bookheaven | Something is Killing the Children, Book One

Something is Killing the Children, Book One (Something is Killing the Children, #1-3)

Something is Killing the Children, Book One by James Tynion IV

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This came close to a five star read for me. Imagine Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Supernatural but without the quips, that it is every bit as heartbreaking and hard as monster fighting really would be. Honestly I did miss the interjections of humor because this is unrelentingly dark.

The title says it all. The premise is simple, the monsters are thought-forms being birthed by the fears and imagination of children and they are absolutely deadly. (I sort of wish there had been a less conventional shape given to them in the art). Archer's Peak, small town Wisconsin (honestly seems pretty close to the small towns in WI that I lived in) has a monster problem. More than a half dozen children are dead and the survivor of a multi-boy death scene is James, currently under suspicion of killing his friends.

Erica Slaughter rolls up into town to this. One complaint I do have is Erica looks way too much like Buffy (blond ponytail, same clothing aesthetic). Erica works for the House of Slaughter within the Order of St. George, a monster hunting group that makes the Winchesters' hunters and Buffy's Watchers look like pikers in the douchebag competition. And without much in way of spoilers, that was one of the reasons I didn't go for the fifth star. St George is SO heartless. On one hand I get it. Tommy Lee Jones's speech in Men in Black ran through my head, a person is logical but people are panicky creatures. They're not really so much out to fight the monsters but to contain knowledge of them (I guess the chain smoking man from The X-Files is in charge...)

Erica is basically rogue at this point. She wants to fight the monsters and save the kids, not just contain their secrets. She teams up with James to see if she can get to the root of it all. Her people, however, send Aaron Slaughter (who is the center piece of the prequel comics House of Slaughter) to rein her in and failing that the rest of the group is on their way to Archer's Peak and they have no qualms about killing half the town if they have to.

It's bloody. It's dark. It's exciting. There is a really cool transgressive element to the order that I don't want to give away but you'll never look at children's toys the same way again, also kind of loved their bandanas with the fanged teeth.

This hardcover volume contains the entire first arc and while the 50$ cover price seems high, it's less than buying the three softcovers (to get the same storyline) and the original comics have gone skyhigh. Personally I thought it was worth it. I have the series on my pull list now.

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