As children, Faye and her friend Anna violently attacked their babysitter. When arrested and pressed to why they did it, they claimed it was for the Kingman, a creature of urban legend popular on the internet. The fallout follows them and their families into their adulthood.
Years later, Faye’s mother Sylvia finds out that her now-adult daughter has gone missing. With the help of her now estranged husband, Jack, Sylvia sets out to find out where Faye is. Along the way, she contemplates her feelings for her daughter, and just how real the Kingman might actually be.
“After everything that’s happened—are you happy that you had your daughter?”
The story seems to take heavy inspiration from a real incident from 2014, where two girls attempted to murder a classmate, believing that the murder would appease the Slenderman, a monster invented on the SomethingAwful forums.
The book is concerned with how stories and legends interact with real life. The Kingman may not be “real,” but if someone is convinced they are real enough to attempt to murder another person in his name, could they be said to be “real” in some way? How many people would have to be convinced the Kingman is real before, for all intents and purposes, he is?
Throughout the second half of the novel, Sylvia and Jack are seeking out a professor who specializes in myths and is the foremost expert on the Kingman. Among other things, the professor argues the Kingman is older than current internet myths, pointing out places in historical stories where the creature seems to appear. He even has people going through Lake Superior to find an island where the Kingman supposedly dwells. It results in a fascinating climax when Sylvia finally finds him.
The main concern of the novel, however, is the limitations of parental love and responsibility. After Faye’s crime, Sylvia’s life and family are destroyed. She doesn’t see Faye for years after, and ends up divorcing from her husband. It also alienates her from her sister and other family members.
Sylvia begins questioning if she was happy having Faye in the first place. Even as she goes out of her way to search for Faye, the idea she regrets having a child at all haunts her. Like We Need to Talk About Kevin, it explores the idea that having a child may not be a good in itself, rather something that can ruin one’s life.
The plot makes for an entertaining thriller. In the early parts of the novel, Faye’s violent attack is recounted through newspaper articles, transcripts of police interviews, and book excerpts. Instead of describing the crime exactly, these show the reactions throughout the community it caused.
One criticism I have is that the voices of these other documents isn’t very distinct. They all have roughly the same voice as the rest of the prose in the book. This especially stands out with how Sylvia’s voice are told in first person and the rest in third, and there’s little difference between the two.
Despite that, Monsters We Have Made is an entertaining read and emotionally resonate. It works well as a mystery with a monster possibly lurking somewhere near the end, and a story about an alienated family trying to mend their wounds. I think this novel is well worth picking up and I’d like to see what Lindsay Starck comes out with in the future.
Buy Monsters We Have Made by Lindsay Starck