The story is more character than plot driven and describes the dark dynamics of teenage friendships. Ken is Adam’s son, an aspiring politician with a wife and spunky twin daughters. His younger sister, Abby, is an artist, single, 38, and pregnant—she hasn’t told a soul yet. A couple from Boston, Steph and her wife, Toni, and newborn son, are spending their family leave here on the peninsula. Steph, adopted, has recently learned that Adam is her biological father. Having a baby has changed her concept of “family,” and she wants to explore whether to tell the Gardner family this news. Almost 70yo brilliant oceanographer Adam is struggling to feel relevant in his job and life. He has (mostly) raised his two children Ken and Abby as a single parent after his wife died young. His “little monsters” (his words) are now adults — Ken is a successful businessman / wannabe politician and Abby is an artist. Well, in this story we have three teenage friends: Kacey, Bailey and Jade. Kacey is new in town and is devastated to learn that Bailey has disappeared and is presumed dead by many of the people in the town she lives in, but worst of all is when Kacey starts being considered a suspect in the investigation. Evil isn’t a spirit or a monster or a ghost. It lives inside regular people, and it doesn’t know the difference between night and day.

An] engaging and neatly plotted novel. . . Little Monsters is so alluring, with its sense of looming familial implosion within a cultural implosion. . . Brodeur is very deliberately examining a small family horror story within a larger political context.” — The New York TimesThis reading group guide for Little Monsters includes an introduction, discussion questions, ideas for enhancing your book club, and a Q&A with author Adrienne Brodeur. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.

Published and if you enjoy secrets, family dynamics and our authors love and familiarity for Cape Cod you may enjoy this!*I would recommend this dark mystery with a hint of the paranormal. I did not adore it however. I liked it greatly. And now I need to use spoilers. Three woman who join together to rent a large space along the beach in Los Angeles for their stores—a gift shop, a bakery, and a bookstore—become fast friends as they each experience the highs, and lows, of love.

Adam tried to decipher the clues his mind was depositing. He had one big discovery left in him, he felt sure of that. This thing, whatever it was—an idea? a theory?—was taking its own sweet time to make itself known. He knew he needed to trust the process. If he could practice patience and maintain equilibrium, Adam felt certain that every book he’d ever read, every piece of art that had ever moved him, every conversation, creature, curiosity, and concept he’d encountered in his lifetime would align like cherries in the slot machine of his mind. I'd love to see a part two or even a prequel. I also would have LOVED to see a POV from Jade or Laura. Maybe a chilling diary entry from one of them as the last chapter! In other words, the book was to good to end when it did...and with SO many questions. I was fascinated and really wanted to know more. I also wanted to know how Jade got to Laura and convinced her. We are told not shown and I wanted to be shown not told.All in this complex family are hiding buried secrets. Is it possible to “hide an entire life behind a lie?” Envy and jealousy among family members will gradually climax and culminate at the birthday bash. The skeletons will come out of the closet by the end!