| Author: | Matt Shaw |
| Genre(s): | ➡️Extreme Horror |
| Series? | ✅ Yes |
| Goodreads Rating: | ⭐ 4.13 (71 ratings; 33 reviews) |
| Personal Rating: | ⭐ 5 / 5 Overall |
| Trigger Warnings: | children abuse, extreme violence, torture, sexual content |
🛑 Spoiler Warning 🛑
I might be recounting events, characters, and themes so THIS MIGHT BE FULL OF SPOILERS.
If you’d like to read a review with the spoilers hidden, kindly scroll to the bottom to read my spoiler-free review or head to my Goodreads post. You don’t need an account to read it. 🙂
SPOILER-FREE Description
Taken from Goodreads:
The Hub is an orphanage for children aged 4 to 12, known only to the wealthy.
The patrons of the orphanage are the Fred Wests of society. Those looking for “pets” with which to indulge their darkest desires. One such pet is Tara Nicholson who, when “adopted” is subjected to all manners of nastiness until she manages to get away.
🌟Review (5/5) 🌟
“What the f*ck?!” is my thought every few pages. There’s a reason why this is banned (or at the very least will never be available) in Amazon.
I really debated whether I should read this because I know violence, especially sexual violence, against children is a huge trigger of mine but I figured I can just skip the scenes and if the plot can’t stand without that then it’s not good, right? Man. I was so right! I had to skip the scenes that I couldn’t take but I still got chills. The violence to children in this was nowhere light. I’m talking slicing-n*pples, children-brainwashed-to-give-s*xual-pleasures kind of f*cked up. My stomach could not settle the entire time I read this.
The thing that pushed me to read this was that the blurb was so interesting and the cover is really creepy. I know that I’m in for a good horror movie or story when there are creepy children involved. I thought this was going to be an orphanage training the kids to be some sort of assassins or as very submissive maids that they eventually break, choose violence, and throw a coup towards the orphanage administrators. I was waiting for them to get their revenge but unfortunately, that didn’t happen. I want to see those two men who run the orphanage get what they deserve!!! Every politician and rich person who ‘adopted’!!! I’m so freaking invested now because the children deserve to revolt and get their revenge!!! All throughout the story it goes back and forth between the present and the children while they were ‘training’ in the hub and the ‘training’ sessions make me physically gag. Again, I had to skip through a lot of it because it legitimately involved sexually pleasing adults and I just can’t take that. I want all of them to burn!!!
Another thing that kept me going was that it was legitimately well-written. There are a lot of books out there that write violence and shock just for the sake of it, but in this book, they were integrated into the plot so well. It was straightforward to read. Once the unsettling feeling kicks in it just gets worse. I was heartbroken, disgusted, and nervous for the children I just want to reach the end because I wanted them to get revenge.
If you like the types of movies, shows, or books where children are trying to survive and have a strong stomach, check out the book directly from the author’s website!
The Stray Reader 
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