Slice of Cherry

Kit and Fancy Cordelle aren't like other girls their age. They are the only offspring of the infamous Bonesaw Killer, who is currently on death row. Ostracized by their classmates and neighbors, Kit and Fancy don't let this ruin their fun as they spend most of their time together committing horrific acts of violence. Kit fully embraces her dark side, but Fancy is more reluctant because she doesn't want to end up like her father. When she is guided to a way where evidence won't be a problem by one of her ancestors, Fancy and her sister are free to indulge in whatever dark fantasies they choose. Instead of going around killing people randomly, they put the word out that they want to kill people who deserve it and they get quite a few offers. Things seem to be going wonderfully until Kit falls in love with Gabriel Turner. She now wants to spend all her time with him and continually rejects Fancy. Fancy wants everything to stay the same and resists any sort of change vehemently, especially when Gabriel's brother, Ilan, starts to show interest in her. Can she get Kit to see the error of her ways or will she just have to be used to being alone?

I was first introduced to Dia Reeves' work with Bleeding Violet and I unexpectedly loved it. I've been wanting to read Slice of Cherry since I heard about it and I devoured it in about a day. I would rank it just a little below its predecessor. I absolutely love the town Portero and its odd, quirky inhabitants. They see strange things every day, from monsters to dismembered people in the street. Needless to say, it takes a lot to shock a Porterene. Dia Reeves creates a world unlike any other I have ever seen. The mixture of horror and fantasy is both seamless and utterly harmonious. There are real life horrors, like serial killers and sociopaths, juxtaposed with fantastical ones and they blend very well together. The horrific actions of the sisters don't really seem out of place in a world where people on a regular basis get lost behind magic doors or eaten and tortured by monsters. When word gets out about their twisted good deeds, their neighbors actually start treating them as heroes rather than ostracizing them as they had before. Each chapter is followed by an entry from Fancy's dream diary, which inevitably contains something more twisted and dark than happens in reality. This adds an extra layer of psychological horror and gives the reader a peek into Fancy's psyche.

Although there are two main characters, Fancy is the most prominently featured one. At the beginning of the novel, I had trouble differentiating between the two sisters because they were so much alike. As the novel goes on, Kit starts to create her own identity, with her own hobbies and activities, and embraces her journey to adulthood. This angers Fancy and she tries as hard as she can to create a stasis around her, including wearing her outgrown, childish clothes to resist her growth into a woman. I related to both Fancy and Kit at different points in the novel. I find it a great feat of writing that Dia Reeves can make two such unapologetic murderers into relatable, sympathetic characters. Fancy's frustrations and her relationship with her sister remind me of the horror film Ginger Snaps, where Ginger is developing into a woman and Brigitte tries to stop her sister's seemingly horrific change into an unrecognizable monster. Fancy feels a void inside of herself, which she tries to fill with murder and mayhem, but she still feels empty and despondent. The emptiness stems from her resisting the flow of time, life, and love and the loss of her sister.

Slice of Cherry is a wonderful novel chock full of dark and twisted goodness. Be warned that there is graphic violence and torture throughout. If you are sickened easily or have a weak constitution, this book is definitely not for you. For all of you others that revel in such madness, enjoy.

My rating: 4.5/5 fishmuffins