Connection by Kim Pritekel

Teacher, Julie Wilson, lives in the small town of Woodland. Her life is laid back and relaxed. She is very close to her brother Matt and young nephew Skylar. She lives alone with her two beloved dogs, Bonnie and Clyde. Just one thing mars Julie’s otherwise perfect life, her controlling ex boyfriend, Ray, who refuses to believe their relationship is over and continues to harass her. Julie has no idea when she goes to the school one summer afternoon that Ray may well be the least of her problems. Hell and horror is about to enter Julie’s life and change it forever.

Drifter, Remmy Foster travels around from place to place, unable to settle down anywhere. She’s had a rough childhood and has suffered all manners of torment and abuse due to her special gift. Remmy is on the run from the ghosts of the past, although she’s never admitted as much to herself.

When Julie gives hitchhiker Remmy a ride into Woodland, Remmy finds herself thrown into a dangerous and dark abyss, something different from all her other experiences involving her special gift. Something she didn’t see coming until it arrived and more to the point, didn’t totally understand the meaning of. It will take all of Remmy’s power and ability to make the right connection in time. Life and death is in Remmy’s hands. Tick tock, the race against time has begun.

I want to start by saying that this book is dark, deep and dark, the darkest Kim Pritekel has written yet. It comes with a warning from the author too. I’d also like to add, there are graphic and grisly scenes and it may not be for the faint hearted. This says a lot about me. I absolutely LOVED it. Kim has written a true blockbuster. In my opinion, and I don’t say this lightly, it is her best ever book yet. But, I have thought this before about Kim’s books.

This book is a well written, edge of the seat, nail biting, thrilling, fast paced, action packed page turner right from the beginning. I hated to put this down once I’d started. But, it really was too long for one sitting, even though I stayed up late.

All the characters are multidimensional and interact very well together. The way the scenes are described, transported me right into the middle of the action to live the story as it played out. It’s shocking in parts. But, there is an underlying humor too.

The plot is so intense and intricately woven together, very well synchronized. It alternates between the victims and the would be rescuers seamlessly, going back and forth between the two.

Although there is a lot of fear throughout this book and the different tactics used to try to overcome it, the central pivot to the story is actually the connection felt by one person to another. A connection of souls which can only come into being when you’ve met your soul mate.

Kim Pritekel has really got deep into the minds of the characters she’s writing about. Nothing is left to the readers imagination and all ends to the story are neatly tied up. Which in turn has resulted in a really satisfying read. This is a book that will be in my re-read folder. I need to read it again to savor the story without the pressures of knowing the ending.