Don’t Want To Be Your Monster

• Author: Deke Moulton
• Genre: MG Horror
• Publication Date: August 1, 2023
• Publisher: Tundra Books

Thank you to NetGalley and Tundra Books for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

CONTENT WARNING: blood, mention of murder, brief reference to gore, mention of an antisemitic attack, mention of leukemia, mention of parental abandonment, mention of past trauma

Two vampire brothers must set aside their differences to solve a series of murders in this humorous and delightfully spooky novel for young readers. For fans of Too Bright to See.

Adam and Victor are brothers who have the usual fights over the remote, which movie to watch and whether or not it’s morally acceptable to eat people. Well, not so much eat . . . just drink a little blood. They’re vampires, hiding in plain sight with their eclectic yet loving family.

Ten-year-old Adam knows he has a better purpose in life (well, death) than just drinking blood, but fourteen-year-old Victor wants to accept his own self-image of vampirism. Everything changes when bodies start to appear all over town, and it becomes clear that a vampire hunter may be on the lookout for the family. Can Adam and Victor reconcile their differences and work together to stop the killer before it’s too late?

I originally connected with the author over Twitter, and when she was talking about writing a Jewish-oriented vampire book, I was immediately intrigued. You may not know this, but vampires have historically been written as Jewish-coded villains, beginning with Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and continuing from there. So a book that subverts the antisemitism that’s basically baked into the vampire story was one that I couldn’t pass up. I did a happy dance when I got approved, and couldn’t wait to start this book. It doesn’t hurt that it start with a killer (no pun intended) first line:

“I know my brother is evil, but that has nothing to do with him being a vampire.”

The story is told from the perspectives of both Adam and Victor, who belong to a strange and unusual found family … of vampires. They have two moms, one from Italy and one from Sudan, an older sibling Sung from Korea who is studying hard for online college, and then there’s Adam and Victor. We learn pretty quickly that Adam is ethnically Jewish, but wasn’t raised with any knowledge of his religion. The two younger members of the family want to learn the cool vampire stuff that they’ll be able to do at some point, but their moms are focusing on stuff that they consider boring.

We get to see the whole vampire myth being rebuilt from the ground up. Instead of biting humans and draining their blood just to kill them, they are able to use their powers to heal instead, making them able to develop symbiotic relationships with humans, rather than parasitic relationships. It was cool to see the whole dynamic changed, and done so beautifully. The reason for the shift in dynamics between vampires and humans is also explained.

I loved the two different main characters, and getting into their heads. Do they make stupid mistakes? Of course, but what 10- or 14-year-old doesn’t? It felt more realistic than anything, and while yes, they’re both vampires, it was easy to get into their mindset and empathize with their struggles. The side characters were also written so well. They have full personalities complete with realistic quirks, and I loved getting to know all of them. 

Everything flowed so smoothly, and I almost felt as if I was in the Pacific Northwest while reading. It was a nice change from the smoke blowing down from Canada. This story was a fun, fast-paced, adorable, and a little spooky read that I loved so much. There’s so much diversity in the story, with a cast of characters from various countries and backgrounds, and we get to learn a bit about each throughout the story without it feeling like a lesson at any time. Moulton is a gifted writer, and I’ll be looking forward to any other books that they put out. In their author’s note, this really stood out to me:

“Hate doesn’t die in silence—it thrives. The only way to stop it from growing is to call it out when you see it, in whatever form it takes.”

People who have sat around with me while I’m reading, especially when there’s a surprising reveal, a shocking plot twist, or an unexpected event often look up in alarm when I gasp audibly. The gasp factor is directly related to the number of times I audibly gasp during a reading, and there isn’t an upper limit

Gasp Factor: 9