My Two Cents Worth: RIPPED UP THE MIDDLE IN TWO by Viggy Parr Hampton

"The Rotting Room" by Viggy Parr Hampton was my favorite read from last year, so I'm not going to lie. To me, she's one of the top voices in indie horror, but not only that: she's one of the most imaginative and versatile authors around. Her latest release, "Ripped Up The Middle in Two," is no exception.

The story, in part, taps into the fiercely debated public conversation surrounding Lindsay Clancy's murder trial. While the timing is unintentional on Parr Hampton's part, and nothing short of coincidence, "Ripped Up The Middle in Two" explores the same themes of post-partum depression and psychosis. Beyond that, however, through the book, Parr Hampton also addresses the often unflattering and sometimes brutal realities of motherhood itself.

In "Ripped Up The Middle in Two," new mother Sadie is a one-time successful businesswoman who has set all of her professional ambitions and aspirations aside to stay home and raise her sweet, cherubic daughter Holly. Sadie is still recovering from the very-real physical complications of having given birth (like an episiotomy, sore nipples, and engorged, leaking breasts), and also struggling with what was once dismissively referred to as "the baby blues." The fluctuations in her hormones leave her struggling with debilitating depression one minute, and unadulterated adoration for Holly in the next, and in between these peaks and valleys, Sadie finds herself desperate for uninterrupted sleep, plagued with self loathing, and faced with crippling loneliness.

Complicating matters is Sadie's husband, Cash, who, for all practical purposes, seems well-intentioned, but spends more time on the golf course than he does with his beleaguered wife and new daughter. When he tries to "help," it usually causes more problems than it solves, leaving Sadie even more frustrated and closer to her breaking point.

She finds comfort in her neighbor and friend, Kendall, with who she shared "crafternoons" in which they try to replicate those annoying kitschy and cute arts and crafts projects we've all seen on the internet. But what Sadie really longs for is the friendship and camaraderie of another neighbor named Jessica who is beautiful, fit, effortlessly fashionable, and always surrounded by an entourage of wine-sipping besties with perfect hair, dental veneers, acrylic nails, and Lululemon ensembles. Sadie and Kendall call Jessica and her crew the "Yoga Moms," and they are everything Sadie isn't, and more importantly, everything she wants to be. Thus, in an attempt to impress and charm Jessica and her gang, Sadie decides on a new craft project: hand-painted fairy doors which she plans to install throughout the neighborhood.

Fairy doors are, as you might expect, miniature doors you can affix to garden walls, flower beds, or tree trunks. They'd decorative and cute, and Sadie fantasizes about how delighted and charmed Jessica and the Yoga Moms will be when she's done hammering them into trees throughout the subdivision. While she's out on a walk with Holly, setting the fairy doors into place, she happens upon an unusual trail in a wooded area in the neighborhood. Curiosity piqued, she takes her stroller off-road to explore.

At the end of the path, she finds a strange, sinister-looking tree. Fashioned into the base of the trunk is a miniature door -- not one of the charming, brightly colored fairy doors she herself has crafted, but something rustic, even ominous.

From there, the story follows its own winding path through dark and treacherous terrain, as Sadie begins first to imagine what might live on the other side of that creepy little door, then begins to dream about something monstrous emerging from beyond its threshold. She begins to find evidence, first throughout the neighborhood, then closer to home, of something malevolent that's taken interest in her and Holly. As that dark entity encroaches further into Sadie's life, she begins to spiral more and more out of control.

"Ripped Up The Middle in Two" is a fairy tale, only the dark, twisted variety the Grimm brothers originally intended. There are no cute, woodland fae folk in Parr Hampton 's book; instead, she brings the legends back to their medieval roots, when fairies and pixies were spiteful and wicked, preying on humans, and coveting children for their own dark purposes. The true terror, however, lies in the fact that as readers, we can't tell if the things Sadie witnesses and experiences are real, or if they're only occurring in her mind, if between hormones, exhaustion, marital strife, and stress, she's just been taxed to the brink. Or if, when she finally loses it, what horrific end will be the result.

I hadn't thought there was any way Parr Hampton could top "The Rotting Room" in my esteem, but she did with "Ripped Up The Middle in Two." It's a brilliant book. As a wife, woman, and mother, I identified with Sade's struggles, sorrows, and frustrations. And as a horror fan -- and unapologetic Parr Hampton fangirl -- I couldn't stop reading, because I had to know what happened next. As usual, she keeps you guessing in all the best ways.

"Ripped Up The Middle in Two" is available here.