Sunday, 2 June 2013

Shadow Box by Kim Pritekel


Erin Riggs has just moved from Pueblo to Northglenn, Colorado, after a break up with her boyfriend. She is determined to make a new start. She’s found a small apartment and has just secured a new job working for a lawyer. All is looking really good. A frantic knocking at her door at 3 a.m is about to change her new start and peaceful life forever.

Tamson Robard’s childhood was grim, dreadful in fact. She lived alone with her weak willed mother and they moved around frequently. So Tamson didn’t get a chance to make friends very often. Her mother was hell bent on finding a man, any man would do. She was hiding deep dark secrets from the past from Tamson. Tamson knew she was hiding something, but never knew what. Was this the reason why they kept moving around?

When her mother got involved with Dale, an uncaring, brutal man, teenager Tamson decided she’d taken all she could and ran away. She’s now an adult, she’s also a drug addict. Her only friend is her imaginary childhood guardian angel, Penny.

When Erin and Tamson meet, it’s like fate has brought them together. The two women eventually embark on a journey in which the hidden, deep dark secrets and the horrifying truth will emerge. Their journey will be fraught with danger and will take them both to hell and back. Will they both survive?

I’ve read a lot of Kim Pritekel’s work. This is one of the grittiest and darkest books I’ve read of hers yet. Tamson’s harrowing story and the journey her and Erin take is going to stay with me for a long time to come.

Both Erin and Tamson are multidimensional and interact well together. Although so very different, they do compliment each other. Their volatile friendship is hard going. Both women are suffering mental anguish of different sorts. But their fateful meeting could either be their salvation or their destruction.

The subject matters that arise throughout this book, are for the most part difficult to read, heart breaking too. But I couldn’t not continue. The book was a page turner right the way through. This story evoked a myriad of emotional highs and lows for me. It is a rollercoaster ride of turbulent twists and turns until it’s satisfying conclusion.

This book is in my re-read file. One reading simply isn’t enough to take on-board this story and to savor it. I hope I don’t have to wait long for Kim Pritekel’s next book.

 

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