My thanks to Random House/Del Rey, Delilah S..Dawson and Netgalley.
When I first requested this book, I thought it might be one of those that I wouldn't be able to read. The kind that made me so angry that I'd have to stop. Full of triggers and all.
Turns out that I was only partially right. Mostly? I was annoyed. But, I wasn't yet mad.
I really did spend the first 50 pages thinking that this would be some angry feminist garbage. Don't get me wrong, because I'm also an angry feminist. It's all about balance though.
This wonderful, messed up tale! I loved it!
The plot, people, virus and eventual outcome. Everything.
This author now has my loyalty!

This was a *really* hard read. I am thankful for the trigger warnings at the beginning of the book. Please take heed of this because there is some very distressing content throughout this book.

Thank you to Netgalley, Delilah, and Del Rey for an advance copy of The Violence.

Just a couple of years after Covid was finally under control, a new pandemic has emerged. Dubbed “the Violence,” this new virus incites blinding rage in its victims and the target is almost never left alive…or recognizable after the beating they receive. Chelsea is the perfect obedient wife, and for her troubles, she is still beat on a regular basis. Her mother Patricia is self-involved in a marriage of convenience. Her oldest daughter Ella has also been subject to her father’s anger and does her best to keep to herself and protect her little sister Brooklyn.

Chelsea thinks she’s found the perfect out from her husband: a number to call if you suspect that someone in your household has the Violence and the police will take them away no questions asked. What follows is a wild ride of these women finding their strength, finding hope, and finding themselves.

This book is a good cross between domestic thriller and horror. I won’t sugarcoat it, Delilah doesn’t sugarcoat it either, this book is violent, there is a lot of talk of domestic abuse and it’s descriptive. It may be tough for some readers to swallow.

This is also a bit longer than your standard thriller at nearly 500 pages, however it doesn’t drag out. The length is necessary in order for us to know and care about these women. The story itself does bounce around, because our three main POVs are all at different stages of their lives and in different locations for much of the book, but it wasn’t hard for me to keep anyone straight. Additionally, I enjoyed each of these women, so I was happy to read each of their chapters even though nearly every chapter was left with a cliffhanger and I would have to wait 2 or so chapters to get back to them.

Chelsea was a great character. Patricia and Ella were too. They were all inspirational characters who really convey the idea that being down does not mean you’re out. Life can be shitty, men can be shitty, circumstances can be shitty, but through that it’s possible to find strength and a way to something better, even if it’s unexpected.

My one gripe is the pretty constant callbacks to how a certain president handled Covid, I think it became overkill to be brought up so often.

Overall I really enjoyed this book, it was scary and uncomfortable, uplifting and hopeful. I had so much fun cheering these women on and watching them find strength they didn’t know they had. This was my first book by Delilah, but I will be looking at her other works as well.

Please note : I did not finish this book. I just couldn’t do it. It was a little too graphic for me. And I was warned before the book started about the graphic violence in it. I thought that I could handle it, but I couldn’t. I got about 25% through the book. My opinion and rating is based off of the first 25% of the book ONLY. I will say this… it was gooooooooooood. LIke really good. The premise was scary good and the execution (that I read), was done perfectly. I really wish that I had a stronger stomach for those things, because I really want to know how this book goes. But I also feel like I would not be doing the book the justice it deserves by skipping to the final few chapters and reading those to see what happens. Maybe one day I will finish it. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy of this book in return for my honest opinion. I am truly sorry I couldn’t read the book in its entirety.

Let’s meet a therapist, who actually cares about her patient. One of her patients, Finely, divulges in her session that the pharmaceutical company she works for has manipulated data on a drug, so that the FDA will pass it. However, this drug kills people, but big pharma was only looking at the bottomline. Her patient confided in her, but was afraid to uncover it, because she had seen what is done to whistleblowers. Avery decided to take it upon herself to call an anonymous tip in, so the company is being investigated. Will big pharma find out who did this? Will they come after her? Avery also has another patient’s girlfriend who has caused issues for her, because she instructed the patient to leave a very manipulative and abusive relationship. Because of something Avery did which was a little unethical to protect her client, the girlfriend filed charges against her and Avery lost her therapist license. However, now she can see and treat patients as she sees fit as a consultant.

Marissa and Matthew Bishop come to her, because Marissa has hidden her infidelity from her husband. How will Matthew react, when he finds out about the infidelity, that will be uncovered during this first therapy visit. Avery has a 10 session plan, that she feels will help the (Golden Couple). They both seem to be very stable and quite rich. As Avery delves into their relationship, she finds that things are not always as they seem. What does this couple have to hide? Will the murder of 20 years ago rear it’s ugly head? What will Avery uncover? Will the man appear, who had an affair with Marissa? Will Avery constantly have to look over her shoulder, because of big pharma? This books’ plot was ever changing. Every time the reader thinks they have it figured out, there’s a new twist. The plot was genius. The character development was great. The reader could relate to all the characters in this book. The person who the reader thinks is the protagonist ends up as the antagonist. What an ending!! I didn’t see it coming. This book kept me reading and on edge throughout the book. I really enjoyed it and look forward to the next one by this author!!

