Lose yourself in Kundras and follow a disgraced psychiatrist on the run.
Wanted by U.S. authorities, Reyna Manalaysay gives up on people—and herself—and flees to the tropics. But an unforeseen incident lands her in Kundras, an island country at war with itself. In a bid for her own freedom, Reyna makes a pact with the man responsible for her twist of fate—a self-admiring war general fighting for absolute control of the country. Entangled in the bargain she makes, she assimilates to a culture of violence to stay alive, shame antagonizing her with mounting intensity as her misdeeds multiply. But it’s all worth it. She’s got a real shot at a trouble-free future and can’t be bogged down by the other prisoners; they just aren’t her responsibility.
Acting phenom, Evelyn Moss, has run away from Los Angeles where her parasitic family has burrowed its way into her own home. Instead of finding refuge in the tropics, she finds herself among a pod of captives. Negotiating personalities is rough, not to mention making sense of a crabby, tactless shrink who packs a submachine gun and fights alongside the bad guys.
To make it home, Reyna's and Evelyn's separate plans must come together before the general and his rival, a fiendish warmonger hell-bent on beconing Kundras' first queen, get what they want:
Reyna dead in the long run.
Chen leads with intricate descriptions of violence and torture that drive the story, throwing readers —along with Reyna and Evelyn—into a foreign, ruthless, and dangerous world, where everything follows its own incomprehensible logic. Though Evelyn takes time to adapt to this new environment, Reyna, from the start, seems thriftier, intuitively understanding the power plays at work on the island. Her tactical knowledge at times seems far-fetched, but Chen does a good job of getting inside her head while introducing readers to her backstory, sharply crafting the mechanics that drive her unconventional choices.
Thriller fans will find a parade of power-hungry leaders here, each with their own special brand of fear-inducing violence that nets them superficial compliance, and Chen throws in a slew of bomb-dropping twists and turns that keep the energy humming, right up until the novel’s staggering last moments. Ultimately, this is a well-rendered sketch of the internecine, never-ending cycle of brutality that countries sometimes get caught up in—where a deficit of law and trust erodes all attempts at stability. Fans of twisty thrillers with a healthy dose of bloodshed and gore, alongside intricate politics and strong female characters, will relish this wild ride.
Takeaway: Wild ride of hostages, politics, and jaw-dropping violence.
Comparable Titles: J.M. Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians, Jodi Picoult’s A Spark of Light.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A-
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: B+
Marketing copy: A
