Review: The Perfect Victim

Title: The Perfect Victim

Author: Natasha Snow

Date of Publication: February 22, 2013

Formats Available: Paperback, E-Book

Buy This Book: Amazon

Synopsis: Rachel is a lonely high school freshman with strict parents, desperate to be part of a relationship. Dominic finds Rachel on the internet and shows interest in her. Almost immediately Dominic turns the relationship into one that is sexually demanding in nature, but instead of being committed to Rachel, he continues dating other girls while he keeps her as his secret. All of their meetings happen in school, and in the beginning Rachel is excited and flattered to have his attention, but quickly becomes uncomfortable with his treatment of her. Eventually Rachel tries to break it off, Dominic frightens her and she feels like she has no choice but to give in to his demands. Instead of looking for help, Rachel begins a pattern of negative and frightening behaviors including cutting and drugs. To everyone around her, she appears to be an average student, and because no one knew what was happening to her, she has no one to turn to for help. Written in the moment, Rachel gives insight into her fears and regrets. Yet in the conclusion of some of the lowest points in her life, an older version of herself comes back to give her advice, giving her insight into her situation and offering her different ways she could have left the cycle of abuse she couldn't spring away from.

My Review:

Stunning and heartfelt The Perfect Victim was shocking and perspective changing. Digging deeper into the life of a young girl trapped in a vicious cycle that she feels that she can't get out of and giving the reader insight into her inner thoughts and feelings I couldn't help but want to reach through the pages and help Rachel as she struggled to step out of the pattern she was in.

The Perfect Victim was an eye-opening novel for me. The things Rachel goes through are things I'd always heard about but never really thought about from the point of view of the victim. Throughout the novel, as Rachel struggles through one trial after another, I began to really feel connected to her and understand the pain she was going through. The Perfect Victim is full of tough topics that are hard to read about just because they're so horrific, Snow did an excellent job making these moments ring true and give readers a look into what it felt like for Rachel no matter how tough the topic.

My favorite part of the novel was the letters Rachel wrote to her younger self. Sprinkled throughout the novel they give advice and issue warnings not only to the younger Rachel but to the readers as well. It's obvious that Snow is very passionate about the topic and her passion really shows through the writing, making the advice feel more genuine. By the end of the novel I felt like I had a new understanding of not only Rachel but the signs that signaled that something was wrong. This novel definitely gave me a whole new perspective into the life of a troubled girl.

The only problem I had with this novel was that there were a lot of typos. While they didn't necessarily make me like the novel any less or take away from the point of the story they did get a little annoying at times. Paired with a few rough sentences here and there the writing could have been cleaned up a little bit. However, both of these things are easily fixable and didn't have a major impact on my view of the novel.

Shocking and eye-opening The Perfect Victim is not for the faint of heart but at the same time felt like something everyone should have an understanding of. Girls looking comfort in the fact they're not alone and those looking for a shocking new perspective need look no further!

3/5