The Cruelty (Cruelty, #1)

by Scott Bergstrom

When seventeen-year-old Gwendolyn Bloom's father vanishes, she sets out across Europe under a new identity to bring him back alive, even if that means becoming as cruel as his captors.

• ISBN10: 1250108187
• ISBN13: 9781250108180
• Publish Date: 7 February 2017
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 2 July 2021
• Imprint: Feiwel & Friends
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

Actual review: 2.5 stars

I have some mixed feelings about The Cruelty. Going into the first couple chapters, I liked it. I really did. I liked Gwendolyn Bloom in her role at the school, despite the fact that the role was technically still some of the most common YA stereotypes – “orphan” and “outcast” for a couple. But after the first chapter or two, I became less convinced. The beginning felt like a different book, a perceived vision of normality in order to slide the book into the YA genre by benefit of the character’s age and the fact that high school is mentioned, when in fact none of the rest of the book follows that line. It’s disappointing, because there was probably some storytelling potential here and there are definitely not enough spy thrillers in YA… but this isn’t a YA spy thriller. Not really. It’s just a thriller. Barely even spy.

Gwendolyn Bloom is flat as a pancake. The early days of her character development plateau as the story turns into a run around the world. Any vague attempts the writer makes to paint her as a relatable, multidimensional character fade away as he focuses on action instead of development. And you know what? Fine. That’s a choice, and many thrillers go with action over development. Character development isn’t the only victim to this choice – we lose a lot in world building and setting. The reader has no opportunity to become truly immersed in this book because we barely care about Gwendolyn, and each backdrop looks the same. Bergstrom could have taken the opportunity to do a bit of research and bring the unique cities to life, but instead, they all feel like silhouettes of New York. Again, disappointing.

Please keep in mind that I am coming at The Cruelty primarily as a reader of YA, not a thriller reader. I do read some thrillers, but The Cruelty was marketed as YA first, and I am far more versed in that genre.

Bergstrom’s writing isn’t bad – he has some skill. The language he used in writing the book was more nuanced and complicated than what I’m accustomed to reading, and I enjoyed that. That said, it’s another aspect that made The Cruelty seem more like a better read for someone in their twenties or thirties rather than a reader in their teens (the true audience for YA, lest we forget). There’s an imbalance between dialogue and narration, particularly later in the book. While again this isn’t uncommon in a thriller, it’s a choice that leads to less immersion.

Generally… I don’t know. I guess The Cruelty was fine, but it was also forgettable. There were moments that I deeply disliked. For example, in Prague Gwendolyn finds herself with Roman, a Yale-graduate son of a gangster king, and a homosexual. Within 24-hours of meeting him, Roman renounces his sexuality and while the word “gay” is never used in the book, the “f” word was used repeatedly. Roman’s sexuality was completely unrelated to the story and the whole aside felt almost like the author venting his own bigotries.

There are other small unrealities, although less offensive. One we hit about chapter five, I’d entirely forgotten that Gwendolyn was seventeen. She acts more like she’s twenty-five, at least. Plus there’s the whole Krav Maga training montage that takes her from a complete beginner to a trained expert in three weeks. Hair growing a couple of inches in less than a week. The passage of time is unrealistic and the things Gwendolyn accomplishes… if you stop and think about it for just a moment… don’t make sense. The Cruelty relies on the reader to get swept up in the action and not think about the story beyond that.

I don’t think I would particularly recommend The Cruelty? It’s not a world-endingly bad book, but it’s not impressive and there are definitely some cringe moments. As an aside, I guess when this came out Scott Bergstrom did an interview and a bunch of people boycotted the book afterward. In reviewing the article… I mean? He comes off as a pretentious prick who thinks too much of himself. I don’t think that’s enough to boycott a book? But there are the homophobic tones in the Prague section near the end, and there’s a lot of violence, so those are some good reasons to maybe pass this one by.

OMG I just re-read that article and it mentions that Gwendolyn is Jewish. She is, it’s mentioned a little in the beginning, and it 100% comes off as a diversity drop and is not good rep, or really any rep. So yeah. Don’t be fooled.

Also. 98% of all the women in this book are prostitutes. … Okay, I’m done.

