September brings you Summer Sons from Lee Mandelo, which is a haunting, slow burn of a novel that explores grief, loss, denial, and a hunt for truth set against an atmospheric backdrop of the humid heat of the south.
Summer Sons takes some of the characteristics you would find in a southern gothic such as flawed characters, the use of horror imagery, ghost stories, and secrets and uses them to create a layered and lingering tale. There are a fair few spooky and eerie moments, which becomes unsettling at times but that’s what can make a book go from good to great because it gets to you.
The book also attempts to show the darker side of academia and privilege, but the story isn’t all set on campus and it tries to straddle both worlds. Andrew struggles to attend college in the beginning as his primary motive in being there is to follow in Eddie’s footsteps and he is going round in circles and hitting deadends.
The pacing creeps slowly at first, but then it soon starts to drip with suspense and tension as both the reader and Andrew delve deeper into what Eddie left behind and try and figure out the people he was spending his time with. It is worth talking about these characters as I found that I started to like them more as the book progressed and where Andrew started to let them in, which felt very natural. Andrew is wary of everyone at first and so is the reader. Andrew is grieving, he’s confused, his head is not the best place to be in, it’s raw and straight-up sad at times. You have Riley as a roommate living with Andrew, wanting to help, asking questions, and encouraging Andrew to continue with Eddie’s research and academic path, then at night, there is Sam, who provides the party, the gasoline, the drugs, and the late night texts.
We need to mention the chemistry between Andrew and Sam, the CHEMISTRY:
“Sam Halse had cocaine and a fast car and apparently a goddamn death wish—inviting scabs on his knuckles, plus a mouth that could peel paint off a wall. The appeal was obvious // Andrew understood where the hook had sunk in because it had pierced straight through the meat of his cheek, too. He wanted to race Halse again, and that was a strange sensation: want. He also wanted to break his knuckles on Halse’s jaw.”
These men will be the death of me, I swear. I wanted to bang their heads together.
Yes, so I was hooked in from reading the blurb, but I found that there is so much more to find in the story that all weaves together. It is a ghost story (maybe both physical and metaphorical), it also becomes a search for the truth, about friendship, self-discovery, unpacking trauma, re-evaluating relationships and looking towards recovery. I found it to be a very memorable, and yes, haunting read and I am already looking forward to re-reading it again with new eyes.
I am not the only one to think this, but I would compare this to The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater (one of my all-time favourite book series) perhaps not in writing style, but definitely because of the vibes and some of the characters. Think of the fast cars, night drives, and the street racing with Ronan Lynch in The Dream Thieves, and of the ghostly presence of Noah Czerny. I would even stretch to say it is similar to Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo in the way that the character of Eddie is similar to Ninth House’s Darlington in that he may be missing physically but is very much present and the reader finds out more about him through the story.
I’d recommend Summer Sons to fans of the southern gothic as well as those new to the genre, and I think readers who like a good mystery would enjoy this too. I’d also recommend it to those who enjoy character focused novels, as well as anyone looking to read more queer literature by queer authors.
Definitely worth mentioning a content warning for adult content including alcohol, drug use, drink driving, profanity, sex, suicide references, plus trigger warnings for death and gore and some homophobic slurs.
Summer Sons is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of September 28th 2021.
Will you be picking up Summer Sons? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
Andrew and Eddie did everything together, best friends bonded more deeply than brothers, until Eddie left Andrew behind to start his graduate program at Vanderbilt. Six months later, only days before Andrew was to join him in Nashville, Eddie dies of an apparent suicide. He leaves Andrew a horrible inheritance: a roommate he doesn’t know, friends he never asked for, and a gruesome phantom with bleeding wrists that mutters of revenge.
As Andrew searches for the truth of Eddie’s death, he uncovers the lies and secrets left behind by the person he trusted most, discovering a family history soaked in blood and death. Whirling between the backstabbing academic world where Eddie spent his days and the circle of hot boys, fast cars, and hard drugs that ruled Eddie’s nights, the walls Andrew has built against the world begin to crumble, letting in the phantom that hungers for him.
