On the Savage Side

 On the Savage Side

Reviewed By  Nan van Dissel       February 18, 2023

 

Author  Tiffany McDaniel

Distributor:      Hachette Australia
ISBN:                 9781399606080
Publisher:         Hachette Australia. Imprint W&M
Release Date:   February 2023  

   Website:   https://www.hachette.com.au

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Writer of two successful novels, Tiffany McDaniel’s has dedicated her third book ‘On the Savage Side’ to the six violently murdered women who disappeared in the area around Chillicothe in 2014-15.  Like some of the victims of this crime, the six central protagonists of this dark novel turn to prostitution as a result of drug dependency.  

Arcade (Arc) Doggs, and her twin sister Daffodil (Daffy) live with their heroin addict parents and aunt in the small declining town Chillicothe, Ohio. Mother and aunt are both sex workers. When they are six, their father dies of an overdose, which results in their home life becoming more unpredictable and it is only the loving attention provided by Mamaw Milkweed until she died, which provided some normality. 

The twin sisters retreat into their fierce imagination, while growing up in the 1980’s but by the time they are in their teens, they too have succumbed to heroin addiction and turned to sex work to support their habit. They associate with and befriend other women in the street, who start to disappear and wash up dead on the shores of the river. As Arc and Daffy spiral ever downwards, and the killer gets closer and closer, the girls wonder if there is any escape from the savage side.

Although this novel may at first appear to be a mystery or thriller, it could be better described as an exploration of addiction, powerlessness and grief. Narrator, Arc who struggles with flashbacks to a violent childhood, exposes the reader to poverty, neglect, abuse and pedophilia, but also to the fierce and unbreakable bond between the sisters.

This disturbingly heavy read is not for the faint hearted, but readers who are looking for an emotional, hard hitting well written story, this is for you!    

Crime, Fiction