[Sarah Says]

“A woman who seeks to rise in this world must be crueller than even men.”

Yes! Kill them, kill them all Gwendolyn. Oops sorry, that wasn’t me, it was The Cruelty inside me.

We (the reader) follow 17-year-old Gwendolyn Bloom as she goes through the process of; finding out her dad is missing, finding out what her father did for work wasn’t what she thought it was, finding out who she can and cannot trust, and finding out what she is truly capable of.

We watch Gwendolyn harden and evolve as she unearths and follows clues about the whereabouts of her father and the real reason behind his disappearance. Her journey takes her from New York, to Paris, to Berlin, to Prague, to her own personal Hell and back again.

I really enjoyed this book. I am confident I could give this book to my 78-year-old crime thriller loving grandfather and he’d devourer it. I confident that even in my early teens I would have enjoyed this book. Scott Bergstrom has written a captivating story that I think teens and adults alike will eat up greedily.

I loved that Gwendolyn wasn’t instantly a super spy /ninja assassin extraordinaire. She wasn’t a natural born killer, she made mistakes, had regrets, got herself in and out of trouble, needed help and knew when and when not to use the help offered – but ultimately, I loved that she got the job done like a boss, like a badass bitch.

“…if no one else is going to act for me, then I have a choice: remain a child and do nothing, or become an adult and do it myself. That, it seems to me, is the difference between the child and the adult, the difference between the girl hunted by wolves and the woman who hunts them.”

By the last page of the story Gwendolyn Bloom is dead and a force to be reckoned with lives in her hard-won skin.

There is sequel, The Greed, coming out in 2018 and I am interested to see what becomes of Gwendolyn, her crash course mentor Yael and what goes down with the organisation that now, as I see it, “owns” Gwen and her father.

********************
The above is what I drafted before I went onto Goodreads to see what the masses thought. It is, what after much deliberation I ended up posting. I almost altered it, I started to, because of all that I ended up reading online started to sway me (reviews from people I respect, news articles about the author and tweets about the text).
People are calling the author out for comments made in to book by the protagonist. I can remember the part of the book they refer to and that I just thought he was trying to make her come across a bit up herself, you know as if she thought she was above it all. Then after reading all the banter online I thought, damn maybe I got it wrong, maybe he really believed what he was writing. Maybe I’m stupid.
Calling the author out for the story being too farfetched and a protagonist being to superficial in her transformation. Hello you're reading the YA book version of a mission impossible action movie, of course it's farfetched and sallow. Isn’t that the point. Again, maybe I’m stupid.
Calling the author out for some asshat comments he and his people made. To me they just came off as idiots not knowing what they were talking about. I’m sure their intention wasn’t to offend. I’m sure that they are just ignorant of the wonderfully diverse and complex world that is young adult literature. But yeah, again, maybe I’m stupid.
Once I realised that other people’s views were swaying me I stopped and went back to the copy that I had drafted immediately after finishing it. My honest review. Yes, it is a happy rah rah review where I only mention the good points, but that’s how I try to write all my reviews. There is enough negativity in the world without me adding to it and I want my reviews to make people read more books not turn them off them.
Sorry, I had to say something. It really upset me how quickly I started to think my thoughts were wrong. F*** you internet, you blew my after book buzz.

[readingwithwrin]

"Distraction is an art, and they know a card game or silly movie would never keep my mind off the swirling tragedy in my head. So here is someone else's tragedy, someone else's tough times, close enough to my own, yet far enough from my own, so that I can absorb myself in it without guilt."

See reviews first on my blog

Please note that this book does contain homophobic slurs, mention of rape and sex trafficking.

