Killing Sarai (In the Company of Killers, #1)

by J. A. Redmerski

Sarai was only fourteen when her mother uprooted her to live in Mexico with a notorious drug lord. Over time she forgot what it was like to live a normal life, but she never let go of her hope to escape the compound where she has been held for the past nine years.

Victor is a cold-blooded assassin who, like Sarai, has known only death and violence since he was a young boy. When Victor arrives at the compound to collect details and payment for a hit, Sarai sees him as her only opportunity for escape. But things don’t go as planned and instead of finding transport back to Tucson, she finds herself free from one dangerous man and caught in the clutches of another.

While on the run, Victor strays from his primal nature as he succumbs to his conscience and resolves to help Sarai. As they grow closer, he finds himself willing to risk everything to keep her alive; even his relationship with his devoted brother and liaison, Niklas, who now like everyone else wants Sarai dead.

As Victor and Sarai slowly build a trust, the differences between them seem to lessen, and an unlikely attraction intensifies. But Victor’s brutal skills and experience may not be enough in the end to save her, as the power she unknowingly holds over him may ultimately be what gets her killed.

This is their story…

• ISBN10: 1490436529
• ISBN13: 9781490436524
• Publish Date: 19 June 2013
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 348
• Language: English

Reviews

[Ashley]

This book was REALLY good. It felt very CJ Roberts-esque (The Dark Duet).

My one gripe is that it didn't quite pull me in as much as I wanted it to. Don't get me wrong, it was very good and I whipped through the book super quickly. But, I can't help but compare it to The Dark Duet. While the two feel very similar because of the genres and subject matter, The Dark Duet completely owned me and ripped me apart in a way that Killing Sarai didn't. I just think this book could have been more powerful. I wanted it to totally devastate me and it never quite got there.

Still an awesome read though!

[thebookdisciple]

I really loved this book in the beginning. But, the last 1/4 of the book just got strange for me and I liked Sarai and Victor less and less.

[Angie]

I knew nothing about Killing Sarai before reading it other than it was a dark, romantic suspense. I'm actually pretty glad I went into it blind, since it was fun to just experience it without expectations! The story jumps right in with Sarai and her friend Lydia spying on a meeting between their captor, Javier, and some unknown American. Sarai sees this as her one chance to get back to the United States after being held in who-knows-where, Mexico for nine years. Turns out that the American is some kind of hit man, but she's willing to take her chances, especially since she'd rather be dead than spend more time there.

Killing Sarai is fast paced, exciting, and never dull! I did get worried since Sarai does get back home quite early on, but of course, she's not clear from danger. Javier wants her back and will stop at nothing to get her. Then at the halfway mark, the tables turn and I wasn't sure what kind of direction the story could take, but the author surprised me! Sarai knows she can't go back to a normal life after what she's had to do, so she asks Victor (the American hit man) to train her. She's seen enough death over their few days together, so perhaps she can help deal it out? Victor's job is not quite what I assumed. He does some horrible things, but then they're not so terrible, but they're still terrible. It's conflicting, but I was intrigued.

My favorite part of Killing Sarai was the lack of romance. That may seem weird coming from me, but it's true. If Sarai was all over Victor and wanting to be with him always, and he suddenly went from cold-hearted killer to tender lover, I would have to roll my eyes. It simply wouldn't have fit. That's not to say that there's not feelings and some touching, because there is. There are actually a couple of pretty steamy scenes, but they're not about everlasting insta-love. Sarai has been forced to be with a man for nine years, so she's finally finding herself attracted to someone of her choosing and wants to reclaim her sexuality. Victor isn't a heartless monster, so it's natural that he softens up to her. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing their relationship blossom into more though. Although at this point, it seems like it can only end in tragedy.

I really liked Killing Sarai. I love these darker stories, even though this one doesn't go into the darkness all the way. It was a great balance between hopeless and hopeful, since Sarai is on her way to reclaiming her life. I did think that ending could have been perfect for a standalone, but then that last page came and I can't help but be eager to see what Sarai does next!

