The Wicked We Have Done. Sarah Harian

 

The Wicked We Have Done. Sarah Harian

Review from Jeannie Zelos Book reviews.

This book is a little outside my usual genre, its NA and romance, but the content is very different to what’s mostly available in the NA market Its not a buy meets girl HEA, sweet book, but one where the participants meet after having been convicted of a crime, and have opted to let a machine judge whether they live or die. The Compass Room is a sort of futuristic moral compass which takes their reactions to simulated events and judges them, there’s no trial, no prison, participants either go free – very unlikely – or die there and then.

Its something that could well happen at some point in the future, as we begin to rely more and more on technology as the answer to everything. “The computer never lies” we hear over and over, and yet..it’s totally dependent on what info is programmed in. We’ve currently lie detectors, fingerprinting and retina scanners, DNA tests, all supposedly tamper and foolproof, but one wonders, are they human tamper proof from the other end? Are we right to depend so much on the results? This book shows very chillingly what could happen if we take things too far.

Its quite horrific and graphic in parts, and for a wimpy weed like me that’s hard to take, and I had to skim some parts. I felt the story too was a bit choppy for me, I wanted to know what it was Evalyn had done, wanted to know why others reacted as they did, and more about each person as a person not just their crimes. I didn’t really connect with this book, more because of my needs though, than because its not a good book. I’m sure those who like this genre will love it – I was looking at the romance, and that’s just a very small part of the whole, with the rest being the CR and its actions, where my fears over the future of technology and realism meant I didn’t enjoy that part.

Clearly there’s more to come, and despite not really enjoying this book it has got me hooked in some ways, as I really want to know what happens to them next, and what happens about the Compass Room. Its pro iced at £2.49, and though I didn’t have page/kb info I’d guess from location number and time it took to be about 120 – 150 pages.

Stars: three, a read that was really well written, but sadly was not quite what I enjoy. Remember as ever that’s a personal opinion, and not a reflection of book and plot quality

ARC supplied by Netgalley