Hannah Capin’s novel, Foul is Fair was an unexpected surprise for my TBR. I’m a fantasy/romcom reader so teen contemporaries aren’t usually on my radar but I gave this one a try for this blog tour and I was not disappointed. It was dark, twisted and revenge filled. Be warned that this story centers around a gang rape, violence and death. There are very vivid flashes of the rape throughout and it’s written with a strong poetic prose that delivers a multitude of emotions. This is a novel that should not be read frivolously or without a second thought because it has tons of hard truths that many seem to have forgotten. This modern take on Macbeth was executed with brilliant precision.
“Dangerous eyes for a dangerous girl.”
The main character, Jade is methodical, clever and fights for her justice when others have failed her. For the longest time I was confused as to where the timeline fell in regards to her rape and then her subsequent revenge until I read this, “Thirteen days past sweet sixteen my claws are sharper than they ever were before,” that’s when I realized that this plot takes place just days after her brutal attack and I was baffled. The whole assault was gruesome and for a sixteen-year-old girl and her friends to come up with and execute a plan to get justice for those who will never be held responsible for their actions was interesting to see. Nothing really deviated from their plans and when it did, it was nothing more than a hiccup.
“I say, ‘We’ll be the witches they don’t believe in until it’s too late.”
You see how strong and resilient these girls are and the amount of times their feminine wiles have allowed them to pass unnoticed. The whole concept was incredibly clever and I was impressed by their tenacity. I was relieved that Jade didn’t close herself off from everyone after the assault. She told her parents, albeit they acted very strangely when they heard what happened (allowing their daughter who was just brutally hurt to handle it seems odd, the father although angry waited for her command on how to proceed and that got me a little) But she also confided in her friends and that way she had a support system in place while she went after those her hurt her. As I write this I see connections to DC’s Green Arrow and that only makes me love this more.
I highly recommend this book especially if you think it’s not one you would usually read because I think that difference made this book better. It was strangely addictive and I certainly couldn’t put it down until I saw Jade get her justice. I want to thank St. Martin’s Press for including me in this tour and for providing me with an e-ARC through Netgalley.