Her name is Emery Shaw…Emily Sanders…Emma Simpson…Ericka Smith. Her family was well off, she ran.They looked for her, she hid.They found her, she ran again.Tragedy strikes, she gets even.The fact is, she doesn’t know who she is, she tried to run, to hide and make a life for herself, but that backfired. No one knows her except her best friend Rachel, if that’s even an adequate word for what they … adequate word for what they are to each other. Rachel helps her build a life for herself below the radar, which is fine until the unthinkable happens knocking Em out of her unfeeling cocoon. When her house of cards comes tumbling down she runs again, until the one person who can change her mind finds her.
** Due to adult situations, language and possible scenarios that may be difficult for some readers to take…take a breath before you start this one. It’s gritty and not pretty. Nothing is pretty here. Whiskey is a good thing. **
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My second book by Griffin and boy, does she make my heart pound right outta my chest!!
Psychological thrillers seems to be the Griffin-zone. She’s very comfortable and flawless in her narration. She maintains the pace and the dread steady and fast. Her twists and turns are perfectly inserted, hence as a reader my gaze never strayed from the story. The subject matter is a bit dark and controversial. In the sense that there’s a heinous crime being committed in the background and we see the scars and scabs of it in the forefront. Those alone made my stomach churn and the monster hiding in plain sight reminded me that I’ve personally heard of such sins committed in real life too.
So that being one of the reasons this story resonated with me and the fact that Griffin writes with a lot of heart, makes her my new fave author.
Sweet, adorable, nubile & Perfectly Polite Emery Shaw is a girl living in constant fear
“Fear was her constant companion. It drove her decisions, her withdrawal from life, and filled her nights.”
She’s logging her Days of Torture in her scarred soul #156. She’s been robbed of One hundred and fifty six days from her life. I could only imagine her anguish and indescribable pain, wish I could have alleviated some of it. Maybe some prayers might’ve worked cause her saviour comes from unexpected quarters in an unexpected place.
Rachel Helms is a girl with a heart of gold. (I’m dying to read her story, Griffin) they both just click at their first meet.
“I’m talking about a click. Where you meet someone right away and know that person is going to mean something to you—lover, friend, whatever. You click.”
I was in awe of her unconditional support and steadfast loyalty towards Emery. She goes above and beyond in being a steadfast rock in her chaotic life.
Emery is in perpetual run for her life, her nemesis close on her heels
I have to mention something here, although I had a hard time understanding her flight rather than fight stance, I can somewhat understand why Emery ran from city to city with fear biting her ankles throughout the book. I wish she’d have trusted herself and some people in her life more, but hindsight is 20:20 so I allow that, albeit reluctantly.
Her anonymous life has more impact on her as a human being than what I realized at first. Her Armour is her cloak of lies she hides under, where she drifts with a borrowed name, can never be close to anyone, with a warrant on her heart which is never allowed to feel.
“She was a pile of lies on top of deceit with a cherry bullshit on top”
That is the most pathetic existence a person can live and THAT is the highlight of the story. Her changing of identities is as uneventful as change of clothes and the fact that she gets very comfortable doing it, is scary. What damage it leaves behind in its wake is catastrophic.
It simply made me cry!
Emery becomes a hollow caricature of herself, a 2 dimensional human, sleepwalking through life.
Till she meets Noah, but even then she can’t stop hiding.
OR with Tim, the cop
“No, there’s not, because I’m dead inside.”
“I walk around and don’t experience anything. I don’t have anything I want to do because I can’t imagine feeling anything. If I let myself feel anything, I’m afraid I’ll…”
A debilitating and eroding journey through the disfigured soul of a trapped teenager, who simply couldn’t survive any better. It’s power lies in the soulful and angsty treatment in the expert hands of Griffin, she’s now become my fave. I’ll be going through her back list meticulously cause I can’t get enough at this point
4.5 stars for broken hearts and Inhabitable heads
This book hit me in places I wasn’t expecting. It is harsh, it is it is hope, it is love, it is life, it is a sad truth for some and a fiction story that is very very real. I wanted to get to the end to know how it turned out, but at the same time I didn’t want to be finished. Em’s story, Em’s life, will grab you and hold you until the last page. Well done R.L. Griffin, thank you.