She Rides Shotgun

Synopsis:

A propulsive, gritty novel about a girl marked for death who must fight and steal to stay alive, learning from the most frightening man she knows – her father.  (Amazon.com)

This book is a raw, violent look at how things work in the underworld of prison gangs. From the very moment we meet Polly, and the very moment she re-meets her dad, we know we are not in Kansas anymore.

“Know who I am?”  he asks. Even with his skin-short hair and prison tats, she knows exactly who he is. And