Tender Beasts

When Ainsley Behre dies suddenly, her family is thrown into chaos, but daughter Sunny is sure her mom intended her to look after her siblings. After all, Ainsley left her a note saying, “Take care of Dom”, so it seemed obvious what Sunny’s future role would be. Her job becomes even more complicated when Dom, already accused of killing his girlfriend, seems to be involved in yet another murder. Sunny and Dom decide they must find out the truth, and, in uncovering the actual murderer, they uncover more than they expect about their family’s past. Perhaps this explains why family dynamics in the present are so unusual and so strained.

Liselle Sambury presents her young adult readers with a novel which is, in part, murder mystery, in part horror and, in part, psychological thriller. When Sunny and Dom set out to solve a mystery, they are pulled into extreme situations they could never have anticipated. They are two of five children in this dysfunctional family: Karter is the eldest, next are ‘the middles’ Darren and Kiley, and finally Sunny and her younger brother Dom. Readers get to know all of these characters to varying degrees as well as the father of the family and various school friends of the kids. However, Sambury raises the question, “How well do you really know anyone?”, and this permeates much of the novel’s plot. Readers are kept guessing about the identity of the murderer but also about the members of the family and their motives and who can actually be trusted and/or believed. In the end, it is difficult to connect or empathize with any of the Behres.

As well as horror and mystery elements, Tender Beasts looks at social themes. The Behre Academy is intended to provide top-notch education based on student need, a sort of private school for those who could not otherwise afford one. The Behre kids often take their wealth for granted and yet attend the Academy and do their best to blend in with other students. The class disparity is clear. The author also tackles race disparity mentioning more than once that Dom, as a black youth, clearly has the system against him before anything has been proven in his case.

Young adult fans of horror and mystery will not be fazed by the 400 page length of the book, and the plot moves along quickly in most places. However, the character of Sunny is often repetitive, telling readers over and over again that her mother intended her to lead the family and demonstrating repeatedly that she must maintain her ‘sunny’ façade despite her true feelings. These facts are made clear early in the book, and the repetition slows down the momentum of the story.

The horror genre by definition will include death and gore and, in this case, a particularly nasty cult led by someone nicknamed “the Milk Man”. However, readers of Tender Beasts should be aware that there are a variety of situations which may be triggers for some. The author, herself, lists the following content warnings in the Author Note at the beginning of the novel: “death of a parent/grief, animal death, mentions of self-harm/suicide, drinking and drug use, infidelity, discussions of toxic intimate relationships, detailed body horror/gore, violence, death.”

Those who like suspense and a whodunit also immersed in psychological and physical horror will be on the edge of their seats as they read Tender Beasts. But for some other young adult readers, the reaction to the story may be more negative, given the gruesome content. Hopefully this review, without giving away the details of the story, will prove to be helpful, a sort of “read at your own risk” message which informs readers that, while great for some, this isn’t a book for all readers.