Ok. So. Ugh. This book doesn’t come out until February 2022. But. Y’all. #theviolence #delilahsdawson is a book that just 🤯it wasn’t anything that I thought it would be. It. Was. Better. We have three generations of woman. All #triggerwarnings of these women have suffered some form of abuse. Be it emotional. Mental. Physical. The journey of their lives. A new pandemic that comes after Covid. It’s called the #violence. No one can predict it. You don’t know that you have it. It’s deadly. This is such a phenomenal story telling I just …. There are no words to describe how this story grabs you. You feel for these characters. I can not recommend this book enough. Ten out of five stars. This story is definitely going to stick with me for a long time. #randomhousepublishing #ballantinebooks #netgalley #bookstagram #readersofinstagram #netgalleyarc #bookrecommendations #readit #bookrecommendations

I really enjoyed this novel. All the aspects of a great read were found within these pages. Be sure to pick up this title!

The Violence
by: Delilah S. Dawson
Pub. date: February 1, 2022
Review date: October 22, 2021

Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine & to NetGalley for allowing me access to this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Violence really, Really caught my interest & held it, through to the end. It’s a great storyline, Especially considering the fact that we’re living through a pretty violent pandemic ourselves these days. People might not be going around killing other people like they are when affected by The Violence in this book, but Covid has claimed far too many lives itself to Not be considered a Violent killer.
I loved this book & would definitely recommend it as a must-read for those who enjoy a nice, gruesome, gory story. The Violence gets 4/5 stars from me.
#TheViolence #NetGalley

Finally, the fear from Covid-19 has ended. when suddenly, a new threat appears. A grandmother reached for a bottle of Thousand Island dressing, and with no provocation, beat a fellow shopper to death. People losing all control; reasonable people, violent people, poor people, and wealthy people. The Violence, like Covid, does not discriminate.
Chelsea Martin seems to have a perfect life. Her husband, David, earns enough for her to be a stay-at-home mother to their two daughters, Ella and Brooklyn. But she has known violence for many years, as David likes things a certain way, though that particular line in the sand moves often. She comes to view this disease as a potential savior. After all, once the damage is done, the infected person has no recollection of what they did. Could this finally be her way out? Time will tell.
But Chelsea winds up infected, and fears for her children's safety. She has no choice but to ask her extremely critical and cruel mother, Patricia, for help. Soon her plans unravel, separating her and her girls. Brooklyn is with Patricia, and both Ella and Chelsea wind up alone. These three women must uncover the inner strength that they each possess if they hope to find their way back together.
Parts were horrific, as The Violence took people and animals(trigger warning), parts were laugh-out-loud funny(Chelsea's job), and parts were heartbreaking(Ella's journey). An engaging plot, characters I rooted for, and some I hoped would get what they deserved. One character, who shall remain nameless truly surprised me by becoming a much better person. A story of abuse and survival that spoke personally to me, as a survivor of a horrific childhood. 4.5 stars.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. I loved the premise of this book and found it to be very enjoyable, although pretty graphic. In a post-Covid world, a new pandemic rages where people randomly break into violent fits and attack whoever is closest to them. The characters were richly developed including Chelsea, a woman who's dealing with domestic abuse on a daily basis and finally decides she's had enough. I'll definitely read more by this author in the future!

Thank you so much #netgalley and @delilahsdawson for an ARC of The Violence. I want to acknowledge that I don’t tend to read feminist literature all that often. I usually dwell in the rom-com sphere of the literature world. But, recently The Grace Year and Iron Widow have helped me into that world of books. When I was browsing Net Galley’s coffers I saw the cover for The Violence and I knew immediately that whatever the book was about it was going to be amazing. And I was right.
The Violence follows three generations of women in the same family and how they deal with violence against women. But, abusive relationships are not the only focus in this book. There’s also the outbreak of a mysterious virus across the world. Sound familiar? This virus, however it works, causes people to commit acts of gross violence. So while these three women struggle to cope with, and work to rise above their situations, they are also faced with contraction of and falling victim to pandemic.
The Violence provides pertinent social commentary during a pandemic as well as a look into the trap of domestic violence. It highlights both how women are taken advantage of by predators as well as the systems that allow predators to stay in power.
To quote the book, “...a bitch is just a woman who doesn’t do what you want and then refuses to feel bad about it”. If this book teaches you anything it’s the importance of being an assertive woman and not backing down in the face of adversity and predatory behavior. Be a girlboss, a gaslight, and a gatekeep.
Despite the book having an amazing message, I do feel that there were moments when it was too slow and fell into ruts. So I am rating it at 4.5 stars. Nonetheless, this is definitely a must-read for 2022.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.
This book sounded so intriguing.
I really liked how the author slowly built up the characters. The ones you love and the ones you love to hate. There were multiple surprises and the ending was absolutely perfect.
I definitely would like to read more by this author.

