‘Why do you want to tell your story?’

Presented as a novel, this book is a blend of fact and fiction set in post-Pablo Escobar Colombia. The author, Rusty Young, spent seven years living in Colombia. I read that he spent four of those years working for the US government in counter terrorism. Through his job, he met several different people, including special forces soldiers, undercover intelligence agents and members of the two main paramilitary terrorist organisations: the FARC and the AUC (Autodefensas). And, consequently, he became aware of the plight of child soldiers, some of whom were only eight years old when they were recruited.

This is the story of Pedro Gutiérrez, a fifteen-year-old boy, whose life is ripped apart when his father is executed in front of him, and he and his mother are banished from the family farm by FARC guerrillas.

‘It wasn’t until my late childhood that I realised that the war was all around me, and always had been.’

Pedro wants revenge, and he swears to kill the five men responsible. He and his best friend join an illegal paramilitary group where they are trained to fight and to kill. Any sign of weakness is punished severely. Pedro’s desire for vengeance becomes justification for his own acts of violence, and he risks losing those he loves as a result. Can Pedro be saved?

This is not an enjoyable novel, but it is an important (albeit uncomfortable) read. Why? Consider the lives of child soldiers. Why are they so vulnerable to recruitment? If they survive their experiences, how can they recover from the lives they’ve been forced to live? Is it possible to recover from such trauma? How can you identify who to trust? Mr Young’s novel explores the context within Colombia: political unrest (and failure); drug cartels and rural villages held to ransom.

‘Goodbye is for people you’ll see again.’

I’ll finish with this extract (from ‘About the Author’) at the end of the book:

‘Since 2011, Rusty’s house has been the headquarters for a foundation that helps rehabilitate and resocialise former child soldiers. Ten percent of his royalties from this book will go to assisting Colombian children affected by violence.’

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Havelock and Baker Publishing for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

I really wish this was a 10 star system - I'd give this book a solid 7. But alas, I have to rate it a 3.

The book is long but beyond engrossing. I couldn't put it down. It's about the children who are recruited to become fighters in the drugs was of Colombia.

First and foremost, everybody should but this book if for no other reason then a portion of the proceeds go to helping rehabilitate children who are victims of this savagery.

The book is a somewhat historical fiction account of the drug wars in Colombia during the late 20th century. The names of the characters are changed, but with some basic ingenuity, Google can help you figure out who many of the primary characters and events are.

The book follows Pedro, a 15 year old who joins the Autodefensas after the warring Guerillas kill his father in front of him. Pedro is out for revenge and rises through the ranks of the Autodefensas pretty quickly.

The things I like about this book is that it brings to life all the brutality in this war. It's horrific what happened. The writing is smooth and incredibly easy to read and, in fact, after reading this I'm very eager to read Rusty Young's other novel.

There are, however, a few things that I think could've been better. First, the book doesn't need to be as long as it is. A little bit more editing could've greatly shortened the novel without losing any elements of the story.

4 bright stars for a very long(819 pages) book. The author was an undercover agent for the U.S. Government. He was assisting the Colombian Government's anti terrorist operations. During this time he interviewed many former soldiers from FARC, the Communist guerrilla organization, and AUC, the right wing paramilitary organization.
FARC has waged war against the government for 50 years or more. Both they and AUC draft child soldiers as young as 8 years old. The civil war is vicious and cruel. Both sides use torture and profit from sale of narcotics.
The book is an autobiography of an ex AUC soldier whose name has been changed. It starts with Pedro joining the AUC after FARC murders his father in front of him. At the end of the book peace is declared by all sides. According to news stories, the peace has held up for several years, but FARC has recently complained of unfair treatment.
One quote by Pedro: "To someone who has not had a parent stolen from them, I can only attempt to explain how t feels. It's like having part of yourself hacked off without warning."
Thanks to Havelock & Baker Publishing for sending me this eARC through NetGalley.

The fact and fiction in the coming of age story are blended perfectly by Rusty Young. You can tell he spent a lot of time researching Post-Pablo Escobar Columbia and he was not afraid to hold back in his writing to create an image the reader could not ignore.

The vengeance that Pedro swears has him hunting down the men responsible for his father’s execution and it leads to him go deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole. Will he stop himself before he becomes as bad as the men who killed his father? or will his passion and drive for revenge cost him all he has left?

