Children of Chicago

By: Cynthia Pelayo

Narrated by: Sofia Willingham

This horrifying retelling of the Pied Piper fairytale set in present-day Chicago is an edge-of-your-seat, chills-up-the-spine thrill ride.

When Detective Lauren Medina sees the calling card at a murder scene in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood, she knows the Pied Piper has returned. When another teenager is brutally murdered at the same lagoon where her sister's body was found floating years before, she is certain that the Pied Piper is not just back, he's looking for payment he's owed from her. Lauren's torn between protecting the city she has sworn to keep safe, and keeping a promise she made long ago with her sister's murderer. She may have to ruin her life by exposing her secrets and lies to stop the Pied Piper before he collects.

©2021 Cynthia Pelayo (P)2021 Tantor

Thrilling twist on classic fairy tales!

I loved the story. A great and dark spin on folklore and fairy tales. Can't wait to get to the next book in the series.

Dark modern fairytale

I highly recommend this Bram Stoker Award Nominated story. It does not disappoint. Read her stuff if you are into horror or dark fantasy. Looking forward to reading more of Pelayo’s work!

more like this please!

I loved this story! Cynthia blended real life and fairy tales together so well. I would love to read or listen to more stories like this.

Suspenseful Writing

Whew! This book kept me on my toes. Being from Chicago I could of course imagine each location described and that made the story come to life easily. Cynthia Pelayo’s writing style is easy to read and captures you from the first sentence.

Grimm Meets Grit, But Not Seamlessly

Children of Chicago offers a dark and engaging twist on fairy tale horror with solid narration by Sofia Willingham. While the story is pretty good, it leans a bit too heavily into Chicago history at the expense of fully embracing its Grimm roots.