I can see that this is well written. I can see that it is telling an important story. It's very atmospheric. These are all good things. It's just that it is so relentlessly violent and unpleasant and I just couldn't cope with it. In particular the descriptions of the violence against the young boy. It was too much detail that got into my brain and I found it too upsetting. I am not the right reader for this level of gritty unpleasantness. I have the desire to bear witness to this kind of suffering but I lack the stomach for it. A fine book which I was not able to cope with.