A Shameless Little Con by Meli Raine
Amazon Digital Services, 2018
Officially,
Jane Borokov has been cleared of all charges. There’s no firm
evidence that she betrayed her best friend Lindsey into the hands of
the gang who brutally raped her, or that Jane was directly
responsible for the murders that followed. That doesn’t matter in
today’s world of social media, trolls and yellow journalism. The
world is convinced that she’s guilty as sin. She receives daily
threats of death, and worse. She has been forced to go underground,
giving up her home and her career, changing her appearance, and
acquiescing to constant surveillance. Lindsey’s father and her
mom’s former employer, senator and presidential candidate Harry
Bosworth, has provided her with money and protection, in the form of
ex-military hunk Silas Gentian. Once upon a time – before she
became the ultimate pariah – Jane had thought there might be some
chemistry between her and Silas. Now, it’s clear that her bodyguard
and minder distrusts and despises her. That’s just one more pain
she has to bear.
A
Shameless Little Con by Meli Raine offers a darkly suspenseful
look into the world of dirty politics and shadow governments.
There’s a hint of romance, but the attraction between Jane and
Silas is not consummated. Mostly, this book is about being haunted,
and hunted, a victim of circumstances turned into a villain by the
media and a liability to be eliminated by those truly responsible.
I
had very mixed feelings about this novel. On the positive side, Meli
Raine excels at evoking Jane’s desperate emotional state and how
that is tied to her physical sensations. I could feel Jane’s
loneliness, despair and horror. On the other hand, my reactions
became increasingly muted because so much of the book, narrated from
deep first person POV, focuses on how awful Jane feels. Even the
worst trauma becomes less poignant through repetition.
The
events leading up to Jane’s plight are hopelessly complicated and
confusing. I had to wonder whether the author had really thought
about the circumstances when plotting the book, or whether she was
making it up as she went along. Two instances of gang rape, several
years apart; imprisonment of the victim in a sham psychiatric
institution; burner phones, pay offs and blackmail; murder and car
bombs; it was just too much for me to grasp (and I am generally
considered to be pretty smart).
I’d
hoped things would become clearer as the book progressed, but exactly
the opposite occurred. The situation becomes progressively more
murky, except in the relationship between Jane and Silas, where some
trust does develop. Still, I kept reading, liking Jane and wanting
her to get some justice. Alas, the book ends with a brazen
cliffhanger that will definitely anger some readers (as evidenced by
some of the reviews on Amazon).
Meli
Raine writes well. She creates vivid characters, knowing how to pick
out one or two details that will quickly and clearly delineate their
personalities. I particularly enjoyed the sassy octogenarian artist
Alice Mogrett, at whose home Jane finds some temporary sanctuary.
However, the author doesn’t seem to understand the classic
narrative arc. The book is a series of violent and disturbing
episodes – just one damn thing after another – with no climax and
no resolution. As a reader I felt cheated out of the satisfaction
that should come with the end of a book.
I’ll
admit that I’m still curious about what really happened, whether
Jane will finally be free from the cloud hanging over her, whether
she and Silas will ever actually make love. But I’m not curious
enough to buy the next book in the series, because I’m all too
aware that I might be disappointed.
