Sometimes when you are reading a book, you know you’re getting into something special. This feeling usually happens in the early chapters, a growing sense that the book is the writer’s Opus. Recently, I felt that way when I read Chuck Wendig’s The Book of Accidents and Seanan McGuire’s Middlegame. I also felt that way while I was reading Delilah S. Dawson’s The Violence. Set a few years after the COVID-19 Pandemic, a new virus spreads, causing people to “storm” or fly into a fit of rage amping up their adrenaline, attacking the person in front of them without remorse until the target of their rage is a dead, messy waste. Once the “storm” ends, the person who is afflicted with the Violence has no memory of the outburst. Dawson introduces Chelsea Martin and her family into this world (not unlike our own, except a few years later) that has seemingly recovered from one global pandemic only to be dealt another terrifying pandemic.
Three generations of abused women must navigate their chilling new reality as a mysterious epidemic of violence sweeps the nation in this compelling novel of self-discovery, legacy, and hope.
When Chelsea Martin kisses her husband hello at the door of their perfect home, a chilled bottle of beer in hand and dinner on the table, she may look like the ideal wife, mother, and homemaker—but in fact she’s following an unwritten rulebook, carefully navigating David’s stormy moods in a desperate nightly bid to avoid catastrophe. If family time doesn’t go exactly the way David wants, bad things happen—to Chelsea, and to the couple’s seventeen-year-old daughter, Ella. Cut off from all support, controlled and manipulated for years, Chelsea has no resources and no one to turn to. Her wealthy, narcissistic mother, Patricia, would rather focus on the dust on her chandelier than acknowledge Chelsea’s bruises. After all, Patricia’s life looks perfect on the surface, too.
But the façade crumbles when a mysterious condition overtakes the nation. Known as the Violence, it causes the infected to experience sudden, explosive bursts of animalistic rage and attack anyone in their path. The ensuing chaos brings opportunity for Chelsea—and inspires a plan to liberate herself and her family once and for all.
Chelsea Martin is one of three major point of view characters and effectively the primary protagonist. She’s in what could be generously classified as “an unhealthy marriage.” Her husband David is abusive, both mentally and physically. They have two children, Ella and Brooklyn, high school and preschool aged respectively. Ella has felt some of the abuse, Brooklyn has largely been shielded. On top of that unpleasant relationship, Chelsea grew up with a mother (Patricia) who was mentally abusive, so she has little help or port of refuge in this marriage. When The Violence begins to sweep Florida (where she lives) and other regions of the world, Chelsea thinks devises a plan to escape her black hole of a marriage.
Where to start unpacking this? Let’s go with the characters, and they are a delight to meet and get to know. Well, maybe David and Chelsea’s mother Patricia (at first) aren’t delightful in one sense of the word, but delightful in the way that Delilah Dawson makes them so believable, that their construction as real people is a delight. Chelsea’s situation is that of a trapped individual and the empathy built up early on for her is powerful. Ella is caught in the middle between her mother and father and is extremely protective of her kid sister. Dawson also builds up a believable relationship between Ella and Chelsea. Then there’s Patricia, the third woman of the “three generations of women” in the book description. Her relationship with her daughter Chelsea is no healthier than Chelsea’s relationship with David and likely put Chelsea to being with David. I won’t say too much more about Patricia than this. Only one other author I’ve read [Robin Hobb] has been able to swerve me with character. I initially had a great deal of dislike and felt a great amount of animosity for this character, but Dawson pulls a, powerful, believable, and rewarding 180 on that character in the same amazing way Robin Hobb (a top 5 writer for me) did.
As Chelsea goes through her awakening and self-realization, she arrives at an organization I never thought I’d see in such a great, high-profile novel – Professional Wrestling. A start-up promotion capitalizing on the Violence is a key element of the novel, providing Chelsea with a much-needed haven and support. I’ve been a fan of professional wrestling for a good portion of my life (a week prior to finishing the book, I attended a live AEW Professional Wrestling event), and Dawson captures the feel and vibe of the “art of human chess” and what life might be like for the combatants and characters of the squared circle extremely well.
I was also extremely impressed with the journey Ella was forced to take in the novel. Much like Chelsea, she found her own inner reserves and ingenuity, but also made some interesting connections along the way.
A few elements can truly make a novel like this feel so grounded and believable. First are the characters, all of whom are genuinely real, living and breathing people as I’ve noted. Other little details are “landmarks” I’ll call them, tiny details that add a layer of grit and realism to the world. Enter Big Fred’s Floors, a store that Chelsea and the other characters pass numerous times, with an outdated, misogynistic slogan. It is a background detail, but a realistic one. I couldn’t help finding resonance or be reminded of Stephen King’s Cujo and the Red Raspberry Zingers that were a background “landmark” or “timestamp” element that added that layer of depth and reality.
Most novels set during a pandemic and/or on the cusp of an apocalypse (pandemics can be precursors, of course) are about survival. But survival in terms of human race or just living. Dawson makes it more personal for her characters, yes they are trying to survive and live, but Chelsea, Patricia, and Ella are trying to find themselves, and allow their souls to survive and thrive. The Violence is terrifying, heart-rending, rewarding, and hopeful. Perhaps the most terrifying element is how plausible it is, if just in the effects of the disease on society. I don’t know if it is the first to directly address the COVID-19 pandemic, I know it won’t be the last, but it is a novel that addresses it smartly and believably.
The Violence has elements of Science Fiction and Horror, it will appeal to readers who enjoy both of those kinds of stories. I’ve seen it on many “Horror novels of 2022 to read” type lists and if I’m forced to give it one genre label, Horror is where I’d probably shelve it. The Violence is a powerful novel of female identity and empowerment (yes, I realize I’m a straight 40-plus white dude writing that), personal survival and rebirth.
I’ve read about half of the books Delilah S. Dawson has written and enjoyed them all a great deal (I need to catch up with her Blud series, I’m reminded), but this is her landmark work. Some of the themes here are touched on in her other novels and handled quite well in those books. She’s always been a smart and entertaining writer. But it almost seems like everything she’s written (at least those novels I’ve read) have prepared her for this outstanding gem. The Violence is a novel that will stand out for its intelligence, for its compassion, for its “un-put-down-able-ness,” its characters….and not just in 2022 as a post-COVID novel, but it is the kind of novel that will stand the test of time.
Highly, highly recommended.
© 2022 Rob H. Bedford
Hardcover | February 2022
Excerpt: https://gizmodo.com/delilah-s-dawsons-the-violence-first-look-a-terrifyin-1846869758
Author Web site: https://www.whimsydark.com/
Review copy purchased
