The Pursued: A true story of stalking, memory and madness in America's heartland

 - by Corey Mead

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publishers of this book for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review. 

Heartbreaking, sinister and mirroring of our society and how we damage those we love most.

This book was eye opening, interesting and it fueled a great sadness, rage and hope within me. 

I do not want to spoil the book so I might make this a short review, but wow what a twist, what an ending. This book is a true story centering around the stalking, harassment and assault of a poor woman who has had a hard and cruel hand handed to her in life. 

As the story progresses and the threats and vandalism becomes more and more unsettling, a  kind of sadness and helpless rage builds in the reader. 

We can all imagine ourselves with rage, with sadness and that is why this book is so outstanding and unnerving. At first we feel sad for the victim, but as time progresses and she doesn't show much emotion we find ourselves identifying more with her husband and his fathomable rage, but when the main character finally breaks down one can do nothing but feel sorry for her and the trauma she had to live through. 

This book highlights the incompetence's and also the triumphs and perseverance of the police force making one love and hate them at the same time. When the culprit is finally revealed, the reader cant help but feel sorry and feel the rage dissipating as the recesses of a troubled mind is released and layed bare before us. 

This book also holds up a mirror to our society and the damage that stigma can do. How secrets, pride and shame can often lead to us hurting those we love and how we can never really know what those around us have endured. 

This book also provides hope in the ending and shows that love can conquer all pain. It shows us that we are all human and that we make mistakes, mistakes that can make the head spin, mistakes that affect not only us but those around us and those we don't know. 

Very well done and written! A great read, well worthwhile. 

Characters 5/5

Setting 4/5

Story 5/5

Overall 4.75/5