A man’s body is found behind a corner store, his heart cut out and the smell of perfume in the air, leading locals to think the killer is a woman, or maybe, if the rumors of hoofprints at the scene are true, something supernatural. Meanwhile, seven year old Layla is growing up, longing for a pet donkey, too young to understand the dangers that surround her as a girl growing up.

Eman Quotah is an Arab-American author, and this is her debut novel. I was drawn to this one as a horror novel that revolves around folklore that I don’t know much about. Namely, the female djinn Umm al-Duwais which is half woman and half animal, and is a seductress who lures men to their deaths. A kind of boogeyman for wayward men, out after dark. An interesting figure.

I didn’t get into this one at all. It’s not really horror, it’s more a coming of age story, following Layla as she grows up and coms out into a dangerous world for women. Interspersed into this are the murders of men that occur, and this just didn’t match up for me, tonally. There’d be a killing and I wanted to know more, lean into it either being a serial killer or a creature, but it would move away and come back to this growing up story. It left me not interested in either thing.

The other problem for me was that Layla is “not like other girls” because her reason for loving donkey’s and wanting one of her own is that they symbolise freedom to her, independence. Are seven year old girls dreaming of freedom and independence? She came across as a little spoiled to me, knowing her father will give her anything she wants. It’s funny, her reasons for being drawn to donkey’s feel like the kinds of things you might attribute to a “horse girl”, but she’s not like other girls so she is made to like donkeys. I love donkeys. They’re very lovely animals, very smart and lovable. But symbolically, I think they’re more associated with hard work and carrying heavy loads, due to their compact strength, with stubborness, rather than freedom. And also, if you’ve met a few donkeys, they’re such little characters, they’re goofballs. I guess you could say they are independent thinkers because they’re smart, but generally they’re not associated with independence. This just didn’t work for me. It’s like she’s a horse girl, but not like other horse girls because she likes donkeys. Well, OK then. Personally, I find that you can care about your appearance and typically feminine things and also be an absolute powerhouse, but it’s not my story.

I think the idea was fine, to have this scary things happening on the doorstep of this girl growing up, but the ending didn’t really satisfy me. I felt like some of the feminist messaging was a little heavy handed, but not bad. I liked the way the author used scents and smells throughout the book. That was evocative. I just found it so hard to settle into and read. I felt like I knew where it was going after a while, and that’s where it went. So this one was not for me, really.

Read It If: this one is maybe for you if you want a coming of age with some dark themes. I don’t think it will satisfy horror readers, and I think it may be too murder-y for some coming of age readers.

Thank you to HBG Canada for the copy of this book for review.