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Summer Sons
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Original price was: $18.99.$12.99Current price is: $12.99.
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Lee Mandelo’s debut Summer Sons is a sweltering, queer Southern Gothic that crosses Appalachian street racing with academic intrigue, all haunted by a hungry ghost.
Andrew and Eddie did everything together, best friends bonded more deeply than brothers, until Eddie left Andrew behind to start his graduate program at Vanderbilt. Six months later, only days before Andrew was to join him in Nashville, Eddie dies of an apparent suicide. He leaves Andrew a horrible inheritance: a roommate he doesn’t know, friends he never asked for, and a gruesome phantom that hungers for him.
As Andrew searches for the truth of Eddie’s death, he uncovers the lies and secrets left behind by the person he trusted most, discovering a family history soaked in blood and death. Whirling between the backstabbing academic world where Eddie spent his days and the circle of hot boys, fast cars, and hard drugs that ruled Eddie’s nights, the walls Andrew has built against the world begin to crumble.
And there is something awful lurking, waiting for those walls to fall.
At the Publisher’s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
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Categories: Best Books of 2024 So Far
Product name:
Summer Sons
Price:
Original price was: $18.99.$12.99Current price is: $12.99.
Luca Rizzo –
Credo che sia una delle migliori storie Gay Horror che abbia mai letto
Eclectic Reader –
“Edward said that his research was spurned by his own, how did he describe it, spooky childhood experience in the hollers…” No one was supposed to know about those childhood experiences, and “spooky” didn’t begin to cover the horror crawling out of his memories like an oozing swamp.
As kids Andrew Blur and Eddie Fulton are inseparable. From swearing blood brotherhood at age eleven to applying “for the same graduate program” to work on the same thesis, “friends meant nothing in comparison to what [Andrew] and Eddie were to each other.” Subsequently, Andrew is demoralized when Eddie leaves for college early and refuses to allow Andrew to join him right away at Vanderbilt. More puzzling, Eddie gets a housemate, Riley Sowell, when Eddie does not need the money from another to help with the rent, having inherited a fortune from his deceased parents. Most shattering, however, is the fact that Eddie allegedly commits suicide while at college before Andrew arrives. It is a death which overwhelms Andrew, one he refuses to believe, and he becomes determined to get to the root of the truth of what happened to his best friend who has left his fortune to Andrew.
SUMMER SONS (2021; 384 pp.) is the first novel by writer and critic Lee Mandelo and it is being heralded as a successful Southern gothic tale of the supernatural and much more.
Mandelo quickly establishes the tenor of SUMMER SONS as Andrew, filled with grief, makes clear to university officials his intention to carry on Eddie’s thesis work on “regional occult folklore.” More significantly, it quickly becomes apparent Andrew is plagued by a ghost/haunt/revenant which is trying to gain possession of him. Its occasional grisly appearance is quite startling. SUMMER SONS, however, is much more than a horror novel. The book frequently takes on aspects of a mystery as it is riddled with puzzles as Andrew tries to find out what happened to Eddie and who may be responsible, while often discovering important work, books he utilized, and personal items belonging to Eddie have all disappeared.
SUMMER SONS is also deeply concerned about relationships. There is an on-going thread in the novel concerning Andrew and Eddie in regards to a critical and horrifying experience they shared when younger as well as a question as to what their bond truly was and whether it transcended mere friendship. Andrew not only inherits Eddie’s fortune, but Eddie’s roommate, Riley Sowell. In his pursuit of truth, Andrew also begins to get involved with Riley’s cousin, Sam Halse, a garage mechanic and drug deliverer as well as the head of a “rough crowd” of hard drinking, drug taking, drag racing twenty-some year-old males which Eddie became a part. These relationships all put Andrew at considerable and increasing unease.
SUMMER SONS is a very slowly paced novel which is likely to put off readers who just want to get on with the story and engross themselves purely in the horror of the novel. There is also a somewhat considerable amount of repetition throughout the work as Andrew meets dead end after dead end. However, the pace Mandelo adopts allows for readers to get to know the story’s characters in rich detail and to both care and speculate about them. Mandelo skillfully knows when to insert a truly chilling moment into the story and how to slowly escalate the tension involving the paranormal which Eddie and then Andrew both investigate and which obviously involves both of the boys, especially Eddie, on a very personal level.
Also tying the book’s personal relationships to the supernatural elements and the aura of mystery which surrounds the novel is Andrew (and formerly Eddie’s) “sixth-year Ph.D” peer mentor, Thom West, who is “doing research on occult fiction and the Southern gothic,” and academic adviser, Dr. Jane Troth. The author’s insight into academic life at Vanderbilt adds a further layer to the story.
As the chronicle of SUMMER SONS continues to move forward small revelations and clues begin to be exposed about the phantom which threatens Andrew and the hidden and oft times pernicious backgrounds and motivations of some of the characters. Additionally, Andrew takes an essential step accepting his sexuality as well as acting upon it with one of the characters who may very well surprise readers.
