Review: They say revenge is a dish best eaten cold...
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 2, 2013
I agree.Spoiler alert***************************************************************************Eve Rabi pulled no punches in this book, this was one of the most heart-wrenching stories I have ever read.  I read the description and some of the reviews, but I was still totally unprepared for what happened.Arena is a young mother of a toddler boy and baby girl, married to a wealthy, narcissistic, controlling husband.  Her husband (Tom), lured her away from her family to another country so he could isolate, abuse her physically and emotionally, and control her without interference or worry that she might leave him.  Tom is greedy, possessive and extremely jealous.  He cares about how things appear to other people, so buys her expensive jewelry and other things to arouse envy.  Arena hoards the expensive items in a secret storage unit, preparing for the day she can leave Tom.  She has finally had enough after she realizes the damage his emotional abuse is having on their young son and leaves him with the police looking on as protection.  He vows to hurt her in a way she can't even imagine and suffice to say, he keeps his promise.Arena gets an apartment, starts divorce proceedings and begins building a new life for herself and children.  She meets and falls for her mysterious neighbor "Bear," who appears as wonderful and stable as Tom is sociopathic and rotten.  The story is well-written and I liked Bear more than I liked Arena.  While she was absolutely not responsible for what Tom did, she made quite a few astonishingly stupid mistakes that helped lead to her tragic event and the bad stuff afterward.  It was clear that she would have continued to make dumb mistakes, had Bear not saved her from her own stupidity - which is why I deducted a star.  I love heroes, but I love when women figure things out for themselves a lot more.  She could have done a whole lot more IMO, to not be a victim and protect herself and her children.The story starts with the horrific event, and basically tells you what happens before and after.  Arena gets her own revenge with Bear's help and I recommend this book overall, but with strong caveats especially for mothers and if you don't have a strong stomach for extreme cruelty and violence.Note:  there were grammar errors, typos and leaps in logic but not enough to take away from the power of the story.