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A review by ezichinny
Bliss by Lisa Henry
3.0
RRory James just got a job working with Judge Lowell in the peaceful town of Beulah. He is excited to move from Tophet to Beluah because for the past 10 years, Beluah has had no crime and no pollution. It is supposed to be this utopian society and Rory just needs some peace.
His first day in Beluah and Rory gets punched in the face by Tate Patterson, whose also from Tophet. Rory is rushed to the hospital and Tate is arrested. Beluah deeals with criminals by placing them in a Rehabilitation through Restitution program. The perpetrator works for the victim for 7 years, instead of going to jail. The idea is to humanize the victim, and make the criminal see the first hand effects of their assault.
Each criminal called a "Rezzie" is fitted with a GPS chip that allows the officials to locate them but it's also a behavior modifier. Tate is now Rory's Rezzie, and begins his rehabilitation by living and working for Rory. Then we begin to see how the "rehabilitation" truly works and that Beluah isn't the safe haven it's being portrayed as. First of all, Tate is almost weirdly happy to be at Rory's beckon call. Then this criminal seems to have no will of his own. What's up with this program? Rory begins to investigate how this chip affects the rezzies and he is flabbergasted to find out the real deal with the program.
I started reading this one with excitement. That rehabilitation through restitution sounded like a great idea. I did think 7 years was excessive for just a punch, but some people have died from punch, so I went with it. The lack of investigation by surrounding towns or even lack of scrutiny was baffling to me, and I wonder if they knew what was going on in Belulah. I mean, you would think every town would want a non-crime statistic, right? Well this town was full of bad secrets and once you began peeling this onion, it made my eyes water with each peel.
I liked Rory and I even liked Tate. I like how the authors humanized Tate. I don't condone what he did to Rory, but it's interesting that he wasn't a criminal like I initally thought. If something is too good to be true, it often is.
I had been warned that the book had dub-con and non-con, but I jumped in anyway. It was very uncomfortable for me to read. There was an HFN so at least that was a good ending. But if you are squeamish lack of consent issues, think twice about this one.
*Reading copy from (Riptide Publishing via Netgalley)
His first day in Beluah and Rory gets punched in the face by Tate Patterson, whose also from Tophet. Rory is rushed to the hospital and Tate is arrested. Beluah deeals with criminals by placing them in a Rehabilitation through Restitution program. The perpetrator works for the victim for 7 years, instead of going to jail. The idea is to humanize the victim, and make the criminal see the first hand effects of their assault.
Each criminal called a "Rezzie" is fitted with a GPS chip that allows the officials to locate them but it's also a behavior modifier. Tate is now Rory's Rezzie, and begins his rehabilitation by living and working for Rory. Then we begin to see how the "rehabilitation" truly works and that Beluah isn't the safe haven it's being portrayed as. First of all, Tate is almost weirdly happy to be at Rory's beckon call. Then this criminal seems to have no will of his own. What's up with this program? Rory begins to investigate how this chip affects the rezzies and he is flabbergasted to find out the real deal with the program.
I started reading this one with excitement. That rehabilitation through restitution sounded like a great idea. I did think 7 years was excessive for just a punch, but some people have died from punch, so I went with it. The lack of investigation by surrounding towns or even lack of scrutiny was baffling to me, and I wonder if they knew what was going on in Belulah. I mean, you would think every town would want a non-crime statistic, right? Well this town was full of bad secrets and once you began peeling this onion, it made my eyes water with each peel.
I liked Rory and I even liked Tate. I like how the authors humanized Tate. I don't condone what he did to Rory, but it's interesting that he wasn't a criminal like I initally thought. If something is too good to be true, it often is.
I had been warned that the book had dub-con and non-con, but I jumped in anyway. It was very uncomfortable for me to read. There was an HFN so at least that was a good ending. But if you are squeamish lack of consent issues, think twice about this one.
*Reading copy from (Riptide Publishing via Netgalley)