When I first heard about this book the summary really drew me in and made it sound like it was going to be a spy novel that would be filled with lots of action and espionage. Then after I had already accepted the invitation to read this book, did I find out what the other had said about the YA genre. So after a few months of trying to decide if I should read this one or not, I decided to because the summary still made me really want to read it.
Now first if you're looking for a YA spy/espionage novel this isn't it. If anything I would consider this book adult, or maybe even new adult age range, but it is most certainly not ya(unless you want to consider older YA.). Yes, the main character is 17/18, but the situations she is in and the things she has to do, I don't think younger teens should be reading about because of how brutal the topics and certain scenes in this book are. Honestly, at times it reminded me of the show Blacklist on NBC (mainly the things Red has done in the past and still does occasionally, or some of the things Tom the main character's husband has done as well.)
Having said that you would think that this would be a five-star book for me, but it wasn't sadly. Mainly because of the main character besides her age, I never really worried about her safety, she always seemed to have some sort of a plan or was able to come up with one out of know where. Once she had spent I think it was a week doing hand to hand combat training she seemed to be a natural and to not struggle at all with this new world she was in. Also, everything just seemed to fall into place way to easy with her being able to find out things and have the tools available to her all without getting caught. Multiple times throughout the book I couldn't help, but think that would have gotten her caught, or how has no one caught on to her small slip-ups she was making occasionally. This is also what kept me reading the book though cause I kept thinking that someone who actually knew what they were doing was going to help her. But no the main character goes from being an introvert to somebody who becomes a total badass spy all in a few weeks.

"That's what war means. Bullets and mistakes you have to live with forever."

Now when it came to actually saving her father and the things she had to do to find him. I was just blown away and left in shock multiple times. I mean really how did she get so close to these people with no one really making her jump through hoops more than once. Plus why was she allowed to do certain things in said group when she was considered to be a new person, and still most likely not that trustworthy. It just didn't add up.

"He is, I can see, heartbroken. Daughters ought not have to rescue their fathers, and ought not have to become murderers to do it."

Overall though I did enjoy this book, and I think it shined a light on some very important things the big one being human trafficking and drug smuggling. As for if I plan to read future books in this (trilogy/series?) I don't know at the moment. Sure I would like to know what happens to the main character now and what she does. But I'm also rather happy with how things turned out at the end of the book and could just leave it at that.
Ultimately I think that if you don't mind violence and want a action-packed spy thriller than you might like this one. But if you don't feel like reading it or supporting the author you won't miss anything much.

"Justice isn't some abstract thing, Gwendolyn. What you did tonight, that's what it looks like. Ugly and mean."


Thank you to the publisher for sending me a physical arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.

See reviews first on my blog

[Liz (Bent Bookworm)]

Full review with links to source articles on The Bent Bookworm!

This book has already had a lot of buzz, mainly because of the author’s condescending and inflammatory comments about YA in general. I have a LOT of thoughts on his comments and general attitude, but I tried – I really, really tried – to not let my view of the author color the book. I agreed to the review before knowing anything about all the drama, so I felt like that was only fair. Usually when I try a new author, debut or not, I don’t research a lot about the author. I like to let the book speak for itself. In the end, I feel like The Cruelty (Scott Bergstrom’s debut, releasing in February 2017) mostly did that. I ended up giving it 3/5 stars, in spite of feeling like the author himself probably deserves 2/5. Or maybe 1/5. Because really, sir, you are not special, your book is not going to revolutionize YA, and it’s definitely not going to dazzle long-time readers of the genre. Also, sidenote: even though you’ve already made enough money to be able to quit your advertising executive career, you might want to work more on networking with your fellow writers instead of alienating and insulting them. But enough about Scott Bergstrom. After all, a lot of creative people lack social skills and if their work is dazzling enough we excuse them for it, right? Anyway, that was how and why I approached reading this book. Sadly, overall I felt like Mr. Bergstrom is not genius enough to be excused for his behavior.

So, the positive: the pacing is really spot on. I whizzed through this in a single afternoon/evening. There’s none of the stream-of-consciousness dwelling that bogs down some YA books. Even though there were aspects of the writing and characters that bothered me, I was interested enough in the plot line to ignore everything else I had planned for the day and read it all in one go. Also, the ending left me with enough questions (while not being a true cliffhanger) that, had the sequel been available, I would have picked it up right away. That in itself added the extra half star to me. The suspense and anticipation is definitely the most well-written thing about this book.

The story takes place in several different countries. In my experience, you can almost always tell when an author is writing about a locale they’ve never personally seen or lived. It just rings false or like they’re ticking off a list, and having lived abroad myself I notice it more than I ever did before. Now, I haven’t been to all of the countries Gwen visits and don’t claim to be any kind of expert, but the descriptions feel very real. I think that Bergstrom has probably visited these countries or he researched very, very well.

