Lou Reilly grew up in a strict, oppressive environment, raised by zealous religious parents who merely wanted to protect him from the sinners of the world. Sheltered to the point of isolation, Lou is unprepared to fend for himself when his parents pass away.
Bullied and tormented at his new place of employment, Lou starts suspecting that his parents were right to shield him from such harsh and hateful people. Just as Lou begins to befriend a colleague who vows to help improve his life, he is put to the ultimate test of faith. All seems hopeless.
But he won’t let the sinners win. He won’t burn in hell as his parents have warned.
Lou will make things right….
Warning: For Mature Readers (18+) Only
The Season of Giving wasn’t allhorrific holiday fun – it kind of bummed me out a little bit.
I think Lou’s mom used to get together and go to lunch with Carrie White‘s mom, where they would swap “Parenting Tips for the Mentally Christian” over their watered down tea and bad fish entrees.
All alone, Lou Reilly grew up the best that he could. He finally made a real friend, but when a little miscommunication / misunderstanding arose between them – he obsessed over it until he convinced himself that his “friend” was actually an enemy out to destroy him, and send him to Hell in a hand-basket.
I definitely had some emotional moments while reading this – mostly anger that came with me screaming at the characters and waking my husband up. There were some ‘Oh, poor Lou’ moments, too. One final ‘hugely cringe-worthy’ scene leads up to our (mostly) “YAY!” ending – unless you overthink it and let your mind wander past the final page of the story. If you do that, you may end up like me when Lou finally ‘make things right’ – I haven’t decided if I want to cheer for Lou, the carnage, and the sweet, wonderful revenge or if I want to just put my head down and sob.
If you’re not in the mood for something quite so… deep right now, you can start by reading Christmas Shoppingfirst – a genuine Horrific Holiday FUN book 🙂
Psychology Today states that psychopaths are born, not made.
When the line between fantasy and reality is crossed, there is no turning back to the way things used to be.
Since turning the Hood’s abandoned fall out shelter into his private sex dungeon, and kidnapping Samantha King & Megan Reed, Jimmy Hawthorne is learning this lesson firsthand. It doesn’t take long before real life intrudes, and his fantasy of having his very own sex slaves reminds him of the rabbit he didn’t like taking care of as a kid.
Renacting his favorite scenes from bondage sites and fetish videos only get him so far. As the thrill and excitement wane, he considers just sealing up the shelter and walking away. But, he knows that he would still be drawn to them. Even in death, the call will always be stronger than his will.
Real life contains the regular intrusions as well. a new girlfriend, [Tina], the ass-hat classmates [Brett, Matt, and Paulie], who try to play the ‘bully’ role, and a younger brother, [Alan], who’s perception is just short of Hercule Poirot’s. The local police presence is growing, and his school prom is just around the corner.
All these things combined make for one kick ass and intense story.
This should go without saying, but, JIMMY is an 18+ story. Since I’ve reviewed a couple YA books lately, I figure it can’t hurt to throw that in.
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