JESSICA REVIEWS: KILLING SARAI by J.A. REDMERSKI

Series: Killing Sarai #1
Category/Genre: Adult Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: 6/19/13
Format: ebook
Pages: 393
Source: Bought

From the author of the New York Times, USA Today & Wall Street Journal bestselling novel, THE EDGE OF NEVER, comes a story of passion and survival…

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…

Always paranoid. Always assuming the worst. Always approaching everything with caution and weapons, and rightfully so. Such is the way of life filled with drugs and murder and slavery.

Where do I even start with this review? Holy moly! That was one crazy ass ride.

I absolutely adored J.A. Redmerski’s THE EDGE OF NEVER and I had no worries about loving this book as well. I know that for some, TEoN was a bit slow in the beginning, but for me it was not at all. On the contrary, I loved the buildup from page one. So KILLING SARAI may be slow for those same people. Not to worry though. You are going to want those moments to breathe because once the ride starts, there is no stopping.


I guess now I know what it feels like when a person has spent half of his or her life in prison and is released back out into the world. They don’t know what to do with themselves, they don’t know how to fit back into society. They constantly look over their shoulder. They can’t sleep past five a.m. or believe that they can choose what to eat and when to eat it. Violence and darkness and confinement is so much a part of them that half of them never learn any other way.



This is definitely NOT your typical boy meets girl story. Actually, there is nothing typical about this story. For one, the lead male is definitely NOT a boy. He is a man and ALL man at that, a man on a damn, out-of-control mission to kill. And when I mean kill, I mean in all definition of the word. Victor is out to kill those that are on his hit list. Starting with Javier, the man that has held Sarai captive for the past nine years. With the help of his brother, Niklas, they tag team working for an organization that eliminates those that are a threat to the nation-or to their organization. However, neither Victor nor Sarai were anticipating the wide ride they were getting themselves into, or that Victor’s brother would play a role in this trip of theirs. And I’m not just referring to the physical aspect of their journey.

How can anyone go through life so surreptitious, emotionless, so unattached to anyone or anything? When I look into his eyes I see something there, although dormant and completely indistinct, I know it’s there. And it’s powerful. I want to understand it, to feel it, to taste it on his lips.


Sarai is a survivor. She overcame nine years of being Javier’s sexual partner and captive. She did whatever she could to survive the horror that it was to be in the presence of a demented and horrid man that would traffic women, drug and weapons. His dirty money made sure that Sarai lived better than the other girls but behind the prettier dresses and the perfumed lotions and soaps, hid the knowledge that that money came from blood, tears, rape and murder. Every day Sarai would see this and keep her mouth shut, knowing there was no way out. Until Victor came into the picture. Now, how does Sarai get this American to get her out of Mexico in one piece? And thus, begins the road trip of Sarai and Victor.

She looks defeated. Beautiful and soft and damaged standing there before me partially clothed in the light of the moon beaming through the tall window. Beautiful, but defeated. That look in her eyes, it somehow latches onto my soul and all I want is for her to turn and walk away. Because I know that if she doesn’t, if she presses me further with those soft lips and sad, vulnerable eyes that I’ll succumb to the moment and either fuck her or kill her.


At first meeting Victor, he is a hard ass and set to be a killer with no guilt or conscience. He has his hit list and he is going to go at it just as he does with all this other ones. Nothing changes. Not even this young girl who escaped and hid in his car. He is his typical self of showing no emotion and keeping his cool but really there is only so much a man can take when you have an overeager and chatty woman in your back seat, a woman who hasn’t seen the real world or the United States in nine years. As much he would love to push her away, leave her stranded in the middle of Mexico and forget she ever exist, he just can’t. He can’t seem to let her go. Even with Niklas’ incessant drilling in his ear to get rid of her, Victor can not part with her. He doesn’t want to let her go.


“Sarai, listen to me carefully. If you choose to go with me you need to know that you could be killed. I will do everything in my power to keep you safe, but it’s not a guarantee because no matter how much you trust me, you should never, under any circumstances trust anyone fully. In the end, you can only trust yourself. I am not your hero. I am not the other half of your soul who could never let anything bad ever happen to you. Trust your instincts first always, and me, if you choose, last.”


I won’t kill Sarai and I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that no one else in the mansion does, either, but deep down I know that what my brother said is true. I should kill her for my sake and hers. But I can’t. And I won’t.


As they keep traveling and get deeper and deeper into their journey, so, too, does their need for each other. Victor sees in Sarai the strong, compassionate and brave woman that he has never seen in another woman before. Sarai sees in Victor that he isn’t the malicious and cruel killer she once thought. They are actually very much alike, surviving the world they were both thrown into. They gravitate to each other because they are kindred spirits of wants, needs and existence.


I never want Victor to leave me. I couldn’t bear the thought of it before, but now…now things are so much different. Our souls have become intimate, whether he wants to admit it to himself or not. We are one in the same and I don’t want to imagine being on my own without him. Ever.


“This goes against everything that I am, Sarai.”
“No, it doesn’t. It’s you becoming more of who you are really.”


I absolutely LOVED this book. It was one that kept me thinking even days after I was done reading it. There were times I was so engrossed and immersed in what I was reading that I would forget to highlight quotes in the book. Victor’s hardassness (it’s a real word, I promise you) and Sarai’s survival skills totally blew me away. I even had moments of snickering when she just kept at it with Victor, asking him question after question. (We woman are persistent and naggy sometimes) Ms. Redmerski has a magical talent in her writing. I feel like I am the character and that I am transported right into the world she writes about. And about those pesky cliffhangers we all dislike so much? Well, there is/isn’t one in this one. It’s a good thing the author feels the same way we do.


On Tuesday, July 2nd, Ms. Redmerski wrote on her website what her intentions are with this series of books. How there won’t be cliffhangers but more of a continuation of the story. She has big plans for Sarai and Victor’s story and how it will get ‘darker, grittier and sexier’. And guess what else? She won’t make us wait ages for the book! Fantastic! I am really, REALLY looking forward to the upcoming books in this series.

 

Favorite Quotes:

  My face just gets hotter and hotter, and every time I see him smile or grin, because I’m completely not used to seeing that, it just makes me blush more and it feels like a hundred drunk butterflies are having an orgy in my stomach.


 He’s smiling. Not just his yes, but his lips, too. He’s so beautiful to me. So dangerously beautiful.


  I stand silent and still at the arched entryway leading into the piano room. And I watch her unlike I’ve ever watched her before. She owns me in this moment.

 

 

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About the author:
J.A. Redmerski, New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of THE EDGE OF NEVER lives in North Little Rock, Arkansas with her three children and a Maltese. She is a lover of television and books that push boundaries and is a huge fan of AMC's The Walking Dead.


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