“Kit and Fancy Cordelle are sisters of the best kind: best friends, best confidantes, and best accomplices. The daughters of the infamous Bonesaw Killer, Kit and Fancy are used to feeling like outsiders, and that’s just the way they like it. But in Portero, where the weird and wild run rampant, the Cordelle sisters are hardly the oddest or most dangerous creatures around.
It’s no surprise when Kit and Fancy start to give in to their deepest desire—the desire to kill. What starts as a fascination with slicing open and stitching up quickly spirals into a gratifying murder spree. Of course, the sisters aren’t killing just anyone, only the people who truly deserve it. But the girls have learned from the mistakes of their father, and know that a shred of evidence could get them caught. So when Fancy stumbles upon a mysterious and invisible doorway to another world, she opens a door to endless possibilities….”
When I got this, I was unaware it was slightly connected to Dia Reeves’ Bleeding Violet, which I’d previously read and loved. I actually didn’t even realize it was the same author, but I’d read a synopsis of Slice of Cherry and knew I had to read it. Once I started reading it, I quickly realized I’d read about this town before. With a little further poking around I confirmed my suspicious, that said Slice of Cherry can be read as a standalone book. The first book will explain the craziness of the town a bit better though.
That being said this is definitely a not a book for the faint of heart. There are some very bloody scenes in it, but isn’t that to be expected from a book about serial killers? The writing style is likely not going to be for everyone…the whole thing has a bit of a quirky horror feel. It vaguely reminds me of a horror movie from 2002 called May directed by Lucky McKee. Not in the storyline, but in the style it’s done. Both have this certain quality that gives you this urge to laugh out loud, even at some truely horrific scenes.
Personally, I loved Slice of Cherry, there were some scenes I could’ve done without, though. I hate eyeball scenes, for example. Ick! There are also a few references to scenes that are a bit too “adult” in nature. I say that to reinterate that this isn’t exactly an ideal book for all teens, despite the YA rating.
The two sisters are inseperable, they claim early on in the book that they are almost like one person. I kind of feel they are this way out of necessity in their eyes, they feel like everyone around them hates them because of what their father did. That being said, they like to torture and kill things which obviously makes them not so normal. At the same time that you are horrified by what the girls are doing, you feel sympathy for them. That’s not an often result in a book about murderers. Also despite the fact it was mentioned several times I often forgot the ages of the girls, at times I felt they were younger (especially Fancy) and at other times I felt they were older. The boys, Gabe and Ilan, offered a small ray of sunshine into the girls lives that was much needed. Their mother is very much an absentee mother and her choices left me in a bit of shock towards the end.
Just a couple of complaints: I would’ve loved for more of a storyline about the monsters in the town, they were mentioned several times, but never really expanded upon. Also at times the characters do fall a bit flat, but, on the other hand, it works pretty well for the story.
If you are interested and haven’t read Bleeding Violet yet, I urge you to read it first. It’s more of a toned down story than Slice of Cherry is and explains more of the town’s background.