Broken by Travis Thrasher

Broken by Travis Thrasher
May 2010 by FaithWords

Paperback, 288 pages

Review Copy

Book Synopsis

Laila had it all--love, family, wealth, and faith. But when her faith crumbles, her world falls apart and Laila finds herself living an empty, dangerous life as a call girl in Chicago. When she is threatened, Laila shoots and kills a client in self-defense, sending herself into a spiral of guilt and emptiness. Six months later, she is trying to move on, but she's haunted by the past. She hasn't told anyone about the man she killed, and she's still estranged from her family. When she is approached by a stranger who says he knows what she did, Laila has no choice but to run. But the stranger stays close behind, and Laila begins having visions of the man she killed. Little does she know she's being hounded by something not of this world, something that knows her deepest, darkest secret. Scared and wandering, will Laila regain her trust in God to protect her from these demons? Or will her plea for salvation come too late?  (Taken from CFBA tour site)

If you would like to read the first chapter of Broken, go HERE.

Review

A twisty little adventure written in unique third person style (think McMann's Wake) with the same type of dark feel yet not as fragmented. It took me a few chapters to get used to Thrashers style of writing as I found some of the words very dicey, but once I got the flow down it paced along very nicely until the end. Parts of the novel especially with the supporting cast had me at times very confused and feeling lost, I didn't know if these things were for real or if I just walked into schizophrenia land. Regardless, it was still an interesting read and I'm always surprised to find a Christian author who gets gritty and dark. I loved that this book went in some corners a lot of authors in this genre will not. The mixture of nightmares and the supernatural gave the book a feeling of a horror novel but still anchored to a believable reality-minus of course the schizo parts.

Laila is the broken woman, feeling utterly alone and running for her life, the character showcases pain and deep fear. Some of her actions and decisions left me with a jaw drop, but considering where her life was at I understood why so much darkness surrounded her and why she was being in some circumstances a bonehead. The ending while not a huge shocker finished brilliant, and the last thoughts on the page were able to give a religious aspect to the novel. I highly recommend this to any horror or supernatural fan. Unfortunately not all Christian fiction readers out there will like this. I dare use the word "edgy"  for Christian fiction. It left me wowed and in chills.

Rating

Broken is action packed with suspense, frightening aspects, murder, mild language, violence and adult content including mild sexual circumstances. Recommended to adult readers.

4/5- Thriller

Thanks to the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance for review copy, to learn more about the CFBA and see a full tour list for Broken and info on Travis Thrasher go  here.

About the Author

It was during third grade after a teacher encouraged him in his writing and as he read through The Narnia Chronicles by C.S. Lewis that Travis decided he wanted to be a writer. The dream never left him, and allowed him to fulfill that dream of writing fulltime in 2007. Travis Thrasher is the author of numerous works of fiction, including his most personal and perhaps his deepest work, Sky Blue, that was published in summer of 2007. This year he has two novels published, Out of the Devil’s Mouth, and a supernatural thriller, Isolation.