Kelly Braffet

Braffet’s captivating, realistically creepy third novel . . . uses graceful prose, astute dialogue, and vivid characters to carry the plot to an unexpected and believable finale.

There’s storytelling skill to burn here. Ms. Braffet has empathy for her working-class characters and brings neglected places to convincing life.

Kelly Braffet’s wonderful new book is about as dark and twisty as it gets . . . a creepy, squirmy, steamy, scary stew that simmers to its punishing but perfect conclusion.

Spectacularly nightmarish. . .

Excruciatingly rendered characters and locomotive plotting…The plot is on a collision course that is going to end ugly—but also, in Braffet’s hands, beautifully…Perceptive, nervy, and with broad cross-genre appeal.

Through dark and hauntingly realistic moments, Braffet reveals a web of characters struggling to find themselves in a world rife with pain and rejection.

This summer’s must-read . . . Braffet expertly captures the suffocating confines of small-town life and the desperation of its outliers, with prose that simmers and thrums.

Braffet is a sensual, concrete writer . . . Mundane threads have been woven deftly into breathtaking all-natural horror.

Braffet compassionately but honestly portrays engaging, confused characters in light, uncluttered prose. But a sharp turn keeps this from being a simple meditation on grief. This is a probing and emotional read that does not rest easy.