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Bloodline

Review

Bloodline

On September 5, 1944, six-year-old Jackie Theel of Paynesville, Minnesota, left school following his first day of kindergarten but didn’t make it home. Jackie’s mother never gave up looking for him, and developments as recently as 2016 revealed that certain aspects of his disappearance were never investigated. Author Jess Lourey has based her latest novel, in part, on this case.

The time is the late 1960s, and the setting is the small town of Lilydale, Minnesota. At first, I thought of Lily Dale in upstate New York, which allegedly is the most haunted town in the U.S. Upon doing some research, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Lilydale, MN, does exist; I just hope it is not as sinister a place as what is depicted in BLOODLINE.

The book opens with a screaming woman on a bed in a room that is not familiar to her. She was pregnant when she entered the room but, after personal inspection, realizes that is no longer the case. She is Joan Harken, an aspiring journalist who is leaving Minneapolis after a brutal mugging and relocating with her boyfriend, Deck, to his hometown of Lilydale. As they enter the town limits, they are welcomed by a sign adorned with lilies that bears the motto “Come Home Forever.” The main reason for this move is to raise their child in a safe, family-oriented environment as Joan is incredibly early in her pregnancy.

"BLOODLINE is a terrific, creepy thriller, and Jess Lourey clearly knows how to get under your skin.... Poor Joan may have landed in the most dangerous small town on the planet, and you will have to read this book to the very end to see if she is able to get away in one piece."

The welcoming committee is led by Deck’s parents, Ronald and Barbara. In fact, the newcomers and the entire committee will be living on the same street. They immediately take a liking to Joan --- a little too much as far as she is concerned --- and some of the residents are strangely interested in her unborn child. Joan eventually lands a job with the tiny Lilydale Gazette. The editor, Dennis, admits that they don’t get too much new blood to the paper, and you can count the entire staff on one hand. Joan hits a home run with her first article, a lightweight piece on the elementary school’s music program.

Lilydale was founded in 1857 by two German immigrants, Johann and Minna Lily, siblings who were married to each other. The tale of their offspring and bloodline will play a heavy role in this story. The current residents continue to honor the small town the Lilys envisioned, and its leaders belong to a group called Fathers and Mothers. The hint is dropped more than once that Joan should join and get initiated.

Joan is becoming more and more suspicious of Lilydale and its residents, and she shares these concerns by phone with her old friend, Ursula. She wants to stick it out for Deck but does not know how much more she can take. One story that she would like to research as a possible article is the case of Paulie Aandeg, who disappeared from Lilydale in much the same way that Jackie Theel vanished in Paynesville. Both events took place on the same day; ironically, September 5th is Joan’s due date.

A number of interesting events take place in the second part of the novel that only cloud the issue further as to whether Joan is merely paranoid and overdoing the valium or there really is something strange going on in Lilydale. The town is rocked when a young man named Kris arrives from Florida claiming to be Paulie Aandeg. Joan now has a star for her piece, so she interviews him as well as anyone else who clearly remembers the incident. The town elders do not seem to be taken with Kris/Paulie, which leads to some doubt surrounding his story.

Meanwhile, Joan begins to feel that everyone who is handling her pregnancy, including the town doctor, are out to get her, and she fears she will not get out of Lilydale alive. When she tells the local sheriff her thoughts on the town and Kris' story, he digs in a little on his own. What he turns up is alarming and nearly costs him his life. Joan finally realizes a bit too late what happened to Paulie, which leads us into Part III and completely down the rabbit hole.

BLOODLINE is a terrific, creepy thriller, and Jess Lourey clearly knows how to get under your skin. What reinforces the terror within the novel is that nearly everyone knows a small town that is “too good to be true,” but you just can’t put your finger on exactly what gives you that feeling. Poor Joan may have landed in the most dangerous small town on the planet, and you will have to read this book to the very end to see if she is able to get away in one piece.

Reviewed by Ray Palen on January 8, 2021

Bloodline
by Jess Lourey