Review: Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power

Author: Rory Power
Publisher: Delacourte Press
Publication Date: July 2020

Ever since Margot was born, it’s been just her and her mother. No answers to Margot’s questions about what came before. No history to hold on to. No relative to speak of. Just the two of them, stuck in their run-down apartment, struggling to get along.

But that’s not enough for Margot. She wants family. She wants a past. And she just found the key she needs to get it: A photograph, pointing her to a town called Phalene. Pointing her home. Only, when Margot gets there, it’s not what she bargained for.

Margot’s mother left for a reason. But was it to hide her past? Or was it to protect Margot from what’s still there?

The only thing Margot knows for sure is there’s poison in their family tree, and their roots are dug so deeply into Phalene that now that she’s there, she might never escape. 

In Burn Our Bodies Down,   has always wondered where her mother's family came from.  She finds clues in a family Bible and sets out to find the family she has never known. But, is it really what she was hoping for?   I had to take a few days to decide if I liked this book.  I have come to the conclusion that I really didn't.

I did like the beginning of the book.  I loved the idea of the creepy town and things not being quite right about Margot's grandmother's farm.   But that was about it.  The story overall was not great.  It took a weird  and disappointing turn.  I thought I was getting something supernatural, but it's more sci-fi, so be prepared for that.  I didn't like the main character.  She was so whiny and really a brat.  I was not rooting for her toward the end.  I probably should have DNF'd the book.  I really don't think  I can recommend this one.