Book cover of The Victim by Max Manning

Many thanks to Sourcebooks and Netgalley for an ARC of The Victim in exchange for an honest review.

The Victim by Max Manning

Genre: mystery/thriller

Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark

Publication Date: August 6, 2019

Summary:

On the way home from work, Gem Golding stops at a store and is attacked by a violent stranger named Norton. The novel follows two scenarios. In one, Gem fights Norton. In the other, Gem surrenders to Norton. In both, she lives to return home to her devoted boyfriend, media scrutiny, and a police investigation.

But Norton’s not finished with her yet.

The story follows the two paths her life takes after her decision to fight or surrender. Each chapter is labelled either according to the scenario, either “Fight” or “Surrender.”

Max Manning took a huge artistic risk with The Victim.

The dual-plot/timeline concept is fascinating, both from a story perspective and a psychological one. It’s also hard to pull off. I’m not certain the end result here was entirely successful. But I commend Manning for being willing to take that risk.

Whether or not you think the two parallel stories “work” is probably personal. It might also help to read a print version, as flipping back and forth on my phone Kindle app wasn’t ideal. I took notes, highlighted in either pink (for the Surrender chapters) or yellow (for the Fight chapters), which helped a bit. Even so, I became confused by what had happened and when for each section.

There were multiple times when I thought some action had already occurred (for example, Gem’s conversation with her boss about returning to work) and wondered why the characters acted as though it hadn’t. Then I realized that, yes, that action had occurred–in the other scenario.

Two things contributed to my confusion:

Multiple point of view characters

We got the viewpoints of Gem (the victim), Norton (her attacker), Elliot Day (the police investigator), Drew Bentley (Gem’s boyfriend), and Matt Revell (a tabloid journalist exploiting the story). Their individual sections are labelled with their names. Even so, it’s confusing to switch both scenario and point of view between chapters.

For example, one chapter came from Gem’s point of view in her victim/surrender scenario, and the next chapter came from Day’s point of view, but in the Gem-the-Warrior scenario. I had to flip back to the chapter before last to remember what just happened and what Day and his sergeant are discussing.

Short chapters

Not all the chapters were extremely short, but some were. This fed into the issue I described. Personally, I would have preferred longer sections from each scenario.

On the positive side . . .

There were definitely intriguing moments.

The idea of the two outcomes running parallel to each other gives the opportunity for different reactions to the same plot point.

For example, in Gem’s conversation with Melanie, her boss, there are two scenarios. (No spoilers.) In one, Gem wants to return to work and Melanie is reluctant to allow this. In the other, Gem dreads returning to work and Melanie is angry.

Why? Each Gem (Warrior and Victim) reacted differently to the attack. As a result, the two Gems have different attitudes toward her (their?) work and the two Melanies react based on their attitudes toward that Gem’s response.

Let’s face it: we tend to cheer for people who fight their attacker. (But only if they win. And by “win,” we mean “stay alive.”) People tend to judge those who “freeze” and seem to acquiesce to their attacker. Even though studies have shown that it’s very, very common to freeze rather than fight or flee, people still judge. They shouldn’t. As one character points out, no one should be shamed for an action based on instinct.

Manning’s insightful as he explores this dynamic.

Gem feels others judge her based on her actions during the carjacking. And guess what? She’s right. One of the positive aspects of the multiple viewpoints is that we see how various people interpret her actions.

  • The police investigators try not to judge–but do.
  • The reporter is only interested in her when she’s the aggressive warrior, not the passive victim. (It makes for a better story, right?)
  • The attacker interprets her actions in his own delusional, twisted way. (And it’s very twisted!)

What makes it worse for her is that there is not one right choice. There’s a lot of contradictory advice on how to respond during an attack. What’s a good choice in one situation may not be a good choice in another. What should someone do if he/she’s attacked? It depends. Manning explores this, too, with great effect.

These insights into the psychology of the attack and response are the highlight of the book. While the plot is suspenseful, I think it’s a mistake to try to read The Victim as a straight-forward suspense/thriller novel. It’s not. It’s an exploration of what it means to be a survivor and how one choice can change our lives. 

For those who are interested in the book, I recommend reading it twice: once straight through, and a second time, reading all the “Fight” sections and then all the “Surrender” sections. Or try reading in this order: the Fight sections, the Surrender sections, and the entire novel cover to cover.