Book Review: Monster Love
Posted by RSVP on
A good friend of mine recently cancelled our dinner date - the reason being that she was reading a book that she simply couldn't put down. As an avid book work myself I was intrigued and bought Carol Toploski's Monster Love the very next day. I too found myself quickly absorbed and somewhat obsessed with this incredible read. This book absorbs you fully and I read it with a mixture of emotions, horror and fascination. Not for the faint of heart, this book pulls no punches.Brendan and Sherilyn Gutteridge are a young couple in love. As soul mates, nothing can come between them. In fact, the Gutteridges are so wrapped up in each other that their neighbours and friends feel they barely know them. Their families and colleagues see only the perfect couple, with the perfect car parked in the drive by the perfect home and the ever so pristine appearance of Sherilyn.
And then a baby is born - contaminating this perfect life in which there is only room for two. But they find the ideal solution. What may be one couple's happy ending is everyone else's indescribable nightmare... Told through the Gutteridges' voices, their families, neighbours, and those who come across them in the horrific aftermath, this perverse love story charges to the heart of evil - the evil that could be anyone's next door neighbour.
Be warned, this is not for the faint of heart and is at times unsettling but nevertheless a fascinating and very well written story. A definite page turner.
Reviewed by Catriona Pollock