth becomes a vigilante, known by the name Lilith, after Adam‘s first wife in the Bible, the woman who refused to let her husband control her. Elisabeth becomes a vigilante of sorts, admired by many and despised by others after she broadcasts her own act of retaliatory violence online, and she becomes a target of the FBI. Trying to keep her identity a secret, even as she starts to see frightening changes in her own son’s behavior, Elisabeth find yourself caught in the world where violence seems to be the only answer. A powerful statement about how society views women and firearms in this country. Not to be missed.