Cut Me Free

Gr 9 Up—In this breathless, melodramatic escape fantasy, a profoundly traumatized teenage girl manages to exorcise her demons, vanquish an evil human trafficker, and find true love. Seventeen-year-old Piper escaped from The Parents, a junky mother and sadistic, abusive father, but she wasn't able to save her little brother, who now lives as a voice in her head. She resides in Philadelphia under an assumed name and identity that she purchased from Cameron, a handsome, devoted, nonthreatening hacker with ties to the Mafia. With her experienced eye, Piper observes an older man and young girl walk through the park, and deduces that the girl is being brutally mistreated in similar ways to what she survived. The protagonist engineers a daring rescue to save the girl, named Sanda, from a life of servitude. Sanda and Piper start trying to build a life together, but Piper is stalked and threatened by Sanda's former abuser, who managed to survive Piper's attack. The teen has to save herself, Sanda, and Cameron from an insane torturer with a fetish for blood. In the acknowledgments, the author gives some background information about human trafficking and her underlying goal to raise awareness about the issue. With over-the-top present-tense narration and dramatic descriptions of torture and human slavery, this novel will appeal to readers with a taste for sensationalism.—Kyle Lukoff, Corlears School, New York City