Review: The Enchanted

The Enchanted

by Rene Denfeld

Harper Collins, 2014

Adult Horror

8 cups of tea out of 11

Summary: There’s a prison, an older type. One of the inmates is a narrator. We also get the third person perspective of a woman who investigates those who are on death row. Sometimes they get out of the death penalty. Sometimes they are freed from prison completely. We also get the perspectives of the warden, a corrupt guard, and a couple others. This is a character driven story.

Likes: The prose was amazing. It could be subtle and brutal depending on the circumstances. It was art. The different elements of the narrative also worked well together. We get a really solid sense of the characters involved.

Dislikes: There was harsh content. And a lot of it is the reality in prison. There were touches of happier moments but they were deliberately few. The ending made it all worth it to me but there are some harsher books on my TBR that are now lower on my reading priority list.

Overall this did get harder and harder to read because this book is rough on the psyche. I had to take breaks and watch Disney movies before I went to bed. But I also wanted to move forward with it. I wanted to see what happened. The payoff in the end was transcendent. But I don’t really know who I would recommend this to. Possibly if you are into character driven horror, more on the realistic side with some bizarre elements.

Content

Violence – High: child abuse, rape, assault, murder

Language – Medium-High, swearing is regularly occurring but not constantly

Drug use – Medium, heroin and alcohol