The story that Young creates is breath-taking, believable, action-packed and addictive. It’s a large book but he just has a lot to say and he is saying things that people want to hear. His story opens the door to many issues that people want to keep shut and I commend him for this.

Colombiano

Pedro Gutierrez’s story fills all the 700 pages of this book. . . .and starts movie-like with the sleepy happy village, and a tender father and son scene. Within a few pages, the father is executed before his son’s eyes, and we are *Off* to the races in this tale of all the ways revenge doesn’t win. Every so often there is girlfriend sex which accomplishes ?calm? what we are working for? But the rest of the revenge romp is filled with incredibly difficult things that happen to everyone else: villagers trapped in cross-hairs of the haters, pimple-faced youngsters, six-year old girls, groups whose heads are literally later used as footballs, and one of the final catches – an old villain who thought blowing up a pond of vampire fish is more wicked than all the torture, rape and murders he’s inflicted on this tale. Still, our Pedro returns home, chastened, finishing up his last year in high school. He apologizes to Mama, explains why he wasn’t the reason his Papa died (this makes it better?), he gets his girl (he will have to lose the tattoo), and impliedly, the blue crate he digs up with a friend has the millions of the one of the bad guys he’s murdered.

All is well in the land.

Hmfph! 1 star is as far as I can go.

A sincere thanks to Rusty Young, Havelock & Baker Publishing, and NetGalley for providing me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Columbiano is a fast paced thriller about 15 year old Pedro Gutierrez who witnesses the execution of his father by ruthless Guerrilla soldiers. Like many other child soldiers in Columbia he joins opposing forces to seek retribution for his father’s death.

The book is well researched and very informative. Rusty Young shows this world of violence, crime, corruption, and drugs through his own experiences in Columbia. I would have liked to see the book with far less pages.

3 out of 5 stars

Many thanks to Lily Green at Havelock & Baker Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC of Columbiano in exchange for an honest review.

This book was so far out of my comfort zone that I wasn't sure I should read it, but I'm so very glad I did. The author, Rusty Young, did an excellent job of making the character, Pedro, someone I cared about. I wanted to know what was going to happen to Pedro, his friends, family, and the other people in his life.

Until I read this book, then watched some videos and read other material, I had very little understanding about the massive use of children to fight civil wars in Columbia. This story deals with two terrorist groups that use thousands of children to fight their wars, children that are forced to watch and participate in torture and murders. Once in these organizations, these children have no real hope of escaping, except by death. Everyday brings a new chance to watch those around them endure brutality or death by those who rule their lives.

Men's lust for power and money drive these wars and cocaine fuels the war machine. Townsfolk live in poverty and fear as both sides reign terror on the people, sometimes pretending to protect or help them while really using humans as fodder for their greed and brutality. Once I started reading, I did not want to put this book down. Not only did I learn what might cause children to think their only hope might be to join a terrorist group, I also was able to see that possibly even the worst of the barbarian soldiers, once had to face such decisions, as children, to save their own lives or the lives of their families.

Pedro and his mother and father live on their small farm and have managed to stay out of the fray as much as they can until finally Pedro and his dad anger one of the factions. Pedro's dad is murdered in front of Pedro and his mother and Pedro vows to kill the men who were involved in his father's death, the same men who forbid Pedro and his mother to bury his father or ever set foot on their farm again. Pedro joins the other terrorist group, which claims it's helping the people by fighting the guerrilla group. It's only later, once there is no turning back, that Pedro knows that he's trapped in a organization that is as brutal as the one that killed his father. Yet the desire for revenge keeps Pedro finding excuses to "soldier" on, often becoming what he hates most.

This is such a heartrending story and it's based in fact. It's hard enough imagining grownups seeing and enduring such horrible cruelty but knowing that children are thrown into this world and expected to live and perpetuate more horror on others, is horrifying. How do they come back from this, if they ever have a chance to do so?

I want to thank NetGalley and Lily with Havelock & Baker Publishing for providing this ARC to me.

Colombiano has been on my TBR list ever since it was first published in Australia in 2017. Having majored in Latin American studies in college I have long been interested the internecine struggles that have for decades been taking place in Colombia between the narcotraffickers, the military, the communist revolutionaries and the right-wing paramilitary militias.

