THE CRUELTY BY S. BERGSTROM
Genre: Young Adult, Thriller, Mystery
Source: The publisher in return for an honest review
Publication Date: Feb. 7, 2017
Synopsis:
When her diplomat father is kidnapped and the U.S. Government is unable to help, 17 year-old Gwendolyn Bloom sets off across the sordid underbelly of Europe to rescue him. Following the only lead she has—the name of a Palestinian informer living in France—she plunges into a brutal world of arms smuggling and human trafficking. As she journeys from the slums of Paris, to the nightclubs of Berlin, to the heart of the most feared crime family in Prague, Gwendolyn discovers that to survive in this new world she must become every bit as cruel as the men she’s hunting.
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A fast paced action packed mix between Taken and The Wanted.
Gwendolyn Bloom is a well-cultured feisty teenager who is just trying to make it in a preppy and snobby school in NYC when her father who is a U.S Diplomat gets kidnapped.
The writing immediately pulled me into the book. I wanted to be best friends with Gwendolyn and was cheering for all of her sass. The Cruelty was chock full of intrigue right from the beginning. Everything was happening so fast and you were as lost as Gwendolyn with the mystery of her father’s disappearance. I do not want to go into much detail because I do not want to ruin the story for everyone but there were tons of surprises and I never knew where the story was going. Gwendolyn’s adventure to find her father took on the experience of a Liam Neseon movie, specifically taken. There were times where it seemed unrealistic for what Gwendolyn was doing, but I was impressed with how realistic the story was and how true it held to the fact that Gwendolyn was a teenage girl with little experience.
The book had me hooked from the beginning and I had to know what was going to happen next. The story was layered with surprises and twists and showcases a strong female lead. She is a great role model for younger women to show them how strong and determined a girl can be and how she is able to do anything on her own.
