Vultures: Grant Palmquist
Reviewed By Becca Futrell
- Paperback: 385 pages
- Publisher: Independently published (25 Jun. 2019)
Content Warnings: Self-Harm (Cutting), Animal Harm (Raccoon & Possum), Drugs + Probably a lot more; Vultures is not an easy read to digest.
Going into Vultures by Grant Palmquist; I was extremely optimistic. In the very first chapter, we play witness to how extreme our antagonist, Trent, really is. If there’s one thing to know about me and my life in the fiction realm, it’s this: the crazier the villain, the happier I am. Trent definitely checked some boxes when it comes to crazy. He goes where a lot of people (hopefully) would be too scared to go. Trent’s entire goal is to basically destroy this randomly selected family, the Whites, in a way that makes him feel Godlike.
I didn’t care much for the Whites; they were your typical Suburbia family – Heath has it all; a good job, a wife & daughter, and a nice house. It’s no wonder why Trent would be attracted to this particular family. Heath White’s daughter, Yvonne, has just split from her boyfriend and is extremely vulnerable, and entirely too whiney about the break-up. Listen, break-ups suck. I get it. But, Yvonne was a bit extreme. Heath’s wife is basically just background noise, as I already forgot everything about her, besides the fact that she’s persistent on this idea that Heath is having an affair.
Palmquist did do a phenomenal job on Heath White. Heath’s development (err.. un-development?) is definitely my favorite aspect of Vultures. We slowly get to witness his mind & sanity’s disintegration, thanks to Trent’s torture. I have, yet, to lose my mind, but I can almost guarantee that Palmquist’s writing of such is very close to being realistic. I definitely understood all of the whys and hows to all of Heath’s thoughts & actions.
The Vultures invites us into multiple different character’s lives. Chapters tend to alternate between plot & sub-plots, so we get to see what Trent, Yvonne & Heath are all up to throughout the read. At times, we see what the Whites are up to & then it’ll switch to Trent watching onto the family at that moment.
There are some redeeming factors of The Vultures, as you could probably tell with this review. However, at some point, my original optimism evaporated & I was left with just wanting this story to end. At times, The Vultures dragged. This is not a book I would pick up again, but I did enjoy Palmquist’s writing of the characters Heath and Trent.
Vultures
Heath White lives with his wonderful family in a picturesque house in Stonehaven, Texas. It almost seems too good to be true: great job, beautiful wife, loving daughter, and a peaceful home. As a father and husband, Heath White has it all, everything he’s ever wanted. His home is his castle, his refuge against a decadent world… but his sense of safety is unravelling, because someone is watching Heath, stalking him, plotting against him and his family, and Heath would do anything, anything at all, to protect them.
Seeking ever new highs, Trent Sable, a murderous sociopath, has found his way to Stonehaven, Texas. Trent lives to break the laws of man and transcend the world around him. His only god is himself, his drugs are brutality and cruelty. And now, as a test, a barometer for his ascendance beyond divinity, he’s targeted the White family for a special type of destruction.
An agonizing initiation into the violent laws of masculinity, Vultures is a horror-thriller that will leave you breathless.
You can buy Vultures from Amazon UK & Amazon US
Becca Futrell
Writer, Reader & most importantly, Mother of Cats. Thanks to her horror-obsessed father, Becca found her childhood nights dedicated to watching movies such as Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween. As she continued to get older, her love for the genre only got stronger. Now, her goal is to share this love with like-minded people & possibly convert others along the way. When she’s not reading or writing, Becca can be found playing video games or begging her cats to take a nap with her.
Blog: http://beccaleighanne.com
Twitter: @astoldbybex
Instagram: http://instagram.com/readwithbex
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