Review: Jaw Dropping Awesome, Balls to the Walls Must Read (A Grade)
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 20, 2013
BEWARE... Some Spoilers...The entire time I read Shooting Scars, my head spun, and too many OMGWTFs to count burst my mouth as Karina takes the reader on another wild ride with con woman Ellie Watt, whose past finally catches up to her the form of her psychotic, yet seductive ex-lover, Javier Bernal. He tore her heart in two six years prior to the events in the first book, Sins and Needles, and their relationship was showcased in the prequel, On Every Street. I urge you all before you read Shooting Scars, you MUST read On Every Street and Sins and Needles. If you don't, you'll be lost and dumbfounded by the actions of these characters, specifically Ellie and why Javier is stalking her, including Camden McQueen, who knew Ellie back in high school and was her first love.Shooting Scars will shock and awe in many ways, some of which the reader may be uncomfortable with. This is a fierce book with the three main characters consisting of Ellie, Camden and Javier, all of which live on the edge and do things that are very questionable, and for some readers, immoral. I can't help compare this world Karina has created to that of a Quentin Tarantino movie. Two Tarantino movies that come to mind regarding Shooting Scars is, the 1994 Pulp Fiction, and the recent Django Unchained. Both these movies are gritty, shoot em' up films. Also there appears to have some influence by two great American directors such as Martin Scorsese with 1976 Taxi Driver and John Ford's 1956 The Searchers with the great John Wayne. These are two films I studied in one of my film classes back in college, and they all have one thing in common- the anti hero. Shooting Scars is filled with anti heroes, aka this triangle of lunacy with Javier, Ellie and Camden. The big question is, who will survive, NOT who Ellie will walk off into the sunset with.Be aware that Karina doesn't follow rules. The rules in Shooting Scars have been stomped on and thrown to the wind.Shooting Scars begins right where Sins and Needles ends. Ellie has gone away with Javier in order to save Camden. She believes Javier will torture and then kill her, because in his warped mind, he thinks she's betrayed him horribly. So what if Javier once tortured and killed a man in their kitchen? So what if he cheated on Ellie and she found him in their bed with another woman (Ellie was more upset about him cheating on her for some reason, making her leave him without a word)?  So what if Javier killed her uncle in cold blood (her uncle sold her out for a measly $50k)? Javier has such a disconnect with reality that when Ellie tells him why she left him, he shrugs it off, explaining why he did what he did and she should have accepted it. My dislike for Javier grew by leaps and bounds here, especially when he uses emotional blackmail to make Ellie do what he wants. He says Ellie can leave him at anytime, that he's not holding her hostage, but if she walks away, he'll kill Camden. In order for Camden to stay alive, Ellie has to do one small favor. She personally has to kill Travis, the man Javier used to work for and the man who scarred Ellie's leg when she was only six years old as payback against her con artists parents who tried to con Travis, but failed. Ellie was the collateral damage, and ever since then she's been running.While Ellie is Javier's "guest", Camden thinks Ellie has tricked him again. He quickly puts two and two together and realizes he must save Ellie. He locates Gus, the man who taught Ellie her conning skills and is like a second father to her. They join forces to find Ellie, which takes them to Mexico. But what Camden finds there, and what he witnesses between Ellie and Javier makes him second guess everything. Gus points out that Ellie may experience Stockholm Syndrome when it comes to Javier. If so, then Ellie will be lost to Camden because Javier can give Ellie anything she wants, while Camden has nothing to his name other than his trusty tattoo gun. Camden puts everything on the line for Ellie who may find herself falling down the rabbit hole with Javier once again.What Karina has done with Shooting Scars is amazing. This is one intense, wild, acid trip of a book that had me holding my breath. Balls to the wall hotness and a tense action packed thriller here. There are shocks galore, specifically with Ellie and the choices she makes with Javier. You may end up tearing your hair out half way through because Ellie does something along the lines of a major WTFckery. How Javier responds is even more of a WTFckery. This action of Ellie, and Javier's reaction to it will have readers both angry and stupefied. Former opinions on certain characters will change, aka Team Javier and Team Camden (what Camden does to one of Javier's henchman with his tattoo gun is much like the teeth pulling torture scene in the 1976 The Marathon Man with Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier), but you will remain in Ellie's corner throughout. I bled and hurt alongside her as she truly becomes a victim to Javier's madness.The one author you must read this year, is Karina Halle, and her Artists Trilogy. After reading Shooting Scars, I've decided that the best author and series of books this year goes to Karina Halle. Masterful storytelling and writing all around. (Grand Central Publishing)Side Note: If there's a soundtrack to Shooting Scars, the one song that would be on it, is AC/DC's Highway to Hell. The lyrics to that song fits Shooting Scars perfectly.Katiebabs