A review of Vicious Rumer, by Joshua Winning
Rumer Cross hasn’t had the best start in life.
Abandoned by her assassin mother, she grew up in a series of unpleasant foster homes with no one to care for her. She gets by working for a detective agency and trying to stay under the radar, determined not to go down the same path as her famously violent mother. But a curse causes anyone who gets too close to wind up dead and it’s all Rumer’s fault.
When she’s kidnapped by a deranged mobster who is determined to find out the whereabouts of a mysterious, mythical artefact, Rumer is forced to confront her past head on.
This novel starts with a bang as Rumer tortures an unknown man for information, before flashing back two days earlier to see her kidnapped by gun-toting gangsters. And the pace never lets up. The story is slick and action packed, full of energy that drives the narrative on. It’s all too easy to imagine the story up on screen, in all its gory, violent glory.
But there’s more to the story than that.
Despite her troubled past, Rumer is a girl fighting hard against her demons. Everyone she’s ever cared about has met an unpleasant end and she’s closed herself off from the world as much as she can to protect herself. Still just a teenage girl at heart, Rumer is constantly running: running from herself, from the fear that being near her is enough to kill someone, from the spectre of her mother, the Witch Assassin who wound up dead in the River Thames after killing numerous people.
Because Rumer has a dark side and her biggest fear is that it might consume her, turning her into another version of her mother. The urge for violence can be overwhelming.
What she doesn’t admit to herself is: she’s desperate for family. Admitting that would mean that she has to let someone into her life and that person might get hurt, like everyone she’s ever built a relationship with. But as the story fizzes on, Rumer has to accept who she is, as she finds herself on a collision course with her past. And she has to learn that having a family means being brave enough to let another person in, whatever the personal risk.
This book is packed with bizarre and interesting characters, from Reverend Mara, the sinister cross-dressing villain, to scarred former police officer Bolt, who also lives on the fringes of society.
While there’s plenty of bloody violence, this is a story with a heart too. The tight, sharpened prose pulls you into the story and cajoles you onwards, but it also reveals a lot about the characters with few words.
Published by Unbound, this is an adrenalin fuelled thriller with a dark and quirky edge. Perfect for anyone who likes to read something a little bit dangerous!
Find out more
Vicious Rumer on Goodreads
Vicious Rumer on Unbound
N.B. I received a complimentary advance copy of the novel from the author for review, but all opinions are my own.