Book Review
Title: Suffer the Children by Craig DiLouie
Genre: Horror
Rating: 5 Stars
Suffer the Children was a book I found on TikTok and it reminded me a little of Pet Semetery so I had to pick it up. We are introduced to a bunch of characters early on including Joan and her partner Doug, as well as their two children, Nate and Megan. Joan runs a day-care out of her home which other children attend with her daughter. Ramona is Josh’s mother, a HR manager and client of Joan’s, David is a doctor who works with his wife, Nadine and they are currently dealing with the loss of their son in a car accident and Shannon, a pregnant mother who is being treated by David. This first section is the 24 hours before Herod’s syndrome strikes and we get to know the characters before it happens. As most of the characters have children they are all going to be affected by Herod’s syndrome and when it strikes it is reported live on the news but chaos ensues since no one seems to have any idea what is going on. At this moment in time Joan is taking her children to a party, Ramona and Josh are seeing Santa at the mall and I have no idea when they are going to be affected whether its all at once or over a course of time but I am excited to see where this goes.
As the Herod event begins we get to see the shock and horror of the adults as children begin dropping dead. It doesn’t happen all at once but more like dominos as the children begin to die and the adults desperately try and get their children to safety as we see with Ramona and Doug but neither are successful. Due to sheer volume of children dying all over the world neither the hospital or morgues are equipped to deal with this number of deaths so many families like Ramona and Doug end up taking their children home. Over the next two days the world goes to hell as people begin committing suicide but there is the issue of the bodies and how they are going to be dealt with. Doug is called in to help as waste management along with many volunteers who begin cleaning up the bodies and preparing them for mass burial. However, some families have opted for cremation and when the children return in less than a day I wonder how these people are going to cope with knowing they destroyed their only chance of having their children back. This is even affecting pregnant women whose babies are dying in the womb like with Shannon and not even the CDC or the government have any idea what is going on. At 50 hours after the event most people are numb or in shock but that means there is less than a day before the children begin returning and I wonder how everyone is going to react to this new information and what is going to be done about the children.
Watching all of these families get destroyed and having to come to terms with the loss of their children was devastating and heart-breaking to read especially for people like Shannon excited about the birth of her first child and Ramona who has no one in her life except her son. As people pray for Herod’s to end and for a solution to be found whether in medicine or God showed how desperate these people were as many hit the bottle or take their own lives as they can’t cope with what has happened. By the time day three after the death of the children comes around, many are prepared for burial and a vigil is being held. Joan is putting her children to rest and hoping for a life after, Doug is drinking hard and even ends up with a younger girl before heading off to the vigil. Ramona has found some security and comfort in Ross as they prepare to say goodbye to Josh. However, as the bell tolls to announce that every child in the world has been claimed by Herod’s they begin coming back. Ross seems to sense something is wrong by the screams ringing out but Ramona doesn’t understand until Josh walks up to her and asks why she is kissing Ross which causes her to scream. This was honestly the creepiest scene I have read in a long time and if I was in Ramona’s position I would just scream I would yeet that child into the next dimension and I can’t wait to see what happens next especially through David who I believe is going to be contacted about the children sooner or later.
David is roped in pretty soon after the children come back been as he was performing autopsies on these kids when they thought they were dead. He and his friend Ben are worried about the repercussions since they cremated a lot of children that could have come back but they don’t really have time to focus on that as they all work on digging the kids back up and finding out what is wrong with them. Ramona and Joan both see that their children as still like corpses only their eyes move and follow them which David confirms when he checks out many children and they determine that the disease does something like mimic death but doesn’t actually kill them. However, many people soon witness their children asking for blood but they don’t know why. It is Joan who feeds her children blood first from a cut in her finger and sees how they revert back to their normal pre-death state. Nadine has also figured this out and is helping mothers and fathers donate blood to their children but only a pint at a time. Doug witnesses the effects of this but it seems to last for less than a day and when the blood is used up the children become corpses again. The question now is where are they going to get the blood from and there simply aren’t enough adults to feed these children for any extended period of time and the human body can’t replenish the blood lost quickly enough for the amount the children seem to need. I don’t know whether a murder spree is going to happen but I am asking questions like could animal blood be used or does it have to be human? Does the blood need to come from a parent or relative of the children in order to be effective and could blood substitutes be used?
Over the next month we follow the various parents as they realise their children need blood in order to survive and how they go about getting it from everyone they know. Some of the more unsavoury people even arrest Ben in order to take his blood for children as payment for the cremations that he performed when everyone believed that the children were dead and this puts David at risk as well. David also learns that Nadine was lying to him about the medicine for the children and doing things behind his back but he agrees to help in the meantime because it is making people happy to have their kids back and it gives him a purpose. However, through the parents we can see the physical distress keeping their children alive is putting on them but they learn that half a pint buys them about an hour of time so people are looking to stock pile blood so they can spend longer amounts of time together with their kids. This does pose the question that these measures is eventually going to start killing people especially anaemic people like Ben or people taking the strain alone like Ramona as Ross refuses to give his blood to Josh. We also get to hear from some of the children affected and how they know what happens when they die again as Josh says he sees heaven and can even draw it for the adults around him. Nate seems to have the most understanding about what is happening to them as he is one of the oldest children we are following but babies in the womb quickly kill their parents as we see with Shannon.
So far, Suffer the Children is turning out to be a heart-breaking and creepy novel and I don’t know where it is going to go. By the time we reach day 40 after the children return things have really gone to hell, those that don’t have children or weren’t children at the time Herod’s struck are trying to get on with their lives working and surviving the best they can but the others are dragging them down. The parents have split into two groups by this point, those that are ready to let go of their children for good like Joan and those that are willing to kill to keep their children a little longer like Ramona and Doug. However, we also have people like David that view Herod’s as a parasite that should be left to die and others that are selling their blood on the black market at huge prices in order to make quick money from the desperation of others. Blood is becoming scarce in the world since people are donating blood in order to feed their children so hospitals and blood banks have run out but those with money can still get it without damaging themselves. This causes those that are bleeding themselves dry for their children to become feral, going to extraordinary lengths in order to get some like Ramona killing Ross to keep Josh a little longer. However, the longer the children are around the more they are changing which is why Joan is ready to let them go since Nate and Megan have become shells of themselves not remembering who they are but Doug after all he has done for them isn’t ready to let them go essentially ending their marriage there but something is going to have to give soon and I can’t wait to see the conclusion of the novel.
The way everything came together in the end was heart-breaking and amazing at the same time. It reminded me of the ending of both Pet Semetery and 30 Days of Night (if the vampires won). Seeing the desperation become resignation was devastating and yet satisfying but there are still pockets of resistance. Seeing the change in the children was the most heart-breaking element of the story, seeing them go from young bright hopeful children to utter monsters really let me feeling hollow at the end of it. If you looking for a gory and creepy novel that will reduce you to tears then I’d highly recommend Suffer the Children especially around the Halloween season.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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