Christie's review: Verum by Courtney Cole

Title: Verum

Series: The Nocte Trilogy #2

Author: Courtney Cole

Release Date: February 2, 2015

Rating: No rating

Cliffhanger: No

The truth shall set you free.

My name is Calla Price and I’m drowning.

My new world is a dark, dark ocean and I’m being pulled under by secrets.

Can I trust anyone? I don’t know anymore.

The lies are spirals. They twist and turn, binding me with their thorns and serpentine tongues. And just when I think I have it figured out, everything is pulled out from under me.

I’m entangled in the darkness.

But the truth will set me free.

It’s just ahead of me, so close I can touch it. But even though it shines and glimmers, it has glistening fangs and I know it will shred me.

Are you scared?

I am.

[ No (hide spoiler)]

Well, she's done it again. Courtney Cole has managed to lead us down a dark and twisted path fueled by our foolish curiosity and ending in a loss of all sense of time, space, and gravity. Frankly, I didn't know what it was I just read, but it wasn't like anything I have ever seen before. It's virtually impossible to keep your mind from spinning up, down, sideways, diagonal...and then back to where you started with no clear answers. There are questions upon questions, upon questions. Not a bleeding answer to be seen. I was originally going to go with a 5 star rating based on the sheer ingenuity alone. Because I can guarantee, there is not one book out there that even comes close to the madness contained inside these pages. I mean, seriously,

This.
Book.
Is.
One.
Long.
Acid trip.
You think I'm joking, don't you?

Reading this book is like one of those rides at the carnival that spin you around so fast, make you anxious, giddy, and sick.



You're just praying to get off in one piece, but when the ride comes to a grinding halt, all you can say is, Save me!"More!!"

BUT: She's twisted this plot into the tightest, unrelenting knot, I'm not even sure how she can keep the rope from fraying when we try to uncover what's underneath it all. Can she satisfy my desperate need for REAL answers?? So I'm reserving my rating until I escape from the asylum she's put me in read the conclusion.

I trust nothing anymore. Nothing. I never thought I could get so hopelessly tangled in the book's mysterious secrets, truths, gothic houses and hooded men, black eyes, calculating people, ominous growling and whispering....



I thought I would be somewhat prepared after reading the chilling tone of Nocte. I knew the ending would be harsh, but I really wasn't prepared for what this book entails. Our second trip into Calla's thoughts brings you on a painfully morose and desperate course. Poor Calla is floundering in an unfamiliar house, in an unfamiliar country, just trying to recover from the events in the previous book. The menacing feeling engulfing her could be from the people who surround her.

Or is it just the dark recesses of her mind that's causing all this uncertainty? No one is safe from suspicion-not even herself.



What really threw me off was that so much of this book was written in this disjointed, repetitive prose. Nothing in this book is static or finite. Every sentence is like a flickering flame jumping around from one scene to the next in the blink of an eye. And that's how she keeps us all on our toes. But then again, that's the beauty of it, right? Right??

I will say one thing about these books. They may be a quick read, but there's nothing easy about them. Once you sit down with one of these torture devices in your hands, there's no escape until you're done. Be prepared to turn yourself inside out trying to find out just what's in store for Calla next. And be prepared to fail.



Honestly, If I met up with the author in a dark alley, I don't know if I would kiss her for coming up with this warped story, or run screaming into the night. Until I finally get some answers in the final book, I reserve all judgement until I see how it all comes to a close.



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