Thank You for this book Ms. Dawson. I saw small bits of myself in it and will never ever mansplain anything to anyone again.

When I started The Violence, I did not know what to expect. I am familiar with the author, Delilah Dawson/Lila Bowen, and have read several other works. I enjoyed everything I read, so it is no surprise that I liked this book, but it is so very different from what I expected. So, what did I expect? Given the state of the world these days, I expected something more along the line of The Stand or the more recent stories like Survivor Song or The Wanderers. There is a virus, but unlike the aforementioned novels, the entire world hasn’t gone to entirely crazy, spiraling into a post-apocalyptic nightmare. In fact, like we humans are prone to do, we have learned to adapt and, sometimes, use it to our advantage. The book is brilliant—expertly crafted. The characters—mostly women—are rich and multi-layered like the story itself. There are certainly horrific scenes in this book, but Dawson does not linger too long on the violence or the aftermath. At heart, this is a human story, and it has a lot of heart. It is a story of survival and redemption. It should be on everyone’s reading list. The Violence in the form of this virus proved to be a blessing and a curse. This book is powerful on so many levels. I am thankful to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for providing me with a digital copy. As I read it, I often had to stop, my thoughts turning to the pain relived by so many of the abused in this world. I hope that the author and all those who have lived through abuse—physical and/or mental—can escape and heal. Perhaps this book will be a start.

Patricia, Chelsea, Ella and Brooklyn are family, very dysfunctional but still family. Patricia (formerly Patty) is the Matriarch. She was born into a middle class family, got pregnant at 17 and was thrown out. She learned to survive, and even thrive, being cold, distant and totally self involved. Her most recent husband is a philandering Judge who is very rich. He has just informed her that he is divorcing her and reclaiming everything she has of value, including her home. Chelsea is her daughter. She married young and Ella and Brooklyn are her daughters. She has allowed herself to remain in an abusive marriage because she had little or no feelings of self worth and did not know what else to do. Ella, at 17, is a senior in high school and has a boyfriend who is abusing her. It is set slightly in the future. Covid is no longer the danger it has been, but a new virus called The Violence has taken its place. This novel tells the tale of each one’s reaction to it and survival. I will not go any further into the plot because of spoilers but will tell any potential reader it is remarkably unusual and worth the read. Thanks to Net Galley and Random House for an ARC for an honest review.