Now for the negatives. I’m going to try not to rant on and on about these…but who am I kidding, I’m probably going to rant.

The book starts off REALLY rocky. I almost DNFed it at page 15. We start off with the special snowflake trope (OMG, she speaks French! even thinks in French and accidentally blurts it in class! oops!), followed by much angst. Sigh, page turn, and then –

I pull a book out of my backpack and lean against the door as the train shoots through the tunnel under the river toward Queens. It’s a novel with a teenage heroine set in a dystopian future. Which novel in particular doesn’t matter because they’re all the same. Poor teenage heroine, having to march off to war when all she really wants to do is run away with that beautiful boy and live off wild berries and love.

Let’s start off by throwing rocks at dystopian YA!! Yay!! Because we’re not writing almost the EXACT SAME type of book and calling it special, are we, Precious? *insert much eyerolling* I’m not even that much a fan of the dystopian type books! What I’m NOT a fan of, is generalization – and buddy, you just hit every student in the room with your spitwad. And this wasn’t even the point of the almost DNF.

Guys out on the sidewalk in front of the shops whistle and catcall after me. They love this – the school uniform, the flash of seventeen-year-old legs.

What the…? I mean…who even talks or thinks that way? It seems totally out of place in the current context and setting, and is just such a jolt of stupid and bad writing that I came *this close* to throwing the book across the room and doing something else with my afternoon. However, I continued. Mostly because I wanted to see if it could really be THAT bad. There were a few similar instances, like this one:

He uses as his tools reason and facts, a whole orchestra of them. But in the end, they bounce off the armor of my stubbornness.

Not quite on the same level as the seventeen-year-old legs quote, but close. Most of the female-specific points or themes in this book sound utterly redonkulous. Like a seventeen-year-old boy was trying to imagine how girls think. Big fat fail. The body image comments really grated on me…like somehow, when the book begins, we’re supposed to see Gwendolyn as overweight…I think? Only she’s an overweight gymnast, which totally makes sense. Also she doesn’t like being looked at but dyes her hair bright red…and then in the grand scheme of changing herself so she can go hunt for her father she has to dye her hair a more unnoticeable shade and become this lean, muscled, martial artist type. Well, I have news for you…that shit doesn’t happen overnight, and not even in the several weeks Gwendolyn has to work on it. If she’s indeed overweight/out of shape as it seems we’re supposed to believe. I don’t know. I’m confused as to what the perception there was supposed to be.

Then, the love interest is lame. A plot device. Gwendolyn needs an ally back home, one with smarts, money, and connections…and suddenly she’s all weak-kneed for this boy she’s barely even looked at before. There was no buildup, just suddenly she runs into him and starts shaking. Sorry, but I have no feels for this at all.

Actually, I pretty much have no feels at all for the entire story, which is really sad. I mostly feel annoyance. I wanted more from the characters. Characters are easily the biggest and most important part of a book, to me. Gwendolyn, her father, even the people that help her, just aren’t generally likable and while yes, Gwendolyn definitely changes through the book, I found the changes a bit far-fetched. She morphs rather quickly from a slightly bitter, spoiled high school girl to a lean, mean, killing machine. Really? But, ok. I’m willing to suspend disbelief a bit – after all, that’s what we do for any book, right? But it’s the author’s job to sell us on it. Sadly, the writing style is such that I couldn’t STAY suspended in my disbelief. I was repeatedly jarred out of it. But I still wanted to know what happened. How’s that for a quandary?

“Justice isn’t some abstract thing, Gwendolyn. What your did tonight, that’s what it looks like. Ugly and mean.”

Best line in the entire book, I swear. And it does get ugly, the longer it goes on. It’s like a train wreck you can’t stop watching, as Gwendolyn delves deeper and deeper into the criminal underworld in her search for her father. She develops an amazing poker face and some steel nerves, even in the face of a rising body count and discovering a sex trafficking ring – somehow she manages to stay cool. But at what cost? That’s the real question, and in the end, the question of what was saved and what was lost is still somewhat up in the air.

Many thanks to Feiwel & Friends for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!