Mayhem: A Novel

Evidently, when Lyle hit Mayhem was enough for Roxy. She flees from her second husband with her daughter in tow back to her roots in Santa Maria, California. Mayhem finally comes home but cannot learn anything about her family’s past so Mayhem steals a diary that chronicles the Brayburn family line. When she finds the secret cave and drinks the water within, she sees firsthand the magic described about the women in her family. With this new magic, she hunts a killer on the beach responsible for the disappearance of several teenage girls. What she doesn’t know but needs to discover quickly is whether she can decide who lives and who dies, something that may have sent her mother escaping from her childhood home years before.

The powerful bonds of family feature foremost in this tale, regardless of the amount of time spent apart, both the bonds of love and the hidden recesses of darkness. The backdrop of abuse combined with the magic of the family line proves to be a recipe for an explosion, though it is unexpected in its resolution, injecting a bit of humor. Closely following The Lost Boys movie storyline makes it less original but still an enjoyable read.