Little Monsters

Little Monsters is set against the backdrop of the 2016 election, which featured dueling charges of dishonesty by the two major candidates. The novel also depicts secrets and lies—in this case, their impact on family dynamics. Each of the main characters seeks out the truth while also hiding a secret. This affects the bonds between Adam and his three adult children. For example, as Adam plunges forward in his quest to understand humpback whales, he hides his symptoms of mania. He forces Abby to confront his childhood abandonment of her, which she links to his symptoms of bipolar disorder.

Ken’s abuse has poisoned the family’s dynamics. Ken and Abby have a strained relationship, and Adam’s dismissal of the abuse has created distance between him and Abby. Though he recalls an “uneasy feeling in his gut” (65), he saw the abuse as regular childhood behavior. Ken’s actions reverberate past his sister. They affect his marriage, as Jenny catches him in a chatroom chasing his childhood feelings for Abby.

Ken’s secret echoes Adam’s one-night stand with a teenager the year Abby was born. This saddled Steph’s mother with the secret of Steph’s parentage, which shaped Steph’s life and motivates her to find out who the Gardners are.