Zeke by Wodke Hawkinson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ever wondered how women end up in abusive relationships? Why it is they don’t just leave or how, exactly, they fall in love with an abusive person in the first place? Read Zeke by Wodke Hawkinson. I didn’t just read a story that had me on the edge of my seat; I read a story that so accurately the victim’s mental rewiring and abuser’s charming mental instability that I had to step back and remind myself that I was reading a fictional story.

It’s not often that I find a book that can evoke a strong emotional response from me; Zeke did. And it wasn’t just the brilliant writing: exceptional character building would be an understatement, engaging story fails to do this book justice, and to say that the story and characters were realistic couldn’t even come close to describing what I experience while reading Zeke. In fact, the story was so realistic that I felt as though I was simply reading another victim’s story.

As you may well know, I am an advocate for domestic violence victims. I am also a survivor of domestic violence, so Zeke really jumped off the page for me. He was a living, breathing, standing in my living room abuser for me. I had to take several breaks throughout the book, just to breathe and remind myself that I was safe. But there are women out there that are NOT safe. They are with real versions of Zeke. While not all of them are likely as mentally unstable as our male protagonist, they are all mentally unstable in one way or another. Anyone that has ever been in an abusive relationship could probably find a resemblance of their abuser in Zeke.

For this reason, I wouldn’t recommend this book to everyone. For those that are still healing from the trauma caused in an abusive relationship, Zeke may not be a suitable read. But I would recommend this book to anyone else that enjoys psychological, nail biting, edge of your seat books. I’d also highly recommend this book to any young woman who is just starting out in the dating world or to any woman that may be on the verge of entering an abusive relationship.

There are Zeke’s on every corner, ladies, and they don’t come with a sign. Instead, they are charming, handsome, sweet, and completely in “love” with you. But what you see on the surface is nothing more than an act; deep down, they only want to control you, and many of them, like Zeke, actually enjoy seeing you in pain.

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