Mandelo quickens the pace of the novel for the latter portion. Events begin to take on a more sinister character—both supernaturally and in real life—tied together as they have been throughout the novel. The discovery there is more than just a ghost involved in the story involving Eddie and Andrew but the lives of generations of two local families heightens the book’s tension. As such, in a process of elimination, the truth about Eddie’s death and the awesome evolution taking place within Andrew becomes more and more clear and ominous.
Readers’ patience will be more than fulfilled as SUMMER SONS has a deadly, fiery, nail-biting climax which results in mysteries solved and also brings the book to a most satisfying and promising end. For a debut novel, Lee Mandelo makes quite an impact.
Kylie Eason –
This book is well written but was difficult for me to fully immerse myself in.
I sit here unsure on just how to articulate my feelings… this book could really go either way. I read it as part of a book club and the other girls loved it; I just had a hard time with visualization and I’m a very visual reader.
If you’re on the fence I say go for it, and give this one a read
SteveMac –
Although u found this book interesting Andrew’s character was too unforgiving and unyielding. Understanding that he was mourning the liss if his friend but he could’ve been made to be more open and less skeptical.
Mandy G. –
This is a book that I pre-ordered last summer because the synopsis absolutely gripped me and the cover was BEAUTIFUL but (in a shocking plot twist that surprises nobody) it took me almost a year to pick it up. Part of me wishes that I had read this at school when it was first released since it has a very ~dark academia~ vibe that I didn’t really expect going in and the haunting, ghostly nature of the story would’ve been a good spooky season read, however, I almost think that reading this outside in summertime on a gloomy day was almost better. It took me a while to get invested in the story, but once I hit the 50 or 60 page mark: I. could. not. put. this. book. down. (The bonfire scene is what hooked me). This book is a reflection of its promotional tropes to a tee and the vibes were messy, chaotic, somber, reflective, hazy… the best of everything the ~unhinged, queer, twenty-something~ genre has to offer. This is a vibe that I love on paper and love about 50% of the time in practice and what really separates the good ones from the bad are the hook and the themes; in other words, the plot point that sets the story in motion. A murder mystery? You got me. Supernatural curses? Yep, I’m here. Surprisingly nuanced insights into academia’s problematic nature? Sign me up.
I loved the vast representation in this book from a trans-masc character with ALL the best lines, a cast of troublemakers who won’t stand for homophobia (and might be a little *flicks wrist* themselves), poly rep, and… of course… the genre’s staple: repressed main character with extremely intimate bestie who he is definitely in love with where everybody in both their lives is just waiting for them to kiss and get it over with but of course murder gets in the way and said feelings are never given an adequate resolution because, ya know, ~death~ and whatnot. One day I’ll re-read this book with a rainbow highlighter and make a powerpoint presentation to serve as a blueprint for all future MC’s to find out if their platonic besties are quite as platonic as they think they are. MEN. I lament the fact that sapphic dark academia doesn’t quite let their protagonists repressedly pine to the extent that mlm ones do (the closest we’ve ever gotten that I’ve found so far is A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee that nailed it on the toxic relationship aspect but dropped the ball on pining) so when you’re picking up a book one day with a bunch of lesbian’s drag racing to procrastinate a murder investigation with a shit tone of sexual tension, that may or may not be me under a pen name.
Despite the fact that I guessed the villain pretty early in the novel, this was still an extremely interesting and enjoyable romp of a story with plenty of fast-paced, adrenaline rush scenes sandwiched around plenty of grief, pining, and spooky stuff to keep me up until 2:00 am reading. If you liked If We Were Villains by M. L. Rio, you’re gonna eat this shit up. No notes.
Lizet González Cuenca –
Lo pedí y pagué en pasta dura y me llegó blanda, tuve que devolverlo y cambiarlo, el segundo me llegó OK
Lejune –
the spooky and the mundane twisted together into something delightfully raw and real
Jo Conklin –
Andrew’s bond with his best friend Eddie was deeper than blood or friendship, rooted in deep magic and deeper secrets. When Andrew gets word of Eddie’s apparent suicide, it tears Andrew’s whole world apart. He’s drawn back to Nashville to piece together Eddie’s last days, certain that there’s more to the death than he’s been told.
I’m picky about gothics. Not because I’m somehow an expert in the genre, but specifically because I’m not. So my favorite gothics tend to be contemporary genre crossovers with accessible writing style, vivid characters, and a strong sense of place.
Summer Sons just clicked for me. It is a slow, dark, languid dive into the Appalachians. We walk the line of social tension between the elite and the back woods, old South generational wealth and generational curses, ivory towers and street racers, queer masculinity and violence.
Tim McCaffery –
good read
Lisa –
The first 20% of the book is pretty slow and I almost put it down, but I’m glad I stuck with it because I really enjoyed the characters and story once things got going. A very unique ghost story with a great atmosphere.
melanie –
Debo de admitir que al principio no entendí muy bien el libro, pero conforme vas leyendo y se va desarrollando la trama es hechizante y no podrás dejar de leerlo. Maravilloso de principio a fin, una historia de la dark academia que es perfecta para leer si no te molesta el tema sobre la muerte y los fantasmas. Un thriller muy bien elaborado.