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John Curtis
has had a hard
life. Raised in Sector 9 by a mother that is a prostitute, an alcoholic
and
drug user, John sees sex as a way to escape from the ugliness of life.
The
death of his mother wakes him up to want more out of life and to take a
chance
at attaining it. He overcomes his adversity and leaves Sector 9,
eventually
becoming a cop. His choice to protect the streets of Sector 9, the
place he
escaped to make more of himself, brings him full circle to face his
demons. His
meeting Sylvie, a seemingly tough prostitute who is injured by one of
her clients,
awakens feelings in John that he long thought buried.
Sylvie
O’Malley is a
prostitute. Life has made her hard. In and out of various foster homes
as a
child, Sylvie learned at an early age that sex is power. Leaving her
last
sexually abusive home Sylvie runs to Sector 9 hoping to find the one
thing she
never had … freedom to do as she chooses. Becoming a prostitute is a
perfect
way to get what she wants and keep people who usually disappoint at a
distance.
Until she meets John Curtis, a cop who sees past her façade of
indifference and
hardness, to the woman beneath. Can two battle scarred souls find what
they
need in each other?
John and
Sylvie’s story in
Xandra
Thorne’s Tales
from Urba: Escape from Sector 9, is one of
brutality, tempered with hope. Each character longs for more and to
escape
their circumstances. Although John has escaped Sector 9, he returns
with the
hope of helping others that cannot help themselves. Meeting Sylvie, the
woman
who does as his mother once did, he is thrown by his protective feelings for her.
Sylvie learned early on to depend only on
herself. No man, especially one who is a cop, has ever made her feel
the way
John does. Opening up to him is the hardest thing Sylvie’s ever had to
do.
Ms.
Thorne’s descriptive words bring to life Sector 9, a place of harsh
life where
only those who can be brutal or smart will survive. Life in Sector 9
can either
make or break a person. A reader is drawn into this brutal, yet
exhilarating
world Ms. Thorne creates. The character’s John and Sylvie, each find a
way to
survive and triumph in this world around them.
The novel
was gritty and
sensual but when I reached the end, I found I
was dissatisfied that there wasn’t more to the story. John and Sylvie
getting
together was brief and I was looking for more to happen.
Reviewed by
M. Jeffers
July 6, 2004
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