First: TRIGGER WARNING. This novel includes a great deal of graphic content. The story follows a Nina Guerrera, a Latina FBI agent who was brutally abused in foster homes as a child. After running away from one home at the age of sixteen, she was abducted, tortured and raped–but she escaped, and the man who attacked her was never brought to justice.

Ten years later, she's caught in a video that goes viral and she's recognized by her attacker. He's obsessed over her since he lost her, and now he knows she's with the FBI and he wants her back.

Through the novel, the reader experiences Nina's fight as she is forced to relive the terror she experienced while more of her past is exposed to the world through her attacker's efforts to punish her--by repeating his crimes with other girls and leaving messages for her on or near their bodies.

Nina becomes part of a special task force, and together they work against the clock and against social media to stop The Cipher from hurting and killing more young women, including Nina herself.

Readers who okay with reading about multiple rapes that include torture. The story follows the FBI's efforts and how the FBI might handle such a case. The author clearly understands protocols and procedures and the reader gets to experience the case from Nina's point of view.

Though the story talks about the rape and torture of Nina and the other victims, they aren't explicitly depicted. They are horrifying, but for me at least, it's the terror and fear of the attacker (the Cipher), his fury and his super-high IQ that kept my leg bouncing as I read as fast as I could to find out what happened next.

There are lots of other things I really liked about this book. The author pulls in the technology of today and shows how the public could potentially get involved in murder cases and disrupt the plans of organizations like the FBI. No spoilers. I'll stop with that.

I have a rule that I don't read books that involve rape or torture, but I broke that rule to read this story. I don't remember why I picked this book up, but I only paused once to consider whether I wanted to continue reading it when it included so much suffering. But I was absorbed by this book. I loved Nina for her strength and for her weakness, which she doesn't show often. She is a Warrior Girl, and she is determined to do everything she can to prevent other girls from suffering her fate, even when the whole world is watching her.

This story was fantastic, deep, and the backstories so well developed. I'll be reading the next volume in this series–when I catch my breath after finishing this one.

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Created Jan 27, 2024 at 6:01pm • Submit your own review...