Tiffany McDaniel’s third novel opens with a dedication to its primary inspiration, the Chillicothe Six. A series of unsolved femicides which happened over a 12-month period beginning in May 2014. Through many vivid but unrelenting episodes, we feel the full force of McDaniel’s commitment to reimagining the lives of these victims, though often to the point of exhaustion.
Arc, the narrator, endures a pitiless existence in small-town Ohio, neglected by her drug-addled mother and consoling her twin sister with stories of female empowerment. After years of pummelling cruelty, mostly from their mother’s sadistic bedfellows, the sisters settle into the brutal rhythms of their environment, eventually succumbing to drugs and prostitution alongside other women, some of whom later begin to turn up dead in the local river.
It’s peopled by hardy, unsentimental women trapped in an endless cycle of poverty, drug addiction and encounters with grotesque and evil men
Although the straightforward action can be overpowering, McDaniel is careful in the images she produces. Her focus on the women is paramount, presenting lives where the women’s only means of expressing themselves is a combination of furious outbursts and whimsical, even mystical, asides.
Chillicothe is shown as a place where innocence is deliberately ground down. It’s peopled by hardy, unsentimental women trapped in an endless cycle of poverty, drug addiction and encounters with grotesque and evil men. There are episodes of violence and depravity graphic enough to keep one awake at night. It’s an infernal world where we are forced to feel its effects methodically, even glacially — a big ask from a long book.
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There are inconsistencies in the exposition. McDaniel often employs motifs and time shifts arrhythmically, some of which feel superfluous. Often the action itself feels clunky, repetitive, and even indulgent, but it serves to show just how helpless the characters are. Some aspects are chillingly effective. When spider drawings appear on the page, they aren’t spoilers or lazy suggestions. They’re trigger warnings.
This is an evocative and deeply moving story, one that’s informed by a tragic history but not losing sight of the need for engagement. At its core is an anxious mystery, full of foreshadowings which turn out to be erroneous or prophetic. It includes one final twist which will feel like a cheat, but it might be the only thing that can give Arc a sense of freedom.
