"Between the Cracks and Burning Doors" - Book Review

Me on le Saturday night:

"Oh, I guess I should get started on Renee's book..."

Me two hours later:

GOD DAMMIT WOMAN QUIT PULLING ME INTO YOUR TERRIBLY DEPRESSING STORIES.




Ahem.

I say this not as Renee's ABFF (author BFF), but as a reader: This woman is fucking talented. Beautiful prose, beautiful wordsmithing, just enough tension. Ugh. I wish I could be as good as her.

Okay, time for the real review:

Between the Cracks and Burning Doors is the prequel to the Extraction List series, centering on the brooding Cain Foley before he learned how to brood. In the Extraction List, Cain is Riley's savior, the one who helps her and her mother reach safety.

In this book, he's just a poor boy from a poor family, spare him his life from this monstrosity who accidentally kills his father in the first chapter. And by accidentally, I mean the guy had it coming. The first couple of chapters were hard to read for me, which is a mark of just how awesomely terrible this world that Meland has built. 

Cain finds himself an unintentional father figure to a bevvy of runaways, falling for a young madame who's just trying to make it in the world. Cain is at times a scared young man, and at other times, he's got shades of the badass man that we meet in Extraction List. This world is not good and evil, and that's why I love it - Meland actually makes you feel bad for this madame - a sixteen year old who is making kids sell drugs and their bodies. Again - this is just a Godawful world.

There's quibbles, of course - maybe it was because I devoured it so quickly, but I just wanted it to be longer. There were times when the start and stopping that is quintessential to Meland's writing style was a bit too much and interrupted the story. And the end of the book was wrapped up too quickly, I wanted more more more from it.

Still, excellent effort from Meland, and we're all impatiently waiting for Book 2 in the Extraction List series.

Buy "Between the Cracks and Burning Doors" on Amazon