Review by: Alexander
TITLE: Razor Wire
AUTHOR: Lauren Gallagher
NARRATOR: Jill Smith
PUBLISHER: Riptide Publishing
LENGTH: 5 hours, 26 minutes
RELEASE DATE: January 3, 2017
BLURB:
Two women. One terrible crime. Zero allies.
After being raped by a superior officer, MA3 Kim Lockhoff wants to leave the whole thing in the past. A cop herself, she knows all too well that it’s her word – and slutty reputation – against that of a respected Navy officer.
MA2 Reese Marion, a tough cop hiding her own trauma behind a hard-as-nails exterior, has no patience for pretty little princesses who use their cleavage to win favor with the guys. But when Reese is partnered with Kim, she slowly realizes that reputations can lie. Kim is whip-smart, ambitious – and scared. The man who attacked her won’t let anything damage his career, least of all Kim…or the baby she’s carrying as a result.
Isolated on Okinawa, thousands of miles away from home, the two women lean hard on each other. But when Kim confides in Reese, she unwittingly puts her new lover – and both of their careers – in the line of fire. Now her attacker just might have the leverage he needs to keep her quiet for good.
REVIEW:
And once again I am guilty of not reading the blurb on a book before agreeing to read / review it. Sometimes this is a bad thing, sometimes not. So here is my initial feeling about Razor Wire:
This book took me on a roller coaster ride of emotions, from frustration, to anger, to outright elation.
Now that that is out of the way, let me share with you why I think it is a must read book for everyone, regardless of gender and orientation.
Even though there were quite a few characters, the story really revolved around four key individuals, Lockoff, Marion, Stanton, and Gutierrez. The remaining secondary characters did their part and contributed to the story, similar to how accessories finish the decor of a room, filling the gaps and adding depth. I must admit that my first encounter with MA3 Lockoff left me feeling grumpy, but how things changed for me as I discovered what happened (refer back to the “didn’t read the blurb” comment above). It didn’t take long to set myself firmly in the Lockoff / Marion camp and that is where the frustration and anger while reading the book came in.
MA1 Gutierrez had me on the fence for quite a while before I truly knew how I felt about him. He was a solid, well-written character who showed uncertainty, loyalty, doubt, and his actions and behavior felt totally realistic for a man in his position. Not necessarily right, but realistic given the circumstances. Stanton, everyone’s least favorite bad guy could have come across as a stereotypical one-dimensional antagonist, but what tipped the scale was how Gallagher infused his feelings of invulnerability, arrogance, and just plain evil into his character.
If any of what was written is indicative of being a woman in the military, even one small bit, then my anger was totally justified. In fact, I’m having difficulty getting my thoughts written down on the subject of sexual assault and how the perpetrators KEEP. GETTING. AWAY. WITH. IT. it burns my blood and makes me feel despair for the multitude of women out there in the world who have gone through the experience. I can only hope that those affected by sexual assault in any way, shape, or form can find help and healing, and to the men out there, it will never be acceptable to rape a woman, and nothing you can say will every justify non-consensual sex. Period.
This is only the second time that I have listened to a story narrated by a woman and I must commend Smith on a job well done. The character’s voices were distinctive, consistent, and the performance had a genuine emotion to it. The male voices were actually well done as well…in fact, Smith’s male voices were better in comparison to many of the male narrator’s female voices. Technically, I had zero concerns when it came to pace, diction, pronunciation, background noise, well, you get the picture, a flawless performance in every respect.
As you can see, the story truly spoke to me, I’m not kidding when I say that everyone should read or preferably listen to Razor Wire, it will without a doubt be at the top of my list of best reads for 2017.
RATING: 
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