“It takes a stroke of luck to find your vocation. I might have spent my whole life searching. Hare Krishna? Hairdressing? Water polo? But the universe blessed me with a taste of the perfect crime.”—from Of Vengeance.
Welcome to the mind of an unnamed sociopath, who is also a thirteen-year-old Canadian girl. Beginning with a prank gone wrong, the unnamed narrator grows into a woman as her misanthropy and killing skills also grow. She judges her neighbors for minor wrongs. Don’t scoop up your dog’s poo? Congrats, you’re on her radar. As she herself states, “when I seek vengeance, it’s rarely for a crime against my own person.” She sees herself as a righter of wrongs.
I loved the narrator’s voice. You could feel her disassociation from society clearly through her words. She is an invisible wraith sleepwalking through her regular life while relishing her role as a vigilante. That makes her fascinating, but not very relatable to most readers. However, the disappointing conclusion of the book makes Of Vengeance a three-star read for me.
Thanks to Dundum Press and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.