MILK-BLOOD by Mark Matthews

By Shawn

Lilly is ten years old, born with a heart defect, and already addicted to heroin.  Her mother is gone from her life, and there are rumors that she was killed by her father and buried near the abandoned house across the street.  The house intrigues her, she can't stay away, and the monstrous homeless man who lives there has been trying to get Lilly to come inside.

For her mother is there, buried in the back, and this homeless man is Lilly's true father, and both want their daughter back. (taken from Amazon description)



I absolutely hated this book.  Until I read it.  Sounds a bit confusing, right?  Let me explain.

In the beginning, most of the chapters are begin with a note from the author.  I don't like the author.  He's a boring know-it-all and I wanted to slam him through a window.  So I stopped reading the author's notes and continued with the book.  Then I finished the book.  Um...where's the rest???  The story just sort of...stops.  No neat little bows.  No ribbons. Not even used up scotch tape to bind it together.

Then, the little light bulb above my head went off.  I went back and reread the story, including the author's notes.  The real author, Mark Matthews,is not a boring know-it-all. He's actually quite entertaining and likable.  The author is a character!  *Face palm*  Ok so I went back and read it again, this time taking the author as a character all alone.  I still didn't like him, but by the time I finished the entire story (including author's notes!)  I realized that this book is pure genius.  Not only is the author a character, but probably the most integral one in the story.  I won't tell you anymore, because I can't without giving you spoilers.

Though there are some graphic scenes in this book, it's mostly just sad.  Fascinating, but sad.  Life is pretty rough for these characters and they all tend to cope with it in different ways.  This is not a 'pretty' book.  It's dank and dirty.  But oh so much fun!

When you pick this up, don't forget to read the author's notes and integrate them as if he were part of the story!  This really makes all the difference.  If you do, you're in for the ride of a lifetime :)  As much as I hated this book the first time around, I loved it the second time.