Title: Cottonmouth: The Prequel to Kin

Author: Kealan Patrick Burke

Release date: June 13th, 2025

I’ve said it before here in my reviews of his books, but Kealan Patrick Burke is one of my favorite authors and he’s easily one of the most consistent writers out there. Time and time again, he’s able to create these characters and worlds that transcend the written word, easily transporting me away to wherever the story takes me.

A few years back, I read and loved his novel ‘Kin,’ and at that time there was some rumbling about Kealan releasing a sequel. And now, that ‘sequel’ has arrived, only this case it’s actually the prequel – so don’t get confused when you see it listed as ‘Kin Book 2’ anywhere. Originally released as a bonus offering in a limited edition hardcover, I was elated to see it released as a standalone book, so I could grab the Kindle edition.

Going in, the only thing I was certain of was that the book would be dark. If you’ve read ‘Kin’ you know there’s not a lot of shining light in that one, and if this novella was going to set up that world, well, I wasn’t overly confident it’d be any brighter.

What I liked: Set back just prior to World War II, we open up with the introduction of a drifter named Horseshoe, a man who travels around looking for the father who beat him and abandoned him at a young age. This intro sets up the feel of the book nicely, as soon we shift to Jonah Merrill, a pre-teen boy dealing the heavy hand life’s delivered.

His father – whom he loved – has died, his mother descending into despair and a belief she can somehow contact Jonah’s father in the small fires she gazes into for hours upon hours. Having to essentially fend for himself, Jonah’s doing his best and things are ok-ish. Not great, but could be worse.

Things change when a slimy conman shows up and somehow charms Jonah’s mother enough to convince her to let him shack up with them. Promising riches beyond their wildest dreams, they soon turn to booze and wild nights. For poor Jonah, that also means this man takes out his anger on him, and most nights slips into his room after his mother’s fallen asleep.

Kealan sets up things nicely, showing how Jonah’s hopeful outlook on life slowly gets hammered out of him, as though with each strike of the hammer to nail, a little more of his innocence leaves.

It all comes to a head when a preacher arrives, looking for this conman. He’s a massive man, with a huge presence and Jonah sees something in him he hasn’t see since his daddy was alive – potential. Hope. A better life.

He listens to the preacher, follows his plans and from there we arrive at the final quarter where Horseshoe returns to the fold and we see Jonah take those last steps away from being a young kid, into a world where his mind is broken and his actions even more so.

It’s a deft moment, a slight of hand where for all of one sentence I begged my Kindle to let Jonah make the ‘right decision.’ And then the next sentence confirms that he doesn’t. Or does he? In this damning take down on religious zealousness, Kealan forces our young character between a rock and a hard place and though Jonah doesn’t believe God accepts his decision, he thinks God understands it.

And good grief isn’t that how a lot of things feel these days?

That ending was a hard kick to the heart and the stomach. And if you’ve read ‘Kin’ you know Jonah becomes so, so much worse, but there’s still a part of me that wanted to beg Kealan to let this kid have a chance. But the brutal reality of this book and the real world, is that sometimes, that just doesn’t happen. And nothing highlighted that more than a particular conversation between Jonah and his mother. A conversation that broke Jonah and will break the reader even more.

What I didn’t like: It’s a trivial thing, but I think I would’ve preferred Horseshoe’s intro portion to have been weaved in and out versus being the part one and then Jonah comes in for part two. I kind of forgot about the man during Jonah’s portion, before they reconnect for part three and I think if we would’ve had Horseshoe journeying towards Jonah at the start it wouldn’t have felt so jarring when he comes back.

Why you should buy this: If you’ve read ‘Kin’ then you’ll absolutely want to read this. If you’re a fan of KPB’s then this is also a must read.

But, if you’re someone who has neither read Kealan before or read ‘Kin,’ then this novella is a perfect mix of bleak and brutal. One that is a fascinating look at a young person’s mind cracking and being warped but also a think piece on the role of religion and that fine line between belief and psychosis.

A phenomenally unsettling novella by an author who continues to churn out great reads, while inspiring so, so many others, this one just might be one of the best things Kealan’s done. And that’s saying a lot.