Book Review: Demon Copperhead

Notice anything different about the picture from this month's book club? I'm not in it. Sadly, I missed this month's meeting due to picking a kid up from church camp. Such is the life of a parent. I'm looking forward to being back with these women in August though!

Pros: The book's prose is amazing. I loved the style and character set-up.

Cons: The book is also dark, as in, I could feel the dread and hopelessness. It also has more than a few curse words, drug abuse, domestic abuse and sex outside of marriage. If you're not up for those topics, this isn't the book for you.

My Review: 🌟 🌟🌟🌟🌟

I love a book that makes me feel something, and this book did it. I felt Demon's hopelessness. I wanted him to make different choices but knew he wouldn't. Afterall, he was a kid with very little guidence and no one in authority looking out for his best interests.

Having been witness to the foster care system as a friend of people who care for foster children, I know that situations like Demon's exist. We don't want to believe it, but it happens far too often. Kids find themselves all alone in the world long before they are ready. As a result, they often make poor decision on top of poor decsion because no one taught them any differently. This isn't the case for every kid in the foster system. I have friends who offer the best of the best when it comes to foster care, but they can only care for a limited number of children.

This also hit home for me when Demon's drug use escalated after an injury. Eighteen years ago, I broke my leg in a car accident. In 2006, we didn't know a lot about the opioid crisis. As a young adult, I hadn't read anything about an opioid crisis. I probably couldn't have told you that the pain medication they gave me was an opioid.

My doctor sent me home with a very large prescription for pain medication. I set my alarm in the middle of the night to remind myself to take the pain meds because if I missed a dose it took hours to get the pain back under control. I had a severe injury with a lot of pain as a result.

I hated the pain meds. They made me sleep, and I had a life to live. I weaned myself off the pain meds so that I managed on over-the-counter meds as much as possible. I've takend prescription pain killers a few times since, but each time I'm leary knowing how easy it is to get caught in a spiral of abuse.

I'm one of the lucky ones. I was never addicted to the pain medication. But I look back to that experience and realize just how easily I could have been a statistic. But for the grace of God there go I.

If you're up for a dark, realistic read about a life you hope you and your family never experience, check out Demon Copperhead. I enjoyed the read despite the emotional roller coaster.