Cut Me Free

by J R Johansson

[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