Rusty Young is an ideal author to tell this story. An Australian journalist who has lived for in Colombia for eight years, part of which was spent working secretly for the US government doing counter-terrorism and anti-kidnapping work. In his work he spent many months interviewing former child soldiers on both sides of the conflict. Although earning their trust was particularly challenging, Young was able to do so and heard many accounts of their lives which he borrowed from to create this very engaging novel.

The book tells the story of Pedro Gutiérrez, the fifteen-year old son of a farmer who lives on a <i>finca</i> near a small village that lies between the strongholds of the government forces and communist guerillas. When guerillas attack their farm and force Pedro to watch the execution of his father, he vows revenge and joins the right-wing paramilitary forces. What follows is a heartbreaking description of life in a world ruled by whoever has the biggest guns. I enjoyed Colombiano very much. My only criticism, and it is minor, is that parts of it read like the a young adult novel. This is not surprising seeing as the majority of the characters are young adults but in places it lacked nuance giving the story a fictional flavor that a story based on actual events shouldn’t have.

* The review was based on an advanced reading copy obtained at no cost from the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review. While this does take any ‘not worth what I paid for it’ statements out of my review, it otherwise has no impact on the content of my review.

FYI: On a 5-point scale I assign stars based on my assessment of what the book needs in the way of improvements:
*5 Stars – Nothing at all. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
*4 Stars – It could stand for a few tweaks here and there but it’s pretty good as it is.
*3 Stars – A solid C grade. Some serious rewriting would be needed in order for this book to be considered great or memorable.
*2 Stars – This book needs a lot of work. A good start would be to change the plot, the character development, the writing style and the ending.
*1 Star – The only thing that would improve this book is a good bonfire.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2314994912
http://www.librarything.com/work/20059926/summary/175907897
https://www.amazon.com/review/RT9PP0TZGD07U/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv
Also posted on Amazon

Colombiano is a big book, I mean that in more than one way. First of all, it is physically massive (I actually read it on my kindle, but the dots to show the length of the book and how far you've got through it spread across the whole screen). But it also deals with some very large events. The story itself is based on the stories that Rusty Young was told when interviewing ex-child soldiers. I don't know how much of it is 'real' and how much is fiction, it all felt very real.
The book itself, despite its length, is easy to read. I mean that in the sense that the chapters are very short. The story is so engaging that it's a good thing. Short chapters meant that you can keep reading just one more, while longer chapters would have been more likely to make me wait until I actually had time to read. Told from the point of view of Pedro, who witnesses his father's murder and sets out to gain what he claims is justice, but is actually revenge, we follow him as he progresses through the ranks of the Autodefensas. The things that Pedro witnesses and overtime is more of a part of, are brutal. This is a dirty gorilla war, brutality is expected. The confronting part of this book is that as we are following Pedro on his journey, we can't help but sympathise with his situation and why he does something. More than once I found myself rooting for him only to wonder how I could even for a second buy into what was happening.
I came into this knowing next to nothing about Columbia beyond the thoughts of cocaine, coffee and South America. I don't know that I 'know' much more now, but it's certainly a country that I would like to know more about. I hope that over time its wounds can be healed and its people find peace. Especially the likes of Pedro and his friends and enemies who lost their childhood to horror and bloodshed.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Excellent!!

Columbiano is an action packed book full of suspense with unimaginable tension at every turn. It is written from the viewpoint of 15 year old Pedro, who describes his life experiences.

Some evil Guerilla soldiers arrive in his small Columbian village and Pedro is suddenly forced to watch his father be brutally executed in front of him and he is barely spared from death himself on their family farm. Afterwards, Pedro's best friend Palillo talks him into joining the Autodefensas with him. The Autodefensas are a ruthless paramilitary unit that helps the Army fight the war against the terrorist Guerrilla organization. The Autodefensas are known to recruit all ages, even children to train to fight with them.

Once recruited, Pedro and Palillo are systematically trained to fight as mercenary soldiers and subjected to such nightmarish, brutal, horrific things like they've never seen before. This turns them into strong willed fighters and snipers for their cause against the Guerrilla cocaine drug lords, and their terrorist soldiers. The whole time, Pedro still maintains his own personal goal to avenge his father's killers.

You will experience everything from hardcore action, suspense, and terror to bravery, relief, and love, with just about every emotion in between throughout the book. You will also get to know many characters that add so much to the story as well. As you can see, there is never a dull moment and you easily get invested in this very well-written story.

This is a long book, but the author, Rusty Young, has researched and written it so well, and devoted so much to his character development, with such incredible details and suspense that makes it hard to put down.

I highly recommend this great read. It is fiction yet based on true facts. You won't want to miss this one!

I would like to thank Lily Green, along with Havelock & Baker Publishing for this complimentary copy of the ebook (new edition for the US, to be published 2/1/2020) in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

Imagine being forced to watch as a loved one is murdered in cold blood. That is what happened to fifteen year old Pedro Juan Gutierrez Gonzales, a Colombian boy, who was held down and forced to watch his father’s execution by guerrilla forces. That day he swore to revenge his father’s death. The novel tells the story of Pedro’s vigil and of civil war in Colombia between multiple private and Government armies who try to control the country’s territories and the lucrative cocaine production.

Pedro and his mother were forbidden by the guerrillas to return to their home or bury his father, but he defies the soldiers and buries him anyway. He joins a Paramilitary group to learn to find, fight and kill his father’s murderers. Along his journey, be learns that what he sees is not always reality, and because of his naivety, he places his trust in those In power who ultimately deceive him in the end.

This epic story written by Rusty Young, is well told, and since he lived in Colombia and worked undercover for the US Government following terrorist organizations, organized crime and cocaine trafficking, he is able to create fiction based on real life experiences. I especially enjoyed his writing style where he created suspenseful events and colorful characters to keep me reading.

There is a lot more to this book than what I have portrayed. I highly recommend to add it to your reading list.

Thanks to author Rusty Young, Lily Green at Havelock and Baker Publishing and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the chance to read this book. I can't remember that last time I wanted to dislike a book but couldn't stop loving it. It was too violent in places yet I couldn't stop reading. It was too long- I 'd never finish, yet I carried it everywhere in case I had a few minutes to swipe a few more pages.
This novel gives us an inside look at family, drug wars, cartels, revenge and acceptance. The endurance of people to rise above evil, to push forward when all seems lost, to never stop trying to do what's right when everyone is betraying them. Rusty Young writes with a deft, easy prose, creating vivid imagery without muddling the flow with five-dollar words. The language was authentic, the characters were multi-dimensional and the pacing was gripping. This is an author I will follow.

A lot of people have read this book and loved it, but I am afraid I got just over the half way mark and had to stop reading it. Quite a bit has already been written about this book both positive and negative, so I will only make a few points, first is that this book is based on fact and I learned a lot about the civil war and terrible circumstances in Columbia. Initially I was quite drawn into the lead character Pedro and his need for revenge for his father's death.
My issue with the book is that it is just too long. I think I would have preferred to read this book in parts, making it at least two separate books would have seen me finish the first book and probably opted to at some stage read the second, but to be honest I stopped reading as I felt I had had enough of the story and the characters with still no end in sight.
Perhaps one day I will pick it up again, but I just could not bring myself to finish reading it.
Thank you Havelock & Baker Publishing and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this digital ARC book in exchange for an honest opinion. All the best to Rusty Young for his bright future as a writer as this book was well written, but perhaps in need of editing or splitting.

Thank you to Havelock & Baker Publishing for contacting me with an offer for a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is an excellent fiction book that is based on factual events of conflict between the army and guerilla, among other groups. The main focus of the book is on child soldiers, with the point of view from one child soldier in particular who is seeking revenge.
This probably isn't a book I would normally read because the length is so long (almost 700 pages) but I am very glad I read this. It is very captivating from the start to end. I highly recommend this book.

4.75 stars ★★★★✬
This book is for you if… ‘well-researched, long-paged book, compelling in its brutal authenticity’ is a catchphrase worthy of your attention.

⤐ Overall.
This is one of the books that reminded me of
a) why it is that I love reading so much: it's insightful and nail-biting.
b) that I should not shy away from books that I know are interesting and have potential but may frighten me due to length or their foreign genre.