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Berls]

My Initial Reaction…
I have to give a great BIG THANK YOU to Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer for telling me I would love Killing Sarai. Kimba – you were SO right! I jumped in- after discovering that I’d owned it for MONTHS after buying it for only $0.99!!- without even checking what it was about and loved it.

The Characters…
Killing Sarai is told from the point of view of Sarai and Victor – and this is one of the few times that I think losing either point of view would have ruined the book. Seeing both of their perspectives was absolutely essential for me.

I loved Sarai from the get go – though it took me a long time to imagine her as a 23/24 year old. It wasn’t until maybe a third of the way through the book that she grew up in my mind. I don’t know if that has something to do with the way she was described or the instant connection I had between this story and The Professional, although the two stories end up being VERY different. Anyway, Sarai is a survivor, pure and simple. She was given to her mother’s drug dealer (Javier) when she was was 14 years old and spent 9 years as his captive in Mexico. Even though he “protected” her from the treatment all the other girls received – rape, brutal beatings, death – she was still his to do with as he pleased- and he did. An experience like that could have turned Sarai into a victim, but she’s not. The second we meet her, that’s painfully clear. She’s done what she had to survive and now she’s getting out. By hitching a ride with the American assassin that Javier just hired, Victor.

Victor is everything and nothing like what you’d expect in an assassin. He’s cold and unemotional – or so he likes to think. But something changes when Sarai sneaks into his car. It’s infuriating (in the best way) to watch because you know he’s GOT to care for her. He HAS to help her. But then pages and pages go by and, while he hasn’t killed her, he doesn’t seem like he’s going to help her either. He’s going to use her to do his job and that’s it. I kept waiting for his barriers to drop, for him to show that he was more than a hardened murderer. But he’s been trained to be an assassin since he was 9 years old and it’s the only life he’s ever known. He doesn’t have the luxury of a personal life. That uncertainty about what he was going to do, combined with some very provocative situations created some INTENSE, FANTASTIC sexual tension.

The Story…
The title – Killing Sarai – would be absolutely perfect if it had a question mark at the end of it. Because that’s what this book is all about – are we or aren’t we killing Sarai? When she got into Victor’s car she really believed that he would have to help her, perhaps she counted on the fact that he was an American like her. But once that certainty fades, the question keeps coming up of what to do with her. And one option is always to kill her. But I think it’s also a question of what will kill Sarai’s soul. What will push her beyond the brink. Beyond the place where she has any hope of recovery and a normal life. She’s a survivor, but will surviving kill her?

As you can imagine, in a story that centers on an assassin and the pet of a notorious drug lord –Killing Sarai has lots of action and intensity. And that was great. But for me it was the constant uncertainty that made this a fantastic, if you’ll forgive the phrase, mind-fuck. The character development and the ways the story kept turning in on itself pulled me forward and I hated every time I had to put it down.

Concluding Sentiments…
I really enjoyed Killing Sarai and, while it didn’t end on a cliff hanger per-say, it left with enough of a twist that I’m eagerly looking forward to reading the next one.

This book may be unsuitable for people under 17 years of age due to its use of sexual content, drug and alcohol use, and/or violence.

[kimbacaffeinate]

fantastic review to post soon.

[nitzan_schwarz]

4.5 stars

Originally published on my blog, August 7th 2013. Please consider popping by if you like this review!

I was completely taken by surprise with Killing Sarai, because even though I knew it was going to be dark, I wasn't expecting the level, the intensity, or the dangerous vibe to it. Killing Sarai is completely different than any NA books I've read so far, and very different from Redmerski's other works. There is really nothing that I can compare it to, even slightly.

If someone asked me to describe this book using one word, the one I'll chose will undoubtedly be....

Everything about this book is grey.

The world in which the characters live in lacks color and life, it's on the sidelines of society, hidden by shadows. 

