Lilith by Eric Rickstad

From the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of I Am Not Who You Think I Am—a New York Times Thriller of the Year—comes Lilith, an incendiary powerhouse of a novel that strikes straight at the wounded heart of America.

After her son Lydan suffers traumatic injuries in a school shooting, single mom Elisabeth Ross grows enraged at men in power. If they won’t do anything to help end this epidemic of violence, she will. Believing it’s her destiny, she sets out to awaken the world to the cowards these men are and commits her own shocking act of violence.

Going by the name Lilith—the first wife of Adam who fled Eden rather than serve a man—she posts a video of her crime that reverberates throughout society.

Praised by some, demonized by others, and sought by the FBI and vigilantes alike, Elisabeth must keep her identity a secret as she tries to care for her son.

As events take startling twists, Elisabeth begins to question her act of violence and the very roots and mythology of violence itself. Was her act justified or has she become the monster that the original Lilith was accused of being?

When the FBI draws closer, and Lydan starts to display odd, terrifying behavior, Elisabeth plots to avoid capture and keep her son safe, fearing she’ll never escape what she’s done without losing her son forever.

Written with Rickstad’s singular command of language, human insight, and unnerving suspense, Lilith is a tale of our times. Tragic and profound, it echoes in the mind and lingers in the blood.

Genre

Mystery Thriller

245 pages, Hardcover

First published March 19, 2024

My Thoughts

This book forces readers to look at one of the ugliest parts of U.S. culture, school shootings. It is an uncomfortable novel full of sadness and rage. It also addresses the ridiculousness of school shooting drills and explores the dynamics of school administrators vs. teachers, and the hierarchy of power in our school systems. The author showed the complexity of the issue of gun violence in this country. He did not oversimplify it by giving us an answer, but he did show us that it is not about the issue, it is about the people who are affected. This book was heart wrenching and difficult to read but it is an important book to read as well. I give this novel 4 stars.