This is a story of a woman's journey from living a daily hell to finding her own direction in the world as it has been presented to her. In some ways, Naya's life parallels those of other women in our world right now and it saddens me that such atrocities are still occurring and girls and women are sold into sexual slavery every day.
The government's plan is actually a more underlying story than the one about Naya, her fight for freedom, her fight to save her unborn children, her fight to help those that are still on The Line and those who are risking everything to keep her safe. This story is not for everyone, but anyone who reads it will come away with knowledge that they may not have ever wanted but they can't close the doors on again. Anne Tibbets paints the scenes, gives the characters life and doesn't shy away from the uneasy parts.
A quick read, maybe because I really liked the story and how it flowed. I could see the dingy walls, smell the putrid garbage, feel the darkness of not only night but that of lives that know no light and I wanted to keep Naya safe and I wanted to rescue all the girls on The Line. Writing this review, I find that I also feel anger. Anger to the person who would do that to a child. Anger to the person who would put their wants and needs before their own and sell them into a life that they wouldn't want to endure themselves.
Each character's personality leaped off the page. Reading, I could sense their presence, movements and emotions. This is a struggle for many writers, but Ms. Tibbets makes it seem so easy and she does it flawlessly. I laughed with the characters, felt their burdens, pains, heartaches and also their light hearted moments of happiness.
With all this, what I found as lacking was a good story line to the governments plot. It really needed to be beefed up a bit more and it should have been center stage earlier and stronger throughout. The story felt like the relationships, how everyone got from point a to b to wherever was planned thoroughly, than the author was like, ok, where am I going to put in the reasoning behind everything, than slid it in. Being this is the first book in the series, I'm guessing that the plan is going to be more of a focal point in the next book, so I'm not going to go on more about it.
I recommend this to anyone who likes a good conspiracy story with government cover ups but with more of a character interaction and story line than the evil plot. A mixture of Mission Impossible, 1984 big brother government, 20/20 special assignment feel and an enduring mix of characters. Due to the subject matter though, I don't recommend this to readers under the age of 18, unless they are more mature than their peers, than I would say no younger than 16. I look forward to reading further stories in The Line series and seeing the changes in Naya.
I would like to thank the author for providing me a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.