I read a couple of reviews of this book a few years ago and based on the reviews obtained a used copy of this through eBay. The book is advertised as a book for teens and indeed the story is about a young 16-year old name Joey Crouch whose mother dies unexpectedly and who then must move to a small town in Iowa to live with his father who he does not know and has never met. It turns out his father is a man with many secrets. He lives in a shack on the outskirts of town, he is often gone for days on end, and it turns out the smell coming from the house is the smell of death which comes into the house with the stench of dead bodies that the father has unearthed and robbed! The locals call his father the "garbageman" because they think he makes his living by picking up trash along the road. And of course, Joey gets bullied at school when they find out he is the garbageman's son. The loss of his mother and the bullying at school leads Joey to be drawn into his father's gruesome profession and he is soon helping his father on his frequent grave robbing trips and he learns the secret history of the "diggers" who are spread out across the country. But then one of the diggers, an old friend of the father, goes rogue and Joey and his father must try to track him down and stop him.
This novel was quite disturbing and more gruesome that I expected with its descriptions of dead bodies and the leakage found in graves. It seems at some points that Joey would be able to survive in school when he makes friends with another outcast but as he gets more drawn into the life of a digger he must learn to cope to get by. Overall, a very horrific read. I also found out that the author of this book co-wrote The Shape of Water with Guillermo del Toro. I really enjoyed that rather bizarre movie when I saw it last year. I may keep an eye out for other books by this author.
This novel was quite disturbing and more gruesome that I expected with its descriptions of dead bodies and the leakage found in graves. It seems at some points that Joey would be able to survive in school when he makes friends with another outcast but as he gets more drawn into the life of a digger he must learn to cope to get by. Overall, a very horrific read. I also found out that the author of this book co-wrote The Shape of Water with Guillermo del Toro. I really enjoyed that rather bizarre movie when I saw it last year. I may keep an eye out for other books by this author.
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