Today is my stop on the Don’t Get Involved blog tour. Thank you so much to F. J. Curlew for inviting me to take part on this tour and providing me with a copy of the book to review.

Author: F. J. Curlew Pages: 341 Genre: Suspense, Crime Thriller, Magical Realism Publication: 7th October 2019

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Synopsis:

A missing shipment of cocaine.
Three street-kids fighting for their lives.
A Mafia hitman intent on killing them.
A naïve expat who gets in their way.
Who would you bet on?

Ukraine, 2001. A time of lawlessness and corruption. Three street-kids stumble upon a holdall full of cocaine, belonging to the Mafia. Mafia hitman, Leonid, is given the job of retrieving the cocaine and disposing of the street-kids. To do so he is forced to step back into his old life and he doesn’t like it. The children run on their wits. Leonid hunts them down. Nadia, a young woman with her own dark past, arrives in Ukraine looking for a fresh start. She wasn’t expecting this!

Review:

From the first page, I knew this wasn’t going to be a happy tale. The story follows three homeless kids on the run, a dangerous hitman, and an overly curious woman that shouldn’t get involved. The cold and dangerous atmosphere kept me wide awake and always expecting something terrible to happen. The narration was slow, but there was enough suspense to hock me up. I usually prefer edge-of-your-sit type stories, although the entire atmosphere of the book it’s so involving and captivating that I never felt bored, even when nothing too exciting was happening.

“He didn’t believe in anything else, any afterlife, any God. That was for fools and the rich.”

These street kids don’t have much, and they know to count only on themselves. Trust no one. Fight for their lives. Steal, run away, hide. Their lives are a constant turmoil. They can’t stop, they aren’t safe, they are never safe. Having some hot food is almost a luxury for them, so believing in anything that won’t kill their hunger, won’t give them shelter, or warm them up in the brisk winter is pointless. Seeing the difficulties these kids have to go through, the discrimination, the poverty, the abuse, it’s so heartbreaking.

But the story doesn’t focus only on the hard life on the streets of Kiev, it also touches on a dark year of the Ukrain history known as the Holodomor. Before I read this book, I’ve never heard of this word before. From all the lessons in the history of the world, not once have I learn about the Holodomor. And I appreciate when a piece of fiction in the middle of suspense, crime and romance can teach me something new, even if it’s not on great detail – that’s what the history books are for.

The writing style is top-notch, immersive, atmospheric, and full of emotion. Despite the hard topic of the book, I had a great time reading it. This is not a book to leave you with a smile on your face but with hope in your heart that even on the hardest winters there is room to dream and to believe in magic.

About the author:

Fiona spent fifteen years working as an international school teacher, predominantly in Eastern Europe. Much of her inspiration comes from her travels. Her writing has been described as, “Human experience impacted upon by political situation, interwoven with a love of nature.”

She now lives on the East Coast of Scotland with Brockie the Springer, and Fingal the rescued Portuguese street-cat. Her days are divided between dog-walking in beautiful places and working on her stories. Not a bad life!

Don’t Get Involved is her third book, and to know more about other published books to her website.

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The blog tour is coming to an end, but there are still loads of opinions, thoughts about Don’t Get Involved, and interviews with the author, so go check out all the other bloggers and give some love.