Lilith is a compulsively readable novel about a mother who has been pushed to the edge because of a mass shooting at the school she teaches in. The narrator, Elisabeth, is a thirty something single mother of Lydan, a seven year old boy. Early on in the novel, a shooter targets their elementary school, leaving many children dead, injured, and/or traumatized. Lydan is grievously injured, but survives due to his mother's bravery.

Understandably, Elisabeth, becomes enraged by what happened at her school and continues to happen every week in the United States. She keeps seeing a gun enthusiast, Clay Akers, on the news, proudly proclaiming that the answer to gun violence is more guns. The writing style was a bit clunky and old fashioned for my tastes, but I was so enthralled in what might happen. Elisabeth is determined to quiet the voices of narcissistic, violent, foolish men like Akers.

This book is very thought-provoking and Elisabeth ponders what we're doing and why things have become so bad in the US. We express our opinions online, but to what end? Does anything actually change? How can we protect our children when mass shootings are so prevalent? Are school administrators helping or hurting when it comes to violence? Children are traumatized by drills and safety protocols may put children in the crossfire. Overall, a fascinating read about violence and how hard we can be pushed by it.

Thank you Blacstone Publishing and NetGalley for providing this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

Lilith
by Eric Rickstad
March 19, 2024
Blackstone
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
From the internationally bestselling author of I Am Not Who You Think I Am—a New York Times Thriller of the Year—comes Lilith, an incendiary powerhouse of a novel that strikes straight at the wounded heart of America.

Mother. Hero. Villain. Killer.
Powerful and a book you will remember.
4 stars

I feel like I was punched in the gut with humanity. What a powerful and feminist read! Humanity is slowly slipping and this book brought so many new thoughts to life.

After her son is irreparably harmed in a school shooting, one mother decides she’s not going to standby and let men in power continue to do nothing. Elisabeth becomes a vigilante, known by the name Lilith, after Adam‘s first wife in the Bible, the woman who refused to let her husband control her. Elisabeth becomes a vigilante of sorts, admired by many and despised by others after she broadcasts her own act of retaliatory violence online, and she becomes a target of the FBI. Trying to keep her identity a secret, even as she starts to see frightening changes in her own son’s behavior, Elisabeth find yourself caught in the world where violence seems to be the only answer. A powerful statement about how society views women and firearms in this country. Not to be missed.