The characters themselves are not good or bad; they're a blend of right and wrong, of evil and good, and sometimes, even as a reader, I couldn't tell which side they were on. I don't think the characters themselves know.

And they're killers. But they only kill people who 'deserve' to die. Does that make them good, or bad? Am I even allowed to like these characters, when they're so... off the 'right' track? The lines get blurred with this book, and still you root for them, and you fall for them, and you want them to succeed and find their own happiness, even when you know that happiness can never be conventional or safe. 

Sarai is broken beyond repair. She's spent the last nine years of her life - since the age of 14 - in the house of a drug-lord who fancied himself in love with her. Her every word, her every action, her every breath, is driven by survival. And she's quite the actress. But don't be fooled into expecting a shy, timid, scarred girl. She's ruined, all right, but that just makes her dangerous. Unstable. She's scarier than Victor, the cold-blooded assassin, because you don't know what to expect from her. She surprises herself constantly. It's like half the time, someone else--or something else-- is in possession of her body *shivers*

Victor is a killer, and has been for almost as long as he can remember. He meets Sarai - if you can call it 'meet' - when he comes to sign a deal with the drug-lord holding her. He does not plan to help her, at first. He plans to use her to further his own goals... but somewhere along the lines something changes, and he himself doesn't know why, when or how. At first, I thought he was a complete bastard. I was aggravated by his actions, and truly thought him emotionless. But he's not. He's learned to bury his emotions, to be numb to everything around him aside for his mission and his orders. He'd learned it so well, in fact, that even as readers we don't realize he has a soul at first. I'm pretty sure he's convinced himself he doesn't. 

We had a few scenes from his POV throughout the book, but not nearly enough. I love being inside his head, and hope to see more of it in the next books. 

This book, surprisingly enough, is not about them as a couple at all. Sure, throughout the book they grow closer, they come to mean something to the other. A very dysfunctional relationship, to be honest, but one that I am very much a fan of, especially because of how well Sarai can read Victor despite his poker face, and how well he knows her true self - possibly better than she does. 

But this book is not about romance. 

It's about the darker effects that occur when someone's life is victimized so badly and thoroughly.
It deals with the other end of the spectrum of victims - those who grow numb, those who find their path has turned into one of violence and blood. Those we never read of as heroes, because as a society, we don't view them as such. 
I won't say they grow to victimize others themselves, because both Victor and Sarai still hold a sense of justice, but they can no longer be 'normal', and they crave the brutality that they've become accustomed to in their lives.

It's not exactly easy to read this book, because while it does deal with healing from something no one should ever be forced to go through, the healing is not done through love and romance like other NA books, at least, not completely, which was the truly surprising part of this story. It's done by finding a very bloody purpose, and with a bond formed by violence. And that's what made this book kind of exceptional. 

Shit happens in this book. It's painfully honest about that. No one's fate is guaranteed, and you spend half the book wondering who's going to die next. Because you just know that in the reality they live in, all the bets are off. And something bad is bound to happen.

It took me a while to get used to Redmerski's writing style again. She has a unique manner of very clearly describing the way the characters move, so you can see them in your head as clear as if they're standing next to you, which I love, but I (personally) can't just step into her writing style easily after reading so many books with a different one; I have to adjust.

This book was a solid 4 star throughout most of the read. The last 20% of this were just epic. Easily 5 star material. 

 

Lastly, I have to say a HUGE thanks to J.A herself for sending me a signed copy of this book when I told her how much I wanted to read the book but couldn't. J.A. won my heart with the Edge of Never, which is one of my favorite NA books, so getting signed copies from her nearly made me have a heart attack. The books got here just in time for my birthday, making it the best birthday ever!
So, thank you J.A for being such a thoughtful and amazing author toward your fans! 3

Originally published on my blog, August 7th 2013. Please consider popping by if you like this review! 

[leelu92]

Liked it a lot more than I thought I would! This is definitely a slow burn book. Everything unfurls slowly and quietly. I'm definitely looking forward to the next one!

[Romance Schmomance]

just wow ... review to come.