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A review by the_coycaterpillar_reads
Roam by Erik Therme
4.0
Thanks to Sarah at Book on The Bright Side for my copy of the book and my spot on the blog tour. All thoughts are my own.
This is my first outing into the creepy worlds created by the super talented Erik Therme. He has masterfully created characters that are broken, strong and wilful for the right reasons. Even though like me, you may never have entered this thriller galore world, but one thing feels certain through the fear and panic – the author is going to take good care of you.
In the first chapter we meet Sarah – a strong woman who should be having the time of her life. It’s her 21st birthday and she should be out celebrating with family and friends. No – it becomes apparent that she is existing amongst duality of abuse. Buckle up its about to go nuts. Sarah and Matt have been dating for approximately 3 months and head out for her birthday. On the way home, her car breaks down – Now, even though Matt has had a few Jars he is displaying some troublesome behaviours. After accidently hurting Matt he goes zero to batshit in 0.2 seconds. He is passive aggressive , he begins the process of gas lighting and issues threats of stalking. Now at this point I absolutely bow down to Sarah and her goddess strength. She decides there and then to WALK AWAY. Yes! None of that I’m going to forgive him as has had one too many, she hands his ass to him and recognises her own self-worth.
The secondary aspect of abuse in Sarah’s life and probably the most aggravating of all is that in the hands of her own mother. Now, her mum herself is being abused at the hands of Sarah’s stepfather and she just says anything for a quiet life. Everything that goes wrong or gets her partner angry is her fault and her mother makes it abundantly clear that Sarah should be doing the same with Matt because he’s a keeper. Yeah, if a keeper is psychopathic sweetheart then yep fire ahead. The cycle goes on, but Sarah will break the wheel.
Cementing her decision to leave Matt she walks away – quite literally via foot until the first car passes her. She is picked up by Kevin and his friend – they take her home until an argument with her mother turns sour and Kevin offers to take her to a friend. There is an air of mystery to Kevin, he’s thoughtful, he’s interesting and above all he is respectful. What is Kevin’s backstory? Knight in shining Armor or her worst nightmare?
Now to introduce the other man in Sarah’s life – Scotty. God, my heart was torn one and another for this guy. On the one hand broken by his father’s death but on the other acts extremely strangely and his reasoning for things is questionable at best. He can be found roaming the hotel his fuck buddy (for want of a better word) works. This is where we are introduced to Mandy – oh sweet sweet bitchy Mandy. A high functioning head case. She forgets to take birth control?? She is insanely jealous of Sarah and Scotty’s friendship and has a dog shit attitude towards the customers she is dealing with.
The ending wasn’t necessarily surprising for me however, it was the journey that got us there that had me on tenterhooks. It was great reading it from dual POV – Sarah and Scotty and we got a glimpse into the fragile psyche of Scotty which did put me off the trail for a portion of the story. The slow burn of details being released had me intrigued and there were elements that were a complete shock.
Roam is a tension filled drive. A story of breaking the cycle and being worth more. Dysfunction and violence. This is an addictive read that ticks all the boxes that has you looking over your shoulder on dark nights.
This is my first outing into the creepy worlds created by the super talented Erik Therme. He has masterfully created characters that are broken, strong and wilful for the right reasons. Even though like me, you may never have entered this thriller galore world, but one thing feels certain through the fear and panic – the author is going to take good care of you.
In the first chapter we meet Sarah – a strong woman who should be having the time of her life. It’s her 21st birthday and she should be out celebrating with family and friends. No – it becomes apparent that she is existing amongst duality of abuse. Buckle up its about to go nuts. Sarah and Matt have been dating for approximately 3 months and head out for her birthday. On the way home, her car breaks down – Now, even though Matt has had a few Jars he is displaying some troublesome behaviours. After accidently hurting Matt he goes zero to batshit in 0.2 seconds. He is passive aggressive , he begins the process of gas lighting and issues threats of stalking. Now at this point I absolutely bow down to Sarah and her goddess strength. She decides there and then to WALK AWAY. Yes! None of that I’m going to forgive him as has had one too many, she hands his ass to him and recognises her own self-worth.
The secondary aspect of abuse in Sarah’s life and probably the most aggravating of all is that in the hands of her own mother. Now, her mum herself is being abused at the hands of Sarah’s stepfather and she just says anything for a quiet life. Everything that goes wrong or gets her partner angry is her fault and her mother makes it abundantly clear that Sarah should be doing the same with Matt because he’s a keeper. Yeah, if a keeper is psychopathic sweetheart then yep fire ahead. The cycle goes on, but Sarah will break the wheel.
Cementing her decision to leave Matt she walks away – quite literally via foot until the first car passes her. She is picked up by Kevin and his friend – they take her home until an argument with her mother turns sour and Kevin offers to take her to a friend. There is an air of mystery to Kevin, he’s thoughtful, he’s interesting and above all he is respectful. What is Kevin’s backstory? Knight in shining Armor or her worst nightmare?
Now to introduce the other man in Sarah’s life – Scotty. God, my heart was torn one and another for this guy. On the one hand broken by his father’s death but on the other acts extremely strangely and his reasoning for things is questionable at best. He can be found roaming the hotel his fuck buddy (for want of a better word) works. This is where we are introduced to Mandy – oh sweet sweet bitchy Mandy. A high functioning head case. She forgets to take birth control?? She is insanely jealous of Sarah and Scotty’s friendship and has a dog shit attitude towards the customers she is dealing with.
The ending wasn’t necessarily surprising for me however, it was the journey that got us there that had me on tenterhooks. It was great reading it from dual POV – Sarah and Scotty and we got a glimpse into the fragile psyche of Scotty which did put me off the trail for a portion of the story. The slow burn of details being released had me intrigued and there were elements that were a complete shock.
Roam is a tension filled drive. A story of breaking the cycle and being worth more. Dysfunction and violence. This is an addictive read that ticks all the boxes that has you looking over your shoulder on dark nights.