Two Halves, One Brian

Book Stats

• Publication Date: 04/07/20
• Format: ebook
• Chapters: 42, with 1 prologue
• Pages: 411
• Narrator POV: Told in 3rd person POV, focused on Patricia

Book Rating

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐/5

Spice: 🌶️/5

Summary & Review

Listen, this book started out strong. From the Prologue, I was pulled in and extremely invested. In chapter 1, I felt more validated as a parent than I ever have before. The way Grady explains the chaos Patricia experiences as a mother was *chef’s kiss*. It really was perfect and it made me giggle.

The premise of the story was interesting. It’s set in the 90s, when being a housewife was the only real expectation of a woman – be a good wife and mother, keep the house cleaned, and cook the dinners. Patricia Campbell lived such a life and she found a much needed escape when she joined a book club where the members read and discussed interesting, and often morbid, stories. It was enjoyable and something different.

Patricia soon meets James Harris, a stranger who showed up to care for his now-deceased great-aunt. He’s intelligent, interesting, handsome, and appears to really care about Patricia and her kids. But something isn’t right with him and once strange things start happening around town, she’s determined to prove that James is behind it.

This book has a lot of mystery and some humor, but the overall pacing of the story felt really slow after the initial few chapters. I didn’t necessarily mind this since things were still happening that kept me interested in reading. Ultimately, there are aspects of this story I really didn’t enjoy but can’t really explain without spoiling. I will finish this review and put the small spoilers at the bottom with a clear sign, in case you’re interested in my thoughts/opinions.

I rated this one 3 stars. It started strong, but slowed down. A lot of small things happened but most of it really didn’t matter or impact the story. And due to the aspects I’ll mention below, this story ended up being a perfectly good read, but nothing I would read again or necessarily recommend to others. By the time the story ended, I felt like there were just too many “ick” moments that I couldn’t ignore.

I gave this book 1 chili pepper because while it’s not particularly spicy, there were several mentions of female pubic areas, naked bodies, and a sexual assault where a male’s discharge was described. So I’ve assigned 1 pepper, for caution’s sake.

*** SPOILERS BELOW ***

Alright, if you’ve decided to check out the parts I really didn’t like about this story that ultimately had me dropping this rating to 3 stars, here they are. Just keep in mind that these are 100% my own opinions and you may disagree 😊.

Korey is stated several times to be a teenager but when James fed from her, they were both completely 100% naked. I get that for some reason he only feeds from the high upper thigh, but why was it necessary for this grown ass man to strip down himself and a teenager to feed from her? It was gross and instantly made me want to stop reading.

He fed from other, younger children but I don’t remember them being described as unclothed at any point, so why Korey?

Also, all the child deaths were tough to read, but especially those who died by suicide. I get that in the story once James quit feeding from them and letting them feel that pleasure/ecstasy, the world was depressing and dark and all that. But these kids were young and the methods they used to harm themselves seemed unnecessarily gruesome. Maybe because I’m a parent, I don’t know, but it felt grossly overdone.

The sexual assault Slick endured was at the same time brutal and very vaguely mentioned. I’m not sure how it was both, but it was. I do realize how this played out in the rest of the story, but I really feel like this was still a pointless and disturbing plot point that was only included as a shock or to draw out anger from the reader. It really felt like it didn’t add to the story’s value, but rather just put me off even more.

While this is a highly rated book that many people love, I unfortunately had a different experience and found the beginning of the book great, but it slowly went downhill for me as a reader. I still believe it’s a solid 3 star read and you may love it if you give it a try!