Bend Me, Shape Me (Street Stories Suspense Novels, #2)

by Debra R Borys

[kimbacaffeinate]

While the cover did little to impress me, I was curious after reading the synopsis of Bend Me, Shape Me. I am delighted I agreed to read and review this novel. Borys offers fascinating characters, a look at inner city homeless children and combines it with a suspenseful mystery that kept me flipping the pages. This is the second book in the Street Stories series but each work as a standalone. Three world review: suspenseful, enlightening and well done.

The tale begins with Blitz and Snow in an abandon building. Blitz is having a bi-polar episode when he begins chanting about warriors and the CIA. He kills himself right in front of eighteen year old Snow Ramierz and she is convinced their doctor had something to do with this. Now she must find a way to prove it and protect her brother Alley..but first she will have to learn to trust others.

Snow is a powerful character who has been apart of too much darkness for a girl of eighteen. She is street wise and has spent her youth protecting her brother Alley and drowning her sorrow in pills. Snow and Alley are half Native American and left the Washington Yakama Reservation with their mother and father. Sadly their life went downhill from there. Orphaned they have become wards of the state and both show signs of mental illness. Snow is strong, brave, troubled and incredibly fierce. Watching her open up and trust was profound. Jo Sullivan is a reporter plagued by the conditions of the homeless children on the streets. When Blitz dies she begins researching and eventually meets Snow. I liked Jo; she cares and takes an active role in bettering her community. She can be fearless and I enjoyed watching her work to find the truth. Ben runs the center and while we didn’t have a lot of interaction with him, I enjoyed those we did. Dr. Mordechai Levinson is someone you will love to hate and I found him to be pompous and manipulative. We meet other characters who help round out the tale including the Ramirez’s uncle.

Borys spun a fascinating and suspenseful tale all while weaving in the lingo and life of homeless children in the intercity. She cleverly wove in government experiments and repressed memories keeping me on edge. The tale has darker sides with drugs, and implied sex. The novel is well researched and shows in the characters creating a realistic feel. There were one or two characters and scenes I felt could have been eliminated for a tighter tale. The pace slowly built towards the climatic conclusion keeping me engaged. Borys did an excellent job of bringing all of the threads together.

Copy received in exchange for unbiased review and originally published @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer