The Wrong Side of Right, book review
This is a very visceral read, often poetic and very moving. This story very bravely enters the territory of self-abuse after victimization, the self-abuse taking the form of seeking more victimization (as opposed to consensual BDSM with safe words).
I did get lost a few times wondering where the protagonist was physically, because steps between his being in one place and another were absent, which made me back track to see if I missed something. That sort of thing pulled me from the story more than once.
Also found myself misdirected by pronouns many times. The dedication of third person pronouns to the use of Tony only was very strict for most of the story, which at one point distracted me enough that I made substitutions of he for I, him for my, and got a perfect translation into first person.
I had a hard time suspending disbelief near the end. Why didn’t either Tony or his love interest think of security cameras? They’re dealing with criminals, have a suspicion of who is the criminal and they don’t quietly set up security cameras? That wasn’t very smart at all and doesn’t seem likely in a story about people in our modern technological North America. A sting without security cameras? A sting where the love interest abandons his partner because he has work elsewhere? No. Doesn’t work for me.
Other than that, I enjoyed this story. I found myself wishing I had Aidan’s perspective too. Tank was an unapologetically brutal and fascinating character, and the sheer, unabated depth of hurt you wade through with Tony is riveting. I very much wanted to get to the redemption at the end.
