RaveNPR...Violet is a direct, affecting, and psychologically thrilling slice of Midwestern gothic ... Make no mistake: There isn\'t a shred of originality to Violet. Then again, it doesn\'t need any. Thomas\' scary tropes may be well-worn, but his slowly gathering storm spirals around the poignant relationship between Kris and Sadie...Thomas\' deft use of flashbacks and vignettes unveils layer after layer of his characters\' psyches, and his employment of everyday details in the service of sheer, skin-crawling fright is masterful. You\'ll never hear The Beatles\' \'Blackbird\' or look at a hive of bees the same way ever again. Violet\'s horror is quiet, an emanation from the shadows rather than an assault of guts and gore. And the book\'s big reveal is as satisfying as it is soul-wrenchingly unsettling, a peek behind the darkness of grief when it\'s pulled back like a curtain ... [Scott\'s] beautifully delineated backdrop of Kansan mundanity only makes his revelations of terror all the more pronounced in comparison. The atmosphere is brooding and foreboding; the foreshadowing is pregnant with suspense. Thomas knows how to smolder, and the misty waters of Lost Lake gape and beckon as ominously as the unknown itself ... Thomas has crafted an indelible story of childhood games and grownup anxieties, all wrapped in a supernatural shroud that unfurls from the heart of America. Whether or not thoughts can breathe, books certainly can, and Violet does exactly that.
