Hush

This is the first story by this duo of writers I have read and what a killer story to start with!

This story is an edge of my seat thriller. It's about what the worst of humanity can do to a girl and what happens to her when she is set free.

Orion is such a strong heroine. She is in the worst nightmare imaginable for years! And the person she becomes when she is free is nothing short of miraculous and not at all surprising. She learns instead of fighting with her inner monsters, she learns to embrace them.

This is also the story of the people that were affected by Orion's disappearance. It's not just Orion that has lost, but Maddox and April too. To see what happens to the people that have loved and lost Orion and how it molded them to the people they are today!

I was totally immersed in this story and couldn't put it down until the very end!

Orion Darby thought of herself as one lucky girl until that fateful day when her innocence proved to be her downfall. Maddox knew in his heart that the community's lack of interest in the poor girl's disappearance was more than a trailer park run away, Fate brought them back together, but the sparkle that once lit up Orion had faded and the darkness of her tragedy wore heavy on her soul.

Anne Malcolm and BT Urruela unravel the sick underworld of sex trafficking. However, their approach to the subject diverges from the usual victim and assailant trope. The third-person limited, and times almost a hint of omniscient point of view, allows for the reader to experience the disconnect Orion has with her abuse during childhood and in captivity, It's a unique perspective which certainly proved to be a winner in taking the author's craft of tone and delivering the proper mood. The selection of Orion as a name is brilliant. It strengthens characterization and builds the resilience needed to cope with such a tragedy. Malcolm and Urruela bring a richness to the psychological damage not recognized by most in the face of the deepest scars left behind from those captured and toyed within the sex trafficking world. While Orion represents the wisdom learned through the eyes of a victim, Maddox juxtaposes her to the true north of justice. The brilliance of the work exists in the paradox which unfolds between the hunter and the prey.