I received this ARC today on request to review it by C.J.Clarke. It was sold to me as 'a girl who survives her kidnappers and a father who is in search of his daughter'. I mean... how could I say no?!
So in case the above isn't clear enough this story follows James in search of his kidnapped daughter. In his quest to find her he finds Valerie, another kidnapped child, now 10 years into her human trafficking sentence. He saves her from the room she is held in and uses her information to hopefully help him find Poppy, his daughter.
Action starts straight away, there is no messing around with this book! And we quickly gain an insight into this human trafficking world and the father trying to prevent his daughter experiencing it for his daughter. Very quickly I became invested in Poppy and whether or not James can save her from an awful fate. I also felt a close connection to Valerie instantly, her being female and having suffered at the hands of these hideous people for such a long time. This book doesn't shy away from the facts of this world which I really enjoyed and appreciated. It really highlighted how traumatic this world can be, and I found myself invested in each of their futures.
Yes this all sounds fairly dark, which it is! How can it not be! But at the same time Clarke provides us with deeper levels, providing the reader with hope, the strength to survive, sexual tension and also integrating family relationships which are very moving to read. All in all this book, though small in size, did extremely well in captivating my attention from the start, and keeping me hooked to the end.
The only thing I can say is I wish it was longer. Don't get me wrong its great to read if your in a reading slump, or perhaps wanting this genre but not wanting the long drawn out process of all the twists and turns. You want a dark, gritty story and you want it now! Then this is the book for you. However towards the end I felt it was slightly rushed, and maybe because of my lack of experience with short stories, I wanted the climax to be a little more drawn out, I was left wanting more. However can that be taken as a bad thing? The reader wanting more? Maybe not. Perhaps Clarke can make a sequel to quench my thirst for more???!
Either way this book was just what I needed today and I ate it up as fast as I could! This book was published just last week so go get your copy 😛
The Darkest Winter Ever by C.J. Clarke
Pages - 80
Goodreads Rating - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
