Broken by Betsy Reavley

"Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist; children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that the dragons can be killed."

Annabel definitely believes in fairy tales even after she recently spent a stint at Redwood psychiatric hospital in Suffolk. Now age 23, Annabel has had a mental breakdown, was diagnosed with manic depressive illness and gotten well enough to be released back to her mother and brother. Desperate to re-enter her life sane and more independent, she tries to follow the program, take her meds and figure out the rest of her life. Things change after she books a trip to a little seaside town named Southwold. It's there that she meets Jude, the love of her life, and starts to have some hope again. But Annabel is fragile and some things are just not to be. NO SPOILERS.

What to say about this -- well, if you can stomach the extremely graphic descriptions of rape and torture and you have the heart to listen to the poetry and ramblings of a woman completely unhinged -- then this is the book for you. It really wasn't my cup of tea but I read valiantly to the end hopping there'd be some sort of payoff for all the violence. All I feel is abject sadness and a sense of melancholy that will require a huge drink of some sort of alcoholic beverage and some happy television to rid myself of all the disturbing prose I've read and the horrific images created by this book. I can't imagine what it would take to write a book such as this but it may appeal to some readers at a certain level that I can't fathom. I can honestly say that I only finished reading it because I always finish what I start. And I can't help but wonder, what was the point of this book?? I'm eager to hear what others can tell me about that. OH, and I'm not a poetry fan anyway, but this is me done.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloodhound Books for this e-book ARC to read and review. If you're thinking about picking it up, proceed with caution.

This is a standalone and not part of a series.
Genre - graphic and gory thriller with themes of mental illness, rape, torture