Rusty Young spent many years in Colombia, working to train official forces in anti-kidnapping measures. This guy clearly knows what he's talking about in Colombiano and it shows. Not during a single moment, no matter how slow the story, was I bored with Rusty's book. It's brilliant in its acridity. Knowing that this is research-based, to me, made for a brutally honest wake-up call. It's the reason I couldn't help but engage in the plot and feel with the characters in every single minute. Pedro and his thirst for revenge absorbed me from minute one on.

To imagine at their age my biggest worries were boys and how to hide bad grades from my parents while kids like him were already grownups armed to go to war to avenge their loved ones is sickening and infuriating. I have felt every single emotion alongside the MC, I was happy, sad, excited, furious, ashamed, frightened, numbed by emotions and also rendered motionless by them.

I know for a fact that plenty of words, sentences and literary tools are out there to further underline how much I adore this book but none of them would prove satisfying.

⤐ What’s happening.
‘What I’d seen of life convinced me God was no more in charge of the planet than extraterrestrials. No sane being would permit what was occurring.’

Imagine you lived in a place where kidnappings are such a day-to-day-thing that your government hires people to train forces specifically for the purpose of counteraction. This is Pedro's life. Albeit happy in his small town with his girlfriend and his parents, it's always in your head you might go to sleep for the last time tonight. One day, this is the case for Pedro's father: ruthlessly executed by the guerrilla, he leaves behind a grieving family without a home. Stripped of all logic and self-preservation, Pedro joins the autodofensas and begins a long journey. His compass is set for revenge. The only question that remains is what more it will cost him.
_____________________
Writing quality + easy of reading = 5*

pace = 4*

plot/story in general = 5*

plot development = 4*

characters = 5*

enjoyability = 5*

insightfulness = 5*

I was completely drawn into this story, staying up far to late into the night, telling myself just one more chapter. Young, has well developed characters which I became completely invested in. Fast paced for a novel over 600 pages. This book is worth a read!

A troubling but interesting book.

So this is the story of Pedro who joins a private army at the age of fifteen after his father is killed (this is not a spoiler, I think it happened on the first page) by another private army in Colombia. What follows is his training and missions for the Autodefencas, where he learns to lead but also all the while pursuing his mission of vengeance on his father's killers.

Pedro is our only POV, and you can't help but like him even after he repeatedly does stupid things. You can see how he's being manipulated and it's sad as his moral qualms are gradually eroded as he gets more involved in the conflict and moves up the hierarchy. It doesn't help that his goal of vengeance gets himself and his friends into even more trouble or killed. The supporting cast are also pretty interesting and I would have loved a few POV's from those, especially Palillo his best friend. He's a fairly superficial guy in the main but there's a loyalty there and I like that he had certain boundaries that should not be crossed no matter what.

This was a hard book to read. Half the time I forgot how young they all were in it, but then something would come up to remind you. The training was brutal and if even half of it is true then it's really messed up. You wonder how these kids could go back to a 'normal' life. Some of the battle scenes were intense, and perhaps even more so during the smaller scale ambushes that Pedro keeps setting up to get his revenge, they were tense. What the author did very well was show the ordinary plight of the people. No matter who was in charge, no matter their best intentions, they were the ones who ended up suffering. I hope things are better there now but I kind of doubt it.

One of my main criticisms of this book is the size. It's over 600 pages and I feel that it was a bit too drawn out in places. I get the author was trying to bring in some downtime and explore characters and how Pedro's actions were affecting his family and friends but I think there was room here for tightening it all up somewhat. It also slightly bothered me that it kind of glorified certain aspects of it. Like Goodfella's for example, you experienced Pedro's pride and joy at the start before it all comes crashing down and it felt a bit off in places. According to the author Pedro was an amalgamation of different people he'd met while researching the book and it showed sometimes, he'd act out of character and it was a bit jarring.

This had been a three star review but then the end kind of blew me away. I was expecting something cynical behind it all but I was not expecting how everything was tied together, I really wonder how much of it is true and how much was put together by the author but it was very well done. Some of it I saw in advance but some aspects caught me completely by surprise. Overall it was a good book showing a side of the world that I'd heard of but never really caught my attention.

Thanks to Havelock & Baker Publishing and NetGalley for a copy of the book in exchange for a review, it did not affect my opinion on it.

3.5 stars rounded up.

