photo credit: @katieandcatbooks
Title: Vigilante
Author: Kady Cross
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: March 28th, 2017
Pages: 268
Rating: 4 / 5
It’s senior year, and Hadley and her best friend, Magda, should be starting the year together. Instead, Magda is dead and Hadley is alone. Raped at a party the year before and humiliated, Magda was driven to take her own life and Hadley is forced to see her friend’s attackers in the classroom every day. Devastated, enraged and needing an outlet for her grief, Hadley decides to get a little justice of her own.
Donning a pink ski mask and fuelled by anger, Hadley goes after each of the guys one by one, planning to strip them of their dignity and social status the way they did to Magda. As the legend of the pink-masked Vigilante begins to take on a life of its own, Hadley’s revenge takes a turn for the dangerous. Could her need for vengeance lead her down a path she can’t turn back from?
Vigilante explores the horrors faced by victims of rape, how it affects relationships, the sheer abhorrence of victim-blaming, as well as one girl’s desire to avenge the wronged. Kady Cross’ story was raw, empowering and reached an emotional level making it so incredibly meaningful that its hard to explain just how affected I am after reading it. Though a little unrealistic at times, it remains the perfect story of girl-on-girl support, fighting back against injustices within the law and challenging rape culture.
I could really relate to Hadley; understand her anger at the law for not protecting her friends, at the teenagers in her school for victim blaming and even her anger at Magda for leaving her ( which was actually more anger towards herself for not seeing her friend’s unhappiness ). I liked how empowered I felt following Hadley as she enacted her revenge, and didn’t even really mind the romantic sub plot that was thrown on there.
Vigilante is a really powerful read. I’ve yet to find anything else quite like it out there. Lady Cross is a really inspiring author and I hope to see more like it from her in the future.
Advertisements Share this:
