To be most accurate, Dathan Auerbach's Bad Man is a good 3.5 star rating for me. Two children stumbling upon a body is where we begin this tale. Who's body we're unaware of at the time but there's much speculation once we get into the girth of the story.
Ben is charged with going to get groceries for the family with his young brother Eric. As he and Eric shop for their belongings, the younger of the two needs to use the bathroom. After a mishap with Eric's stuffed animal in an effort to clean him, Ben looks up to find that his younger brother has disappeared.
Everyone's worse nightmare is to lose their child anywhere especially with the amount of crazies in the world. Imagine being a young boy and carrying the guilt of the loss with you everywhere you go?
Bad Man skips ahead five years and continues with Ben looking for his lost little brother. He receives a job in the very grocery store that he lost Eric in. Against his (and his parents') better judgement, he works the night shift stocking the shelves. Ben hopes he might find something he may have missed over the years.
Ultimately, what kept me drawn into this novel is not only the hope that Ben finds Eric, but it is Ben and his incredible drive. He's an overweight kid with a bad leg as a result of a car crash. At times this handicap renders him almost useless, but he finds a way to persevere. He walks miles and miles knocking on doors, talking to neighbors, even breaking into places where his brother might be hidden.
There's not a day that goes by that Ben isn't haunted with Eric's ghost...
This also leaves us readers with trying to decipher between what's real and isn't. There were many moments I figured that Ben was going through some sort of psychological breakdown and that things were definitely looking strange. Even with this title being touted as horror, I didn't get that element of suspense or supernatural until a little later in the novel but by then I was over it.
Auerbach does a great job of introducing a sympathetic protagonist that carries the weight of the story for so long that I wanted him to be just taken out of his misery. I guess it was my misery as well. Is Eric alive? Will he be found? All signs point to some crazy places but I just need to know. This is my gripe. The anticipation of the ending only to be left with an unfulfilled feeling. There's a big plot twist that I feel was never really explained or explored. Yes going that route of the plot twist may have seemed obvious, but you can't put miscellaneous information out there and expect readers like me not to wonder what happened to it.
Essentially, Dathan Auerbach's Bad Man is an interesting and compelling read. Although I wasn't too happy with the ending, taking this journey with anyone else. His drive and determination kept me hooked. I felt that Ben didn't deserve the hardships he'd been dealt and I hoped that he would be OK. Please read to find out if he is OK... ****
Copy Provided by Doubleday Books via Netgalley
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