Review: Hot Wax

Hot Wax by M.L. Rio
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Okay, okay. I waited a tad to marshal my thoughts. They are: Holy Shit. Damn. Read This book. Pterodactyl screech.

The plot and pacing of this novel builds so slowly that you almost miss it as it speeds up. The layering and nuance provided by the decision to bounce back and forth through time was impeccable. Revealing details of the past at the exact right moment for them to become relevant to the present *chef's kiss*.

I already knew going in that I would love the writing style, having read other works by this author. The characters are so deliciously complicated and human. Suzanne is a raw nerve still processing her father's recent passing. She embarks on a bat out of hell journey that can only be described as running. But, what, dear reader, is she really running from. A by all accounts flaccid marriage, her grief, or that one thing she witnessed when she was eleven.

Full disclosure, there is a moderately graphic scene or two featuring drug use, and violence. What this book is emphatically not, however, is horror. It just isn't. What it is, is a beautiful coming of age story presented in a way that is raw, and human, and messy. This book will rip your heart out in the best way possible.

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