The clue that this book may be a little creepy should surely be in the picture on the front cover! If you are hoping for a pleasant re telling of Alice in Wonderland I suggest that you close the book and back quietly away!
Alice by Christina Henry is the first in a series of books that venture in to a very dark and surreal world that you won’t forget in a hurry. We first meet Alice in a mental institution, her parents have placed her there after an episode which has left her scarred physically and mentally. She can’t remember what happened to her but she has flashbacks which include a sinister white rabbit and blood running down her legs.
The man in the cell next door starts talking to her, it takes her a while to realise that he is a real person and not a figment of her imagination. He talks to her about escaping. He also has violent outbursts and is obviously locked up because he has murdered people. His name is Hatch. He is called Hatcher because he kills people with a hatchet.
One night the hospital burns down and Alice and Hatch escape. They set out to look for the white rabbit, Alice’s downfall and, as it turns out, Hatch’s as well. They meet other characters whose names you will recognise from the original book but, they are really not the same! The two of them go on a journey which Hatch seems to have created in his head, remembering things as he arrives at places and meets new people. They go to see the caterpillar (who runs a brothel) and this scene is one of the most disturbing. Magical creatures are created and Alice seems to be extremely powerful without knowing it. As she starts to get used to her power and control it, life gets hard for the bad guys.
This book explores drugs, rape and sexual abuse, control of people through drugs and mind control. The city is run by different gang lords and they kill people, violently.
I read this book with an open mind. My memory of the original story was a bit hazy (although I’m pretty sure it was nothing like this!) and I kept trying to connect characters. Don’t bother, it doesn’t really help. I like the darkness of it, the other world that is created made my skin crawl, and although Alice was a bit of a dope, she does come good in the end. She also has magical powers then she needs to learn how to control, hopefully this will be explored in the next book.
I would recommend though, if you are of a delicate nature or don’t want to read and explore dark and violent themes, that you don’t read this. What ever happened to Alice, it wasn’t nice and, although she does seem to have some recollection of it by the end of the book, your imagination will fill in some gaps, and none of it is good.