Review: Madness

Madness by Zac Brewer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Does Uncle Z ever fail? I say no, and this latest, perhaps his darkest novel to date, is no exception. Take all the trigger warnings at the beginning of the book seriously, and if you have issues with depression and/or suicidal ideation, take all the caution if you decide to go forth and read this book. Me, I do have such issues, though perhaps more mildly than most (and my depression is only self-diagnosed, but there's really no diagnosis to make suicidal ideation sound more "official"), which means while Madness was a painful read - and probably the only book by Uncle Z I'd only ever read once - it was nevertheless a powerful one.

It's also a strong continuation of the style of Z's previous dark contemporaries, The Cemetery Boys and The Blood Between Us, with strong undercurrents of psychological nastiness and a lot of thriller twists right at the end that totally overturn the story and leave you gasping for breath. I also saw a lot of myself in Brooke - though I've never engaged in self-harm (and I still credit that, to this day, to having written that into my own books), I completely relate to how she describes her own depression. No discernible source, no obvious trauma behind it all. It just...is, and there's no explanation. Maybe if I were to find myself a therapist, they'd help me further manage it before it ever gets to the level Brooke experiences.

And then there's Duckie's story, which keeps this story from getting too deep into the abyss, and makes me think a tad bit more of Becky Albertalli than Z Brewer. Duckie makes me think a bit of how my high school life would have been if I were a little less afraid of my own queer self at the time - and if I'd had the sort of parents who didn't make me afraid. Brooke's parents, though, are more like mine, pushing Brooke into extracurriculars as they do - and acting like her mental problems are less from illness and more from toxic, attention-seeking behavior.

Oh, and Derek. But if I say too much about him, here there be spoilers, so I won't say too much. Let's just say even if you're a student of Uncle Z like I am, even if you appreciate him as a deconstruction of the "bad boy" archetype, you'll still not see a lot of what he does coming. he's also got a Siberian husky named Vikas - yes, Uncle Z, we all see what you did there.

Like I said, this is probably the one Zac Brewer book I'll only ever read once. But that once is enough for such a masterpiece as this, what only Uncle Z can give us.

View all my reviews