“When guns are law, nothing is forgiven”

  • Book: Blue Running
  • Location: Texas
  • Author: Lori Ann Stephens

Review Author: Yvonne@FictionBooks

Location

Content

In recent months, I have been commissioned to read so many books which have taken me way outside my comfort zone, but which have surprisingly turned out to be real game-changers for me. It has taught me that there should be no barriers to my reading – only time, which none of us can cheat!

Blue Running, had me visiting a Dystopian future, where Texas has seceded from the USA and formed a new independent Republic. Carrying firearms visibly, is law for over 14-year-olds. The internet doesn’t connect to anything outside of the Republic. The Wall between Texas and the US is guarded against ‘scalers’ at all times, and out of State air travel is now a thing of the past. Immigrants are not tolerated and exist on the margins of society, and abortion is illegal. Law enforcement is almost uniformly corrupt, despite God’s Truth being the new default. Motorcycle gangs, with ‘mother’ being the most feared, rule with extreme violence and hand out their own style of justice, sentence and retribution, almost with impunity.

A powerful, fearless, chilling and brutal work of future-world, cultural, literary fiction; this story hits the ground running and whilst the pace of the action never seems to be too frenetic or rushed, it is frighteningly and often sickeningly realistic in its mood anger and violence, moving along briskly, fluently and seamlessly, pulling no punches along the way. To give away anything about the ending would spoil the entire journey, this is a finale you need to read about for yourself, as it leaves Blue faced with the terrible dilemma of whether ‘blood truly is thicker than water’, an unenviable place to be for one so young!

This is essentially the unconventional and heart-breaking story of two teenage girls, from very different backgrounds, each with their own cross to bear and reasons for fleeing, but neither at fault for the individual predicaments they find themselves in; only knowing that if they stay in the Republic, their eventual fate is going to be final and permanent. Between them, they have been victim to and suffered so much in their young lives; from abandonment, neglect, wrongful arrest and abuse, to sexual assault and racism. They are destined to meet as their individual journey’s have just begun and against all the odds get along, agreeing to pool their resources and together undertake the desperately dangerous decision to cross the Wall into the US, whilst being pursued by both mob gangs and the law as they do so.

This unique, well-structured, multi-layered story, is intense and highly textured. It is rich in atmosphere and detail, totally immersive and has such excellent visual depth to the writing, that the pages almost came to life in my hands and I could imagine myself alongside Jet and Blue as they try to make good their escape, whilst not really wanting to be there, such was the aura of fear and stress which constantly surrounded them and often threatened to overwhelm them. There were one or two moments of quiet introspection as the girls each began to break down the barriers the other had placed around herself, getting to know one another and bonding. But those snatched minutes were few and far between and author Lori Ann knew just when to ratchet up the tension to another level, then the chase was on again, as danger was never far behind them.

The perceptive narrative and intuitive dialogue is completely mesmerising and disturbing, yet compelling in its naivety, which is its real strength, with nary a wasted word. The evolving relationship between Blue and Jet would be beautiful under normal circumstances, however dread, menace and despair, were their constant companions, so learning to trust one another was about as committed as it got for them.

Lori Ann has created a complete multi-faceted cast of characters, who are almost totally unrelatable to anyone from outside the Republic, who have little synergy or loyalty between them, who are not easy to connect with, and who spend all their waking hours desperately searching for that elusive sense of belonging and inclusion. Devoid of all heart and humour, they are emotionally starved, damaged and complex, deep but with no real depth of feeling. Living for the day, raw and vulnerable, yet totally unreliable and manipulative.

As a reader who was ‘listening’ to their voices, I felt no real connection to them, or between them, only a heartfelt sense of sorrow and anger, that in the future, parts of the ‘civilised’ world as I know it, might become so uncaring, insular and self-protectionist.

What makes reading such a wonderful experience, is that with every story, each reader is taken on a unique and individual journey towards a common outcome. A small handful of books are so difficult to define without that journey having been made personally, and this is one such story. So I recommend that you read this one for yourself and see where your journey leads you!

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