Book Review: The Radleys by Matt Haig

Release Date: December 2010

Publisher: Free Press

Age Group: Adult/YA crossover appeal

Pages: 384

Source: My local library.

Summary:

Just about everyone knows a family like the Radleys. Many of us grew up next door to one. They are a modern family, averagely content, averagely dysfunctional, living in a staid and quiet suburban English town. Peter is an overworked doctor whose wife, Helen, has become increasingly remote and uncommunicative. Rowan, their teenage son, is being bullied at school, and their anemic daughter, Clara, has recently become a vegan. They are typical, that is, save for one devastating exception: Peter and Helen are vampires and have—for seventeen years—been abstaining by choice from a life of chasing blood in the hope that their children could live normal lives.


One night, Clara finds herself driven to commit a shocking—and disturbingly satisfying—act of violence, and her parents are forced to explain their history of shadows and lies. A police investigation is launched that uncovers a richness of vampire history heretofore unknown to the general public. And when the malevolent and alluring Uncle Will, a practicing vampire, arrives to throw the police off Clara's trail, he winds up throwing the whole house into temptation and turmoil and unleashing a host of dark secrets that threaten the Radleys' marriage.

The Radleys is a moving, thrilling, and radiant domestic novel that explores with daring the lengths a parent will go to protect a child, what it costs you to deny your identity, the undeniable appeal of sin, and the everlasting, iridescent bonds of family love. Read it and ask what we grow into when we grow up, and what we gain—and lose—when we deny our appetites. (From Simon & Schuster)
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The Radleys is addictive, funny, and beautifully written. And if you can't already tell, I really really liked it.

While the title characters of the novel, the Radleys, are a family of vampires, their story is less about blood lust than truth, temptation, and family. Author Matt Haig uses vampirism to explore secrets, lies that adults tell children to protect them, and temptations like adultery. Peter and Helen Radley are Abstainers who haven't given into temptation in years. And until an unfortunate incident involving an accidental death in a field, their children, Clara and Rowan, aren't even aware of their peculiar family secret.

Clara and Rowan are understandably upset to find that their parents lied to them. Complete abstinence from both human and vampire blood--Haig's version of the myth allows vamps to drink either one--comes with a price: the Radleys all have to wear SPF 60 sunscreen and they get rashes from the sun. They have difficulties sleeping instead of roaming at night and they always have headaches and feel slightly sick. The one thing that would make them feel better is something that they cannot, in good conscience, take. Instead, Peter and Helen told their kids they had photodermatitis and watched as Clara and Rown went through life as the awkward, sickly kids at school. Now, as teenagers, Clara loves animals but is unable to get close to them because they're scared of her and Rowan is in love with the new girl in school but can't find the confidence to tell her.

Add in a violent and unpredictable uncle, a monumental family secret, and a very tangled web of past actions and you get a thrilling tale packed with dramatic irony. For all the thrills, though, much of The Radleys feels normal. It's a story about a family. Given that the novel is shelved in the adult section, there are swear words, suggestive scenes, and violence, but there isn't anything that outpaces what can be found in young adult novels. The Radleys crosses age boundaries well.

I loved this book and when I brought it back to the library I wanted to wave it in the air and tell everyone I saw to put it on hold right away. I recommend it to anyone who likes solid writing, family dramas, vampire or paranormal novels, and love stories.