Hit

by Delilah S. Dawson

[shannonmiz]

This is going to be one of "those books". You know, the kind that is damn near impossible to review? Here's why: It is kind of ridiculous, and has tons of flaws, but I was still really entertained, and I don't know what to do with that.

Let's start off with the first ridiculous thing: Our main character, Patsy? Yeah, her name is Patsy Klein. Let that one sink in for a second.

I had to kind of suspend my logical side to enjoy this book, because I had one major problem from the start: Why would Valor want to kill people who owed them money? How is that going to help? Because if they are dead... they can't pay you back. Ever. At least if you keep them alive, you can garnish their wages or something? Keep them as some kind of indentured servants? I have no idea, but killing them seems like the least logical option.

But, I was able to push it to the background for most of the book, which is good. Don't worry, there were other things that made no sense to tide me over. Take Wyatt, for example. Patsy's first debtor/victim is Mr. Beard. She isn't too broken up about killing him, because he was a jerk to her mom. Well, then she stumbles into Wyatt, his son. Now, I don't know about any of you, but if someone came to my door, shot my dad, and tried to leave, we would have some serious issues. But nah, Wyatt isn't that fond of dear old (dead) dad, so why not hop in Patsy's mail truck and continue on her mission?

The story itself pulled me in though. It just did. I felt for Patsy, wondering what the hell I would do in her shoes. Yes, the whole thing seemed ridiculous, but it wasn't Patsy's idea, so I couldn't hold that against her. And she was certain (and for good reason) that Valor would absolutely have killed her and her mom had she said no. So, she's just trying to survive, while keeping some of her humanity in the process, which is basically not easy. Sure, she can reason away the murders as a "it was him or me" kind of thing, but that doesn't make it any less hard. She struggled a lot with the morality of it, and why some of the victims were so much harder to think about than others. While I felt that she usually was fairly appropriate in her actions, there were a few times that she seemed a bit removed from the killing, almost like it had become another task to complete.

But on some level, I understood that too, because I think if you needed to make it through ten recruits and/or murders, you're going to have to try to set the horror aside for a hot minute, if for no other reason than to take care of your basic human needs. I even understand Wyatt befriending her eventually, since she kind of didn't have a choice (and for some other reasons that come along later).

There were quite a few twists in the book too, which kept me interested. And, most of them were not wrapped up, so I am pretty curious to see where this will head next. Maybe there will be some greater reason behind Valor's shenanigans? I have no idea. But, I am interested enough to find out.

Bottom Line: This book is far from perfect. There are flaws, and some of them will definitely have you shaking your head. But I also cannot deny the fact that I was deeply entertained by the story, and am compelled to read the sequel to try and unravel the twists. Hey, who knows, maybe it'll all make sense in the end? A girl can dream.

*Copy Provided for Review*
This review was originally posted on It Starts at Midnight