Review: On the Lips of Children

On the Lips of Children
4 of 5 stars
A simple run in an unfamiliar place takes a turn for the very worst when a young family is dropped into the pit of hell.

Or at least what I imagine might be happening in the pit of hell.

Macon decides to take a leisurely run the day before his first marathon but he’s on unfamiliar turf. Before long he’s bugged by a group of homeless folk but that’s nothing compared to the terror that’s about to hit him when his lover decides to take their child along the same unfamiliar path to catch up to him . . .

This story is quite scary because it all feels so real. Crazy but, you know, it could happen. It almost makes me grateful that I’m too lazy to ever run a marathon and prefer to run only as much as I have to in order to keep the cardio up for the zombie apocalypse. Zombies won't be catching me.


I’m not going to spoil this but there’s some creepy stuff that goes down and there are children in peril. The atmosphere is tense and claustrophobic and the characterization is pretty damn fine. There is a lot of time spent in these flawed people’s heads and I found their thoughts on running, grief, pain, and the art of tattooing all very interesting.

If you’re looking to take a peek into the darker corners of humanity this is your story.


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