Crafting for Sinners

Finished May 24

Crafting for Sinners by Jenny Kiefer

When I heard about this book, I knew I had to read it. Set in small town Kentucky, around a woman, Ruth, who grew up there, it develops into a crazy horror novel with outrageous humour. 

Ruth was engaged to her high school boyfriend until her best friend Abigail asked her what she really wanted in her future and she was forced to look inward. She realized that she was bisexual and decided to be honest with her fiancé about it, but his reaction was less understanding than she expected and they broke up. 

Recently a new megachurch arrived in their town and built not only a church but also a craft store with a religious bent. Given that I work part-time at a craft store, this intrigued me. When management at the store realized that Ruth and Abigail were actually in a relationship, they fired her and Ruth was upset at their bigotry that ignored her ability to do a good job. She'd noticed that they seemed unbothered about shoplifting and she began taking rather than buying for her crafting, the way she was now earning money. When a deadline on a commissioned blanket is changed last minute, Ruth heads to the store for more balls of yarn. 

Shortly after arriving, she realizes that there aren't any other shoppers in the store, and even the usual employees at the front don't seem to be around. As she goes about her task, she finds herself being followed, and accused, and when she accidently injures the man accusing her, she panics. As she moves to the front of the store, she finds herself locked in, and the store is uncompliant with basic safety such as emergency exits. 

As Ruth's knowledge of the store layout benefits her, her diabetes causes her health to become precarious, and she must take drastic action to save herself from what she gradually learns is a more dangerous situation than she could ever have imagined. 

Working with some current issues such as growing traditionalist religious attitude in the U.S., anti-LGBTQIA attitudes, the difficulty of believing what some people are truly capable of, and the health care situation of the U.S., this novel combines humour, horror, and social judgement in a crazy way. It is around half-way through the novel that things begin to get violent.