"It had nothing to do with justice and even less to do with preventing future misdemeanors by petty offenders. It had been vengeance, plain and simple."
Dana Diaz is a struggling stand-up comedian wanna be when she meets Amanda after a particularly uninspired set. "Short, stacked, and Latina", Dana hasn't had much luck breaking into the scene and she blames it on an event that happened to her when she lived with her BMF, Jason, in LA. As Dana and Amanda talk, they find that they have something in common -- they've both been taken advantage of by men. Amanda suffered from the effects and lost her IT job. Dana was assaulted by a man she was looking at to mentor her. As these things do, their chat leads to a crazy plan -- a swap -- each will "take care of" a man whose name is on their lists as having violated them. This scheme is put into action and leads both in a direction they had not anticipated. Oh wait...one of them had.
NO SPOILERS.
Well, I wanted to like this book given its timely nature with #metoo and so many stories in the media about women suffering because of sexual things done to them by men. Women who kept quiet and didn't speak up thus never going that extra step or preventing those same men from going on to do the same to other women. It was what appealed to me when I read the book, but this story wasn't what I was anticipating for a couple of reasons.
First of all, I hated all the characters. I couldn't muster up one bit of empathy for any of the women or the men. Second -- I hate comedy routines and there wasn't a single line in the book that came from a routine that even made me crack a smile much less laugh. It just wasn't funny, it was crass and stupid and yeah, I guess I can't take a joke. So without anything to hold onto or to care about with the rising action, I wanted to quit reading the book but forced myself to finish without connecting to it in any way. The first half or so was totally boring and, although it picked it up a little in the second half, I just didn't care and slogged on to what I thought was a totally horrible ending.
So, that's all I've got. I am sorry I picked it up and wasted my time. I think the author's message got lost somewhere in the ridiculousness of the whole sordid story. In short, I lost the plot. I kept waiting for there to be ONE decent man but he never showed up! Despite everything that's going on out in the real world, there are some men who don't assault women. Anyway, if YOU are assaulted by any one at any time -- speak up. Save yourself from that inner rage and guilt. Rant over.
I do want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for granting my ill-considered request to read and review. It didn't work for me, but I'm sure others (as noted in some of the reviews I've recently read) will find it "razor sharp" though I thought it dull and pointless.
This is a standalone and is not part of any series.
Genre - meant to be a suspense thriller
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