Review : Killing Sarai by J.A Redmerski
Title : Killing Sarai (In the Company of Killers #1)
Author : J.A Redmerski
Publication Date : June 19th 2013
Publisher : Self-Published
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Sarai was only fourteen when her mother uprooted her to live in Mexico with a notorious drug lord. Over time she forgot what it was like to live a normal life, but she never let go of her hope to escape the compound where she has been held for the past nine years.
Victor is a cold-blooded assassin who, like Sarai, has known only death and violence since he was a young boy. When Victor arrives at the compound to collect details and payment for a hit, Sarai sees him as her only opportunity for escape. But things don’t go as planned and instead of finding transport back to Tucson, she finds herself free from one dangerous man and caught in the clutches of another.
While on the run, Victor strays from his primal nature as he succumbs to his conscience and resolves to help Sarai. As they grow closer, he finds himself willing to risk everything to keep her alive; even his relationship with his devoted brother and liaison, Niklas, who now like everyone else wants Sarai dead.
As Victor and Sarai slowly build a trust, the differences between them seem to lessen, and an unlikely attraction intensifies. But Victor’s brutal skills and experience may not be enough in the end to save her, as the power she unknowingly holds over him may ultimately be what gets her killed.
This is their story…
Personal Thoughts
Killing Sarai is a book that's completely out of my comfort zone. I mean just read that blurb! It sounds like absolutely nothing I would pick up by myself. Thankfully, Rachel at The Readers Den enjoyed this and after talking with her, I decided to get myself a copy. Boy, did this book mess up with my brain! I'm probably going to lose some blog followers after they read this review!
Sarai was given to a Mexican drug lord when she was 14 by her drug addict mother and she has not seen the US for the past 9 years. When she finally gets an opportunity to escape, she's hurled into the arms of a killer for hire, Victor. Sarai's situation just broke my heart. The poor girl had to go through so much at such a young age. Murders, blood-shed, rapes and drugs defined her teenager years. Sarai was undoubtedly a shattered character who had seen way too much. But when the situation called for it, she could be tough as nails. I have to say, there were multiple times, where she really surprised me with how strong she could be, despite everything that she had gone through. I was wary about Sarai at first, but over the course of the book she really grew on me and by the end of the book I was just rooting for her to have her happily ever after. Victor, like I mentioned, was killer for hire. He was cold, dark and manipulative. He was constantly cloaked by layers of mystery and all I wanted to do was unravel those layers. Although, the reader doesn't completely get to know what his personality is like behind that tough exterior, I thought it was necessary to show the complexity of Victor's character. I have no idea why I found him so damn attractive! My brain kept shouting "He's a cold-blooded murderer, Nick! Get your mind out of the gutter and stop drooling over Victor!", but my heart was all "I'm sure he has redeemable qualities ..." I swear, Victor just left me in a befuddled mess. I'm not the reader who falls for the villains, like Warner from Shatter Me and The Darkling from Shadow & Bone, but I fell pretty hard for Victor. I know, I know. That just sounds twisted and wrong, but I just couldn't help myself! I knew it was a mistake to start this book and turns out I was right because at this moment, I'm lusting after a fictional hired-killer! J.A Redmerski, what have you done to me?!
Killing Sarai was beautifully paced. From the first chapter itself, you are thrust into an action-packed and intense plot line. However, the pacing does slow down at around the 50% mark, when one major character is eliminated, but that didn't mean that the book stopped being entertaining. In fact, Killing Sarai was enthralling from start to finish. I stayed up until 2 am wanting to finish the book because I just couldn't put it down. The romance in the book was unconventional, like you might have guessed. Although I thought it was sort of dark and twisted, I did feel that it was realistic. Victor was the first American Sarai had come across in a long time. Plus, in her head, he was sort of a hero for her because no matter what, he did help her escape Javier, the Mexican drug lord. It was why I thought how she fell for him was realistic, in a way. As for Victor, Sarai brought out to the surface feelings he had spent years hiding. She unraveled him and as the days went by, he began to grow protective of her. The sexual tension between Victor and Sarai was thick throughout the book. It was lurking around since their first meeting, but J.A Redmerski took her time to develop it and created a slow burn romance that eventually just burst into sparks and us lucky readers ended up with some hot and heavy scenes. J.A Redmerski uses dual POV in Killing Sarai and like always, she nails it. She really knows how to make her characters' thoughts and feelings come out as natural. While the book does not end in a cliffhanger, it ends in more of a to-be-continued vibe, so the reader is not really left hanging, like so many writers tend to do their readers these days, but regardless, I'm dying for the second book to come out because by the looks of that last chapter, Sarai is going to be bad-ass in it! Plus, I need more Victor. (Gosh, this sounds so wrong!)
Dark, twisted and sexy, Killing Sarai is an adult romantic suspense book that captivated me from the first page and left me lusting for more by the end. While it's not the book for everyone, fans of the genre and fans of the author's writing style will undoubtedly love this! J.A Redmerski, I NEED book 2 now, pretty please?
Rating
Cover : 4/5
Plot : 4/5
Characters : 5/5
Writing : 5/5
**Overall rating : 4.5/5**
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