Don’t let the premise of this story throw you off! This is such a great story!! The premise of this book is that Sarai has been held against her will by this Mexican drug lord/bad guy for 9 years. She has no idea where she is in Mexico, and if she tried to escape, she’d have no idea which direction to head or how far she might be from the U.S. Not to mention, she’s in the middle of nowhere and constantly guarded. Then there’s Victor, who comes out to the compound to talk about a “job” (euphemism inserted) with the man who is holding Sarai, Javier. Recognizing Victor as an American, Sarai takes a chance and manages to slip into his car before he leaves. From there it twists and turns and speeds along like a high-speed train. I couldn’t put it down!
I knew I’d like Sarai right away because she’s a survivor. To have lived through 9 years of imprisonment on a compound in Mexico, the girl is clearly a tough nut. She’s determined, and while she is constantly in flux, unsure, out of control of almost every situation and scared for her life, she never backs down or gives up. Even when she feels like she has to resign herself to just accept some pretty awful situations, there is a part of her that stays in the fight. I cheered for her all the way through. And while different characters referred to her as being broken or somehow unfit for a “regular” life, I respectfully disagree. I think Sarai could be happy with a “regular” life if you redefine “regular.” There’s a little bit of superhero in this girl, a determination to fight for what is right and to punish the guilty that has been amplified by the life she’s been forced to live. What I’m trying to say is that Sarai isn’t “regular” by the world’s standards--she’s been hit with a super-gamma-ray rough life—but I think it’s a desire for the most basic, simple joys in life that keeps Sarai going, and she is capable of fully enjoying simple moments of peace and happiness. Call me an optimist, but it’s in these quiet, “regular” moments with Victor that I really believed Sarai would be okay.
Now, Victor. Before I go on about Victor, I should probably explain that I have a really strong affinity for what I like to call the “good-bad boy.” Some might even call it extreme. I’ll give you some examples:
• Yes, Anakin Skywalker might have slaughtered a nursery full of younglings, but no one paid attention to his very obvious vulnerabilities or helped him. He was totally misunderstood!
• Sure, Cesare Borgia (from Showtime’s The Borgias) may have murdered his brother and slept with his sister, but Juan was awful and didn’t deserve the love and adoration of their father. That should have gone to Cesare! And Lucrezia (the sister) really is perfect for him—I don’t know what else to say about that. He’s totally misunderstood!
• I know that Dexter Morgan (Dexter, Showtime) kills people and gets off on it, but he only kills bad guys! He lives by a code! He’s totally misunderstood!
Do you see the pathology? Do you suffer from it, too? Then, you’ll understand why I love Victor so much. Sure, he’s always totally in control, he’s calculating, cut off emotionally, and some might even say cold. He’d just as soon kill you and collect his check, no back story necessary, as look at you—but (wait for it!!) he’s totally misunderstood! Victor’s been doing his thing for a very long time—knocking people off for cash, that is—and while he might have chosen a different path given the choice, he didn’t have much of a choice. You could say he was born into/for this line of work (and he’s really good at it). But under all of this, there is still a human.
I admit there were times when reading this book that I really thought, “Crap! He’s going to kill her!” I really, honestly thought J.A. Redmerski was going full-on Game-of-Thrones, No-One-Is-Safe-In-This-Book on me. Really, I did! And that is a gift! I never felt like I knew with certainty what Victor would do until I was pretty close to the end of this book because he is so very controlled, and he’s always thinking 10 steps ahead of everyone else (I knew he was way ahead of me). But, there’s this little light in him, and I never gave up hope that this light would win. I justified his whole, murderous existence in hope of this light, and I think when a writer can so emotionally invest you in their character that you throw your morals out the window and embrace them, they’ve done something really right. Clearly, from the list of my favorite good-bad boys above, I threw my morals out a long time ago, but Ms. Redmerski has given me a new reason to fling them away. I will do it again when I read the sequel (soon, please!). I will happily embrace my best excuses for his actions. I will shout to the world that he is totally misunderstood! And, if given the chance, I would totally stow away in his car and hope he wouldn’t kill me. But he might. And if he did, I’d make excuses for him from the after-world.
J.A. Redmerski, New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of THE EDGE OF NEVER lives in North Little Rock, Arkansas with her three children and a Maltese. She is a lover of television and books that push boundaries and is a huge fan of AMC’s The Walking Dead.
Wow, what a fantastic review! Thank you so much! :-)
ReplyDelete