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The Cruelty by Scott Bergstrom
Feb. 28th, 2017 12:18 pmThe Blurb On The Back:
The girl who hunted …
Becomes the woman who hunts.
The anger her sprung from the terror I’ve lived with since the moment I found out my dad was taken. This anger is the flip side, the counterpoint, the shouted answer to the terror’s question. Asks the terror, what will become of me? Answers the anger, this.
When her diplomat father is kidnapped, Gwendolyn seems to be the only one with the will and determination to find him. As she follows a trail across Europe’s criminal underworld, she must relinquish her schoolgirl identity and face a terrifying truth about herself.
To overcome the cruelty she encounters, she must also embrace it.
Who will Gwendolyn become?
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Scott Bergstrom’s controversial YA thriller (the first in a series) is a slickly written affair with plenty of action that reads like JASON BOURNE meets TAKEN but for all the author’s desires to produce a more “morally complicated” type of fiction, he doesn’t push any new boundaries here and the snide swipes at YA dystopia fiction are cheap and needless. The main reason to read the book is Gwendolyn’s emotional journey as she becomes the person she needs to be to free her stepfather and the toll that takes – I thought it was well done and believable, especially Gwendolyn’s sadness at the things she’s done and must do in the future. Also well handled are the action scenes, which are fast moving and dynamic and keep the plot going – even the obligatory training montage are enjoyable, mainly because of Yael (a grim Mossad operative who’s determined to push Gwendolyn as much as she can). The plot itself is not believable but then that’s not the point and it doesn’t spoil the enjoyment. I don’t think that Bergstrom is doing anything new with this book – grey morality has featured in a lot of YA fiction, including those YA dystopian books that he takes a cheap pop at but there’s enough here for me to want to read the sequel.
THE CRUELTY was released in the United Kingdom on 9th February 2017. Thanks to Walker Books for the ARC of this book.
Becomes the woman who hunts.
The anger her sprung from the terror I’ve lived with since the moment I found out my dad was taken. This anger is the flip side, the counterpoint, the shouted answer to the terror’s question. Asks the terror, what will become of me? Answers the anger, this.
When her diplomat father is kidnapped, Gwendolyn seems to be the only one with the will and determination to find him. As she follows a trail across Europe’s criminal underworld, she must relinquish her schoolgirl identity and face a terrifying truth about herself.
To overcome the cruelty she encounters, she must also embrace it.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Scott Bergstrom’s controversial YA thriller (the first in a series) is a slickly written affair with plenty of action that reads like JASON BOURNE meets TAKEN but for all the author’s desires to produce a more “morally complicated” type of fiction, he doesn’t push any new boundaries here and the snide swipes at YA dystopia fiction are cheap and needless. The main reason to read the book is Gwendolyn’s emotional journey as she becomes the person she needs to be to free her stepfather and the toll that takes – I thought it was well done and believable, especially Gwendolyn’s sadness at the things she’s done and must do in the future. Also well handled are the action scenes, which are fast moving and dynamic and keep the plot going – even the obligatory training montage are enjoyable, mainly because of Yael (a grim Mossad operative who’s determined to push Gwendolyn as much as she can). The plot itself is not believable but then that’s not the point and it doesn’t spoil the enjoyment. I don’t think that Bergstrom is doing anything new with this book – grey morality has featured in a lot of YA fiction, including those YA dystopian books that he takes a cheap pop at but there’s enough here for me to want to read the sequel.
THE CRUELTY was released in the United Kingdom on 9th February 2017. Thanks to Walker Books for the ARC of this book.
