Suffer the Children by Craig DiLouie

From an acclaimed horror writer, a chilling tale of blood-hungry children who rise from the dead in this innovative spin on apocalyptic vampire fiction.

Suffer the Children presents a terrifying tale of apocalyptic fiction, as readers are introduced to Herod's Syndrome, a devastating illness that suddenly and swiftly kills all young children across the globe. Soon, they return from the grave…and ask for blood. And with blood, they stop being dead. They continue to remain the children they once were...but only for a short time, as they need more blood to live. The average human body holds ten pints of blood, so the inevitable question for parents everywhere becomes: How far would you go to bring your child back? 

My Thoughts:

The Cover: The cover for Suffer the Children is just creepy. A little broken doll head lies on the dirty ground, with no body in sight. A real signifier to what this story is truly like.

The Plot: The story line to Suffer the Children was well written and unique. The thing lately seems to be adults suddenly becoming ill and dying off at a certain age. There was an extra added horror to this being children, just the children. All of the children everywhere. Suffer the Children was very good and I literally finished it in two day, which is a record for me lately. The ending, I could say was shocking without giving too much away.

The Characters: The characters were all very real with flaws and personalities, every day lives and hang ups. It was interesting to read as each character tried to deal with the crisis in their own way, some good, some not so good. I think Joan and Romona were my favorite, but I also liked seeing Doug's way of handling, so drastic and overly male, a very dad-like approach.

Is it Worth Reading?: Yes, even with the holy hell way that it ended. I was left sort of adrift, just in shock. It was a thoroughly terrifying read in that some of this could truly happen, in a very real sense. If you are looking for a good scare with a little supernatural thrown in, this is definitely going to be on to to be read list. Or better yet, skip the list and just read it, read it now!! I highly recommend it to readers of sci-fi, drama and supernatural and give it 4 out of 5 crossbows.