Lucretia and the Kroons

by Victor LaValle

Lucretia’s best friend and upstairs neighbor Sunny—a sweet pitbull of a kid, even as she struggles with a mysterious illness—has gone missing. The only way to get her back is for Lucretia to climb the rickety fire escape of their Queens tenement and crawl through the window of apartment 6D, portal to a vast shadowland of missing kids ruled by a nightmarish family of mutants whose designs on the children are unknown. Her search for Sunny takes Lucretia through a dark fantasyland where she finds lush forests growing from concrete, pigeon-winged rodents, and haunted playgrounds. Her quest ultimately forces her to confront the most frightening specter of all: losing, forever, the thing you love the most.

Lucretia and the Kroons is a dazzlingly imaginative adventure story and a moving exploration of the power of friendship and the terror of loss. This all-new novella serves as the perfect companion piece to The Devil in Silver, a thrillingly suspenseful work of literary horror that continues the story of Lucretia. (from Goodreads)

My Thoughts

I enjoyed this little novella. It was simply written and carried several messages. As mentioned in the overview, the story tells a tale of losing something you love the most. I also felt it told a message about family and the importance of not judging someone for the way they look.

I liked this enough that I have now added The Devil in Silver to my TBR list!

Thanks to Random House Publishing via Netgalley for allowing me to reaf this in exchange for an unbiased review.

Publish date: July 23, 2012

My rating: 4 of 5