Family Feud to the Death

Driven home by grief, Cole returns to his family after being away for five years. He soon discovers that his brother, Joe, is locked in a bitter feud with a family who wants everything he's built for himself.

As things begin to escalate and tempers start to flare, Cole finds himself pulled into a world of violence, hatred, and unchecked rage.

There are no heroes. There are no villains. There is only the worst in us.

The Worst In Us by Elias Witherow (read 2017 interview with the author here at the Lair) is a brutal family drama, with the push-down-the-stairs delivery the author is best known for. Witherow carefully lays out each step, with individual challenges and success of one family contrasted with the downward spiral of another, only to hurt readers with one impact after another, as the quest for revenge escalates between the two groups of brothers.

The author does an excellent job of balancing savagery with suspense while revealing just how far all the characters are willing to go to punish one another. There are many horrific scenes in this novel, but Witherow shows decorum and does not use the violence as a plot device. There is some misdirection here and there, enhancing the shock value when the truth behind the feud is finally revealed.

Proceed with caution, Witherow spares no one...

As always,
AstraDaemon