Title: The Voice of Waterfalls
Author: Natasha Salnikova
Format: Ebook provided by author for review
From Goodreads:
Inga manages to escape from a "house of terror" where she was held as a captive along with other girls who were kidnapped. She is chased into the woods and runs onto the road, almost falling under the wheels of an approaching car. She thought, it would be better to die that way than to return to her captors. The driver of the car, to her surprise, saves her. He brings her to his house and introduces her to his family: his mother, his father and his younger sister. He gives Inga a key to a separate room and brings her food. She appreciates his help and calls him her knight from the road. All she needs now is a phone to make a call to her mother. Her savior, Alman, says they don't have one in the house. He's also not in a hurry to take her from his house in the woods to the town where she can talk to police. And Inga began to doubt the noble intentions of her savior. After some time she starts to think this house is worse than the one she was imprisoned in before, if that was possible.
From the moment I read the synopsis about this book, I knew
I wanted to read it. I just finished it
today. Natasha Salnikova really has a
wonderful book here. And a little fact
about it, it was translated from Russian!
That impresses me so much. You can
definitely see some of the author’s Russian heritage in the book from some of
the names used, foods mentioned.
So from the blurb we learn that Inga was kidnapped and held
captive with other girls. But then
someone comes along and she is afforded a chance to escape, which she
takes. When this happens you are
cheering! She runs out into the night,
her captors hot on her heels. You think
she isn’t going to make it, but then out of nowhere there is a car. It’s driver, Alman, gets out, fends off her
captors and saves her. Thank goodness!!
But really? Should
she really be so thankful? Alman seems
very nice. He offers her a warm shirt to
cover with, he fought off the captors.
How bad can he be? Except he
doesn’t want to take her to the police station, even though she says she wants
to go – she wants to contact her mother who is probably worried sick.
But Alman, that man has excuses, and reasons for not taking
her. She meets his family; they all
seem nice enough for having met a stranger in the dark of night. But something doesn’t add up, something is
just a bit….off. And how could any
modern family not own a phone in a day and age when even the smallest of
children have their own phones?
I really enjoyed reading this book. In the beginning you can see how frail and naïve
Inga is. But as the book reads on, she
becomes smarter and tougher. And a bit
more aggressive and sarcastic (a quality I *always* enjoy!) There were lots of twists and turns, although
much of the book takes place in one location.
You really get to get inside Inga’s head and feel every feeling,
understand every thought. And while on
one hand you could criticize her for even getting into the situation she is in
in the first place, you realize by her naïveté that she is young and has made
the same mistake so many other young adults have made.
We also get a side story of a young man named Anthony. Anthony is battling his own inner demons and
just came to Quiet River to relax while visiting his grandmother. Why is
every person he meets so interested why he came there and when he is going
home? Sure, it’s a small town, but there
has to be something more to it. And
Anthony is a lawyer, he likes to get to the bottom of things. Let’s hope he can make it out of this
vacation alive!
Available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble
