The Pale White by Chad Lutzke and published by indie horror publisher Crystal Lake Publishing. The Pale White is an intriguing story filled to the brim with everyone’s worst real-life horror: sex trafficking. The story follows three girls who have been kidnapped and are being pimped out to various men every day. It highlights the relationship between all three girls, their mental health, and the fear of the unknown. It shows how hard it is for the girls to band together to survive. It dives deep into the intricacies of the relationships between each other as well as with their captor. The Pale White explores how each girl’s mental health deteriorates in their own, unique ways. This story is about survival at all costs.

What I love about this novel is that it doesn’t need a trigger warning: it is very vague on the sexual assaults. The Pale White focuses on the mental health and background of the girls. The oldest thinks she’s a vampire a la The Transfiguration (2016), the middle one has a rough home life and is the newest to the gang, and the youngest one hasn’t spoken a word in over a year.

Lutzke balances on that sharp edge of horror. He knows how to create horrific scenes while also weaving a web of thought provoking symbolism that leaves you wanting to tear into Lutzke’s mind and dig out all of the skeletons from his closet.

This book will disgust, frighten, and horrify you. It is also a real tear-jerker. That’s what I love about today’s horror market: in-depth plot lines that make you feel every emotion under the sun.

I rated this book with five stars because the prose is beautiful, the message is haunting, and the story sticks with you like a piece of gum in your hair.