Review: Tortured Innocence by Shantel Brunton

 TW/CW: Rape, Mental and Physical Abuse, Torture, Imprisonment, Kidnapping, Animal Death, Graphic Violence, Suicide, Cult Behavior

 

Nicole’s entire world is shattered when her mother is brutally murdered in front of her at the age of six. To help her heal from her trauma, her father moves her to a remote mountain area where there are few other people living. She seems to be living a normal teenage life, when she suddenly begins receiving letters from an unknown source, hearing voices in her head, and experiencing horrific nightmares. When the nightmares bleed over into her daily life, Nicole is pulled into a world of pain and torture unlike she could ever imagine.

Nicole’s life becomes a wild rollercoaster in this alternate world of pain and torture, enduring unbelievable suffering, all to live through it again and again. She meets those who seek to imprison her and make her their slave, those who want to free her, and finally come to find those who ultimately become her family.

First up, I LOVE that the author included a page of trigger and content warnings right up front, because I definitely needed them. This book is exquisitely written, but it is a rough read in terms of violence, torture, and abuse. I had to sit with the book a day or so after finishing it to gather my thoughts and describe it succinctly. The book is a wild ride, you feel like you are trapped with Nicole in her nightmares and torture and are just as helpless as she is in the story.

 

4/5 Stars

Thanks to the author who provided me with a review copy of this novel for me to read and review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.