Chlorine is horror in its purest form or rather, a deep exploration of how far horror can go. Jade Song delves into the dark side of competitive swimming, adolescence and pressures from all the sides. Blending racism and misogyny with a slow, chilling descent into madness. The story is tense and suffused with dread. As a reader you know something is coming, but not when, how or why.
The book also serves as a bitterly honest portrait of growing up as a girl in a patriarchal society, in a culture that fetishizes women’s bodies. Song handles this with raw realism rather than pure shock value, making it gut-wrenching and profoundly haunting.
This isn’t a book for new horror readers! Chlorine is intense! It’s perfect for anyone ready to confront darkness that feels all too real. But even for me, some chapters and scenarios were almost too much to handle. All in all, Jade Song is an author to watch, and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for their future work.