It took me a minute after finishing this book before I could sit down and write a proper review, this book challenged me in ways that I was not expected. Going into it I (thought that I) had a passable knowledge of the history and current situation in Colombia but the plight of child soldiers caught up in the violence was something that I had never considered, maybe I didn’t want to. However, in Colombiano Young manages to highlight their story by a wonderful melding of fact and fiction in this powerful, poignant and compelling coming of age story.

At c.700 pages it should feel onerous to get through but at no point is that ever the case, instead it is breath-taking read showing strength and survival in unimaginable circumstances. I was engrossed from the start and struggled to put it down.

The author manages to brilliantly meld fact and fiction in the creation of Pedro and his friends and when I remembered that it felt overwhelming at times and made it all the more real, gripping me from beginning to end. There is a lot of violence in the book, as you would expect when dealing with the topic of child soldiers and conflict, but at no point does it ever feel that the violence is there to entertain.

This story is one that will stay with me for a long time, there were parts that were difficult to read but I challenge anyone to read this and not be emotionally invested it.

5 starts for what is one of my top 5 reads this year; a truly powerful, emotional and compelling coming of age story.

Many thanks to Havelock & Baker Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

Australian born author Rusty Young writes about what he knows. Hired by the U.S government to work in their Columbian Anti-Kidnapping Program, he interviewed hundreds of child soldiers 'recruited' by extremist paramilitary organizations at war with each other and the Columbian military. From these interviews and experiences, he mined out this story of 15 year old Pedro Gutierrez, a happy-go-lucky kid whose life is shattered when he is forced to witness the murder of his father at the hands of five men, members of FARC: The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia, an extreme left terrorist organization. Banished from the family farm, Pedro vows revenge which he feels he can best achieve by joining the 'autodefensas', a right- wing paramilitary group. In his relentless, systematic pursuit of those who killed his Papa, Pedro weaves his way through a web of heartbreaking atrocities, lies, deceit, drug traffickers, political corruption and violence.
He will never be the same.

Rusty Young shines a light on a world many knew little about: The 50+ year Colombian Conflict. A nation under siege by violence, drugs, corruption. I know I didn't. And it's the truth of the novel that makes it affecting.

However, at over 800 pages on my Kindle, it's a whopper and I felt it suffered for it. The first person narrative was a bit stilted and, although easily accessible, unimaginative. But still, there was a raw, primitive quality that suited the subject matter. It's difficult to give color and flamboyance to world of violence and despair. I give Colombiano: 3 and a half stars

Colombiano is Rusty Young’s second book, following on from his successful debut, Marching Powder. This work focuses on the topic of child soldiers participating, often reluctantly, in the bloody Colombian conflict between left-wing Guerrillas (FARC) and right-wing Paramilitaries (Autodefensas). The Australian author has spent many years living in Colombia and through his Counter-Terrorism work has developed a special interest in the plight of child soldiers.

The protagonist Pedro is a teenager who becomes embroiled in the brutal conflict after witnessing the cold-blooded murder of his father by the Guerrillas on his family’s farm. Seeking revenge, he decides to join the Autodefensas to hunt down his father’s murderers. Pedro sinks into a depraved world of extreme violence populated by ruthless killers. At the same time, this is a coming of age story as Pedro embarks on a relationship with his girlfriend Camilla.

I was excited about the prospect of immersing myself in a human story played out in the cocaine fuelled conflict in Colombia at that time. However, I really found this book heavy going.

The characters were underdeveloped. They didn’t resonate with me at all, I was indifferent to what happened to them – I should have cared, but due to their superficial back stories I found them very thin. I do acknowledge though, creating easily understood characters would be made more difficult by the fact they fought for a terrorist organisation responsible for countless atrocities over the years.

The transition between scenes wasn’t skilfully executed and often caught me by surprise. The dialogue was delivered rapidly and was very conversational, almost transactional, which did little to help understand what was going on inside the characters heads and hearts. I also didn’t experience a sense of place – the whole experience was like a graphic comic book with no pictures. The plot was predictable and considering the subject matter there was little or no suspense.

Coming in at over 600 pages the book is overly long. Ironically, much more could have been said by losing 200 pages with more skilful writing. I didn’t enjoy this book, it could have been an important piece of work.

2/5 stars.

Many thanks to Lily from Havelock & Baker Publishing for providing me with a copy of this book to review.