From Goodreads: It’s Christmas Eve, and Vera Coffey is on the run. She doesn’t know the men who are after her. She has never seen them before, but she has seen the horrors they visit on people who don’t give them what they want. Vera has something they want badly. She’d give it up if it weren’t the only thing keeping her alive.

The Larkins have known the toll violence takes on a family ever since they were trapped in a madman’s shooting rampage. They’ve been coping with the trauma for nearly twenty years. Now, on a cold and lonely winter morning, Vera collapses at their roadside motel. And she’s brought something with her. Together they’ll have to make one last stand against an evil that has followed them further than anyone could’ve imagined.
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I honestly don’t know what I think of this novel.  I mean, I’m still trying to figure out what exactly happened.  I think the premise for the novel was there, but I got lost somewhere between the multiple characters and the fantastical situations within the story.  While I understand both the Larkins’ and Vera’s situation, the connecting force between them, the box, the man staying at the motel, and the Pitch was a bit blurry.  There were so many characters and I really had a hard time connecting with them all; I would have liked them to be a little more fleshed out as I think it may have added to the suspense of the novel had I cared more about what happened to the characters. 

While this novel is classified as horror, I wouldn’t say it is scary as much as it is bloody.  This isn’t something I’d give my kids to read, that’s for sure, as the murders and scenes within it made me a bit ill.  I think this novel might be enticing for those who enjoy gore and such, perhaps those who enjoy the Saw movies will like this novel, but it’s not for me.  Two stars.

I won a copy of this novel from Goodreads First Reads.