Book Review for They Feed by Jason Parent
They Feed, by Jason Parent, is a horror story about how, despite everything we do to try and convince ourselves we’re justified in our actions, we still suffer the same consequences as everyone else, whether we know it or not, and that Death will always come for us.
Tyler had recently shot and injured a young man. Just as he was dying, the young man had said that they were after him, that he had to escape. Unfortunately however, was arrested for his murder and sentenced to prison. After serving six years in the Wichita State Penitentiary, he returns to the place where he shot that same man, only to stumble across a strange woman named Dakota. But what starts off as a dark act of judgement turns into something more when the two realize they’re being hunted. As bodies start piling up, and more people succumb to the predators that feed on them, Tyler, Dakota, and the others must try to find a way out of the nightmare they’ve unknowingly trapped themselves in. Parent describes a hell where everyone, both good and bad, and that, no matter how invincible you may seem, you’ll still be dragged under.
At first, I felt a bit sorry for Tyler. He was raised in an abusive home, and was in prison for being blamed for a crime he didn’t commit. After he comes back, he gets kidnapped by Dakota, a woman who seems unable to take responsibility for her own actions, even if it meant dishonoring her brother’s memory. And finally, when he gets just a sliver of peace through people like Charlie and Frosh, I realize the awful truth of what he truly was, and what he’d been doing. I was shocked, simply because I thought he was innocent. But even then, he isn’t spared from that. Then of course, there were the normals of the story, such as Abigail and Karl, and even Mark, in a sense. I cheered internally when Mark had died, as well as when Abigail had finally escaped. I even danced a little when Dakota was implied to have escaped. It was like the sins of a previous generation coming to haunt the new one, though I guess I try to rationalize that whoever died was an evil in society that needed to be removed.
The creatures themselves were a bit abnormal. In my mind, I kept picturing them as leeches, though Parent describes them in a more horrific manner. They lure their prey to them by imitating their loved ones, such as in the case of both Tyler and Abigail. In a way, it kind of reminded me of Stephen King’s Pennywise, where the children keep saying, “We all float down here.” Because yes, I do want to get shot and join an army of leeches bent on eating everyone in the world.
Overall, the book was a good read. Despite some instances where there were a few horror cliches, Parent executed a stream of constant questions of morality and immaturity. He creates scenes where you almost suffocate, where you can’t help but wonder just who it was that looks out for these people. As such, I would give this book a 4.0 out of 5.0 stars, and would recommend it to those who enjoy Tell Me When I’m Dead by Steven Ramirez and The Girl of Glass by Megan O’ Russell.