I could not finish this book. It seemed an interesting concept but unfortunately reads like a personal diary of abuse. Every male character is slimy and abusive. The mothers are all nasty and self-absorbed. The plot simply didn't pick up enough to look past all the awful characters.

Chelsea seems like your typical trophy wife. White picket fence, two lovely children and a doting husband. But no one knows what happens behind closed doors. Her husband is extremely abusive and Chelsea feels there's no way out - until an outbreak of a mysterious disease causes extreme and uncontrollable violence. If Chelsea plays her cards right, she can get away from her husband and save her girls.

The synopsis of the book was intriguing however it didnt quite play out like I had hoped. The choices the characters make at times are not always the smartest ones. If one is hiding from an abusive husband, my first thought isn't to join a televised program, even while sporting costume. Hiding in plain sight? Not even a little bit. The constant references to COVID and the previous president was overkill. Yes, I get your stance. But it takes away from the originality of your own plot when you mention it continously throughout the book. It was an interesting read but I wouldn't read it again.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for an eARC for an honest review.

Take a family drama, a rom-com, professional wrestling, and a crazy pandemic that causes violence and, in most cases, bloody death. Mix them all together and you have this book. Yes, it sounds nuts, and it is. And it's also very entertaining, compelling and different. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

As the world recovered from Covid-19 an even more insidious virus had possessed the world, The Violence. As The Violence was shaking up the world Chelsea Martin was doing everything she could at the time just to survive her abusive husband. She was also worried about her children Ella and Brooklyn because she had to protect them from their father. Then realized she had The Violence and her children are not safe around her either. Where does she turn? What should she do with her children? She has no one to turn to because her husband David has effectively scared away all of her friends and her mother Patricia is a narcissistic monster. Chelsea has to take drastic measures. Will she be too late to save herself and her children? Will The Violence take over the world and win? I loved the twists and turns this book took and how each person dealt with The Violence and how it changed them in ways they never expected. This book had a very unique plot and made me very invested in what happens to each character.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group/Ballantine, Del Rey and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this early.

This book works in the end as a good yarn but, for me, it was a struggle getting there. I enjoyed the structure and they way we're brought to the climax. Once the setup is established, the main characters each get their own alternating chapters which moves the plot along and drives the narrative towards the big ending. I thought that was clever and reminded me of the structure of some of Stephen King's earlier books where you have multiple characters and plot lines converging.

What I struggled with was that several of the main characters and many of the secondary ones seemed to be extreme caricatures as opposed to well-captured believable characters. I kind of understand why the author chose to do that - I don't want to go into spoiler territory to expand on that - but I felt too many of them leaned too far towards extremes - the bad were very, very bad, the good were very, very good, the narcissists were very, very narcissistic. Made them less believable as characters and they lacked the ambiguity that real people display.

The 'science' in the novel was also barely believable. Again, hard to go into that without giving away key plot points or the narrative but it was difficult to accept that anything like what was described in the discovery and treatment of the virus could ever happen in real life.

What was, however, very believable were the depictions of domestic violence and familial abuse of the psychological kind. Also very believable was the role that politics and capitalism could and would play in such a scenario. Those parts were well written.

One final point, I was drawn to request this by the suggestion in an email that it was ideal for fans of CJ Tudor. I've read a couple of CJ Tudor's books in the past years - The Chalk Man and The Burning Girls - and I didn't see any aspect of those books in this one.

All that said, I did find myself being drawn along during the last third of the book as all of the strands began to merge and you begin to wonder how it will all play out and, for me, that final third makes the read worthwhile.

Bashing a stranger in the head with a bottle of salad dressing — that’s how the Violence pandemic starts. Then we meet three women: a teenager, her mother and grandmother. They’ve been abused, the Violence adds to it.

Great plot, great character development, chapters ended with great suspense.

The author Dawson opens with a note warning of trigger points: abuse, animal deaths, graphic violence.
Many thanks to Netgalley, Random House-Del Rey publishers for one of the best reads of the year.

I needed a book to break a reading funk, and was immediately drawn into The Violence. Completely believable and impressive in a post-COVID world, I appreciated the different stories, choices, and character development. I will definitely be looking for more of Ms. Dawson's books.

I received this book to read via NetGalley.

Definitely something different but in an amazing way! The characters are fully developed and easily relatable. Chelsea and Ella's journeys were ones that are truly engaging when reading this story. Although, the scientific part of this story was vague; however I can understand why. The in and out virus is complicated. The ending was satisfying and yet not when it came to David. It was a great read.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for letting me read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.