Cut Me Free

by J R Johansson

Seventeen-year-old Charlotte barely escaped from her abusive parents. Now she's trying to start a new life, but while she can erase her former identity, she can't rid herself of the memories. And her troubled history won't let her ignore the little girl she sees in the park. The girl with the bruises and burn marks. That's when Charlotte begins to receive the threatening notes left in her apartment - without a trace of entry. As the messages grow more menacing, she doesn't just need to uncover who is leaving them; she needs to stop whoever it is before anyone else she loves ends up dead.

• ISBN10: 0374300232
• ISBN13: 9780374300234
• Publish Date: 27 January 2015
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 2 July 2016
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Farrar, Straus & Giroux Inc
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[shannonmiz]

This is a very hard book to review, because it deals with some seriously gritty subject matter. Puppies and rainbows this is not. Charlotte has had basically the life from hell, and that is putting it mildly. I am hoping that none of us can comprehend the horror that she experienced, and somehow lived through at the hand of her "parents". Now, she is trying to navigate life on her own while trying to put the events from her past as far behind her as possible.

I found Charlotte incredibly hard to connect to, in part because that was likely the point. How could Charlotte be relatable when no one can relate to such horror? She'd lost her brother, the only person she truly loved, and now she was on her own, completely clueless to the world around her. This is when she comes into contact with Cameron, who has some underground way of forging new identities (for a price, which Charlotte is lucky enough to be able to pay). Cam is kind of instantly smitten. Charlotte doesn't know this, but the reader pretty much does. He takes such an interest in her in such a short amount of time that it's pretty clear that he has more than platonic feelings. At times, he uses his morals as a guise to spend more time with her and to ask her about her past (as in, he doesn't want to be an accomplice for some kind of criminal), and other times, he is simply there to help her out. She rejects even his attempts at friendship for most of the story, because she simply has learned never to trust anyone. While Cam was a good guy, he needed to back off a bit. You'd think that being in the fake identity business would have taught him a bit about people who've undergone trauma needing some space, no?

Very early in the story, Charlotte encounters Sanda. Sanda is loving in a volatile situation herself, and Charlotte's inner voice (which she imagines as that of her brother Sam) tells her that she must find out what is happening to Sanda. Sadly, Sanda has been kidnapped and is being abused, so Charlotte makes it her mission to rescue her. While I applauded Charlotte for rescuing Sanda, it was ridiculously convenient that she sees this girl walking by who she knows is being abused, is able to track her down, and free her. At any rate, I loved Sanda, so we can just ignore the convenience.

Now, Charlotte has to worry about Sanda's safety as well as her own, and she will do anything to protect this little girl. Soon, it becomes clear that someone is following Charlotte, and she must find out who. It was a very fast paced book, and I was unsure of how things would play out until the very end.

Cut Me Free was certainly a thrilling and quick book, but it left me wanting more of an emotional connection. With such traumatic circumstances, I was sure I'd be feeling a lot for these characters, but I really didn't. Charlotte really didn't even allow herself to be vulnerable even in the confines of her own mind, so it was hard to feel much for her.

Bottom Line: It was a good and entertaining story, but it did lack the emotional depth I was hoping for.
This review was originally posted on It Starts at Midnight

[sstaley]

Another fabulous story by author J.R. Johansson. The complex characters and emotionally moving story line made this book a great read. There is plenty of suspense and romance, along with the harsh reality of abuse that makes this a book you will not forget for a long time.

[Leah]

introduction

When I saw Cut Me Free on Netgalley, I was immediately intrigued because it looked like a pretty creepy book, with its black cover. I wasn't actually expecting to be accepted for the book (yes, sometimes I request books I know I won't get, just on the offchance the publisher will say yes and then I get irrationally angry when I'm declined - it's the Netgalley effect) but to my surprise, I was accepted and added it to my list of January releases, excited to see if the novel lived up to its premise.

Cut Me Free was the second 2015 release I've read to deal with children being put through the wringer in the most awful way possible. First was Little Peach which deals with child prostitution, and here we meet Charlotte, who is forced to change everything about her after a horrific start at the hands of her "parents" (and I use the quotation marks because anyone who does what Charlotte's "parents" do to her do not deserve the honour of being called parents.) It was despicable to read about, made even worse by the fact that when Charlotte rescuses another little girl suffering a similar fate, it brings Charlotte's new life into horrible danger.

what i loved

The pulse pounding pace of the novel is immediately what springs to mind when I think back on the book. There was never a dull moment in Cut Me Free - from Charlotte's inital forays into becoming Charlotte, and her interactions with Cam (oh, Cam, I loved Cam) and the way she so boldly went to save Sanda. It was like bang-bang-bang as each new scene played out, and as Charlotte dodged danger and became a hero.

Reading Cut Me Free made me so sad - for Charlotte, for Sanda, because it's like JR Johansson says in her acknowledgements - these stories aren't necessarily fiction. Yes, Charlotte and Sanda's tales are ficion, but this kinda thing happens around the globe all the time, even right now as I'm typing this review and you're reading it. But it also made me more aware of stuff like this. Because you don't imagine it, do you? Yet then you go read a book about it and it brings it all home that not everyone has the same advantages as you and it makes you more grateful for the life you do have.

What can I say about Charlotte - and Sanda - that can accurately described my love for them? I LOVE novels about survivors and they are both that. How a nine-year-old gilr like Sanda could have the sunny disposition she has is frankly amazing. I was in awe. If I had to go through what they go through, I would never been seen outside again, ever. I'd be too scared. But Charlotte and Sanda didn't let the fear win. Yes, they were still scared; yes, when the packages and letters start arriving Charlotte debates running again, but when it mattered, Charlotte buckled down and said no. She wasn't going to let this happen again, she wanted to stop running and she did her utmost to make that come true and I admired her for it.

And Cam! He stole my heart from the very first page. Who doesn't love the boy who will stop at nothing to save you? Even if you try to ditch him and do your best to keep him at arm's length? Ugh, he was just the dream guy. And I wasn't expecting a romance, because look at the kind of book it is, but it happens in such a slow, lovely way that it's kind of surprising, and though it never goes too far, it's nice to see that Charlotte could let herself trust someone and it was great that Cam didn't just give up and say goodbye!

verdict

Cut Me Free is one of the most amazing books I've read during 2014. I raced through it in one sitting, and I barely wanted it to end, although it did, with a bang! I was on the edge of my seat for the vast majority of the novel, because I felt as safe as Charlotte did, which was not very much at all. JR Johansson has written an amazing novel, with such compelling characaters and one of the most surprising storylines I've ever read. Despite knowing Charlotte's history, I still never felt anything other than admiration for her, because it takes guts to do what she did, and the way she rescued Sanda was the greatest and kindest thing anyone could ever do.

This is one 2015 release you must get your hands on, because it is simply that good. It's all I want in a novel - it's thrilling, the chemistry between Charlotte and Cam was aweeeeeeeeeeeeeesome, and I loved getting to know Charlotte, Cam and Sanda. It was simply amazing.