The Groomer by Jon Athen

Title: The Groomer

Author: Jon Athen

Year Published: 2020

Link to Buy: Amazon

Genre: Fiction, Horror, Splatterpunk, Thriller, Crime

Summary:

Andrew McCarthy grows concerned for his family after he catches a young man, Zachary Denton, photographing his daughter, Grace McCarthy, and other children at a park. To his dismay, Zachary talks his way out of trouble when he’s confronted by the police. He hopes that’s the end of it. Then he finds Zachary at a diner and then at a grocery store. He knows their encounters aren't coincidences. And just as Andrew prepares to defend his family, Grace vanishes. As the police search stalls and the leads dry up, Andrew decides to take matters into his own hands. He starts by searching for sex offenders in the area and researching enhanced interrogation techniques... He convinces himself he’ll do anything to rescue his daughter, unaware of the pure evil he'll face in his journey. He’s willing to hurt—to torture—anyone to save his family.

Ten Sentence Review:

Although I knew going in that violence involving children in The Groomer would be difficult to read, and although I consider myself a pretty seasoned splatterpunk reader, I was almost unprepared for the scenes with the two little boys--you'll definitely want to proceed with caution, and probably won't want to make this your first-ever "extreme horror" read. 

I liked the main character Andrew's unlikely arc from suburban dad to psychopathic torture machine, and I truly believe that exact thing could happen to someone overnight after losing their child the way he did. The cops aren't moving quickly enough and he has access to the internet, so why not? The first two torture scenes are incredibly creative and had just the right amount of gore (read: a shitload), but they don't move the plot forward or get the reader invested in Andrew's cause as much as they would if the men being tortured were actually connected to his daughter's case in any way. As is, the beginning of his vigilantism is a random search for whatever offenders happen to live nearby, kicking down their doors, and demanding information on his child without a clue as to whether they're even involved. 

The final scene with the titular groomer was ALMOST everything I wanted it to be. This guy is exactly as pathetic as he should be and I hate him exactly as much as I'm supposed to, but as terrible as his punishment is, it still doesn't feel long or bad enough. I was actually surprised at how tame it is compared with what Andrew does to the other guys earlier in the book, especially after hearing the brutal details of what the groomer did to Andrew's daughter Grace. 

The epilogue first broke my heart with Andrew's son Max saying goodbye to his father and sister at the funeral (possibly leaving it open to a sequel where Max follows in his vigilante father's footsteps?), and then made me want to puke with the ~other~ thing that happens at the very end...with the jar... 

This book made me feel something during a very numb week, and for that, I appreciate it. 

3.5/5, rounded up to 4 for GR.