Overview
Timothy King’s novel “SEVEN RABBITS” is a brutal tale of sexual assault, heartbreak, and most importantly, revenge. This work takes the home intruder trope and flips it on its head. It is a quick read that is filled with atmosphere and brutality.
Setting & Premise
The majority of “SEVEN RABBITS” unfolds in a secluded cabin in Florida, where a group of High School football players venture out for a night of unbridled debauchery. The students spend the evening drinking heavily and smoking weed, before sitting down to watch a PowerPoint presentation, wherein the images of girls each of them has assaulted in some manner, including a video one of the players was unaware was filmed of him and a girl he is seriously in love with.
This typical cabin in the woods story takes a violent turn during the middle of the night when a series of people wearing creepy children’s rabbit masks descend upon the cabin with machetes in hand.
Trapped in the cabin the gang of football players band together to do whatever it takes to survive the night.
Narrative Structure
King begins by introducing us to the football players who will be staying the night in the cabin in the woods. He then begins to flashbacks, introducing us to a series of High School girls who have each been bullied, exploited, and sexually assaulted by the players at the cabin. We are also introduced to their parents and begin to learn about the great traumas each of them has endured at the hands of the football players.
Flashing back and forth between the attack at the cabin, and the girls who the football players mistreated, we quickly begin to uncover who is hiding behind the creepy rabbit masks.
Writing Style
King has a very direct writing style. He does not include filler just for the sake of it. He gets straight to the point in revealing what is happening and the identities of the “SEVEN RABBITS.” He is very descriptive in the violence depicted on the pages, and is great at establishing tension throughout the novel.
The pacing is super fast, giving us breaks in between harrowing scenes of graphic violence, only to force us to deal with the emotional and physical violence of other characters who are not in direct harm at the cabin. This creates great tension and pays off in the end.
Final Assessment
“SEVEN RABBITS” is a great debut novel by author Timothy King. He has created one hell of a revenge tale that is believable, and at times utterly horrifying.
King is great a generating tension, and truly making the reader feel like they are experiencing the horror presented on each page. He is a descriptive author who hopefully is just getting started in the realm of horror.
Rating: 4/5 (There were a few spelling and grammar mistakes scattered throughout the novel that were distracting)
