Mister Tender's Girl

by Carter Wilson

[Quirky Cat]

Mister Tender’s Girl is a disturbing tale of one woman, and the horrific events of her past – and her future. Cart Wilson has created a highly chilling tale here, one that is sure to stick with readers for years to come.
Alice survived a horrible stabbing, courtesy of her classmates and the obsession they carried. You see, they just couldn’t get over a graphic novel that her father had written, and it compelled them to take drastic action.
That was then. Now, Alice is grown and living well away from her father and that past. Or so she thinks. For it turns out that the past is never far behind. Not for Alice. Because Mister Tender is looking for his girl.

Warnings: Themes such as stalking, abuse, hunting, and so much more are all depicted within these pages. The description should probably be enough of a warning there, but I figured I’d make that clear, just in case.

Mister Tender’s Girl is every bit the chilling and terrifying novel that the description makes it out to be. Carter Wilson has really gone above and beyond in laying out such a terrifying tale. This is a novel unashamed about being exactly what it is: a thriller through and through.
I’ve seen this sort of general concept several times before now; secondary characters becoming obsessed with a fictional (yet evil) being and using it to target the main perspective. I still appreciate what Wilson has done here. Mister Tender’s Girl is not quite like any other version I’ve seen or heard of – and it is infinitely more daunting.
It doesn’t take much to get into the mind of Alice, and that makes her struggles and trials feel all the more real. The sense of being hunted and followed feels so much more terrifying when you realize that you actually care about Alice’s fate.
As always with a thriller of this nature, this is a novel unafraid to get really and truly dark. That does mean that there are some graphic and horrible things that happen, especially towards the end of the book. But It felt like a natural extension to the plot, so no complaints here.
Mister Tender’s Girl was every bit as alarming and terrifying as I was hoping – and arguably more so. It is certainly a novel that will stick in my head…and make certain that I triple and double-check for locked doors and activated alarm systems. Not that it’ll do much good, if I were being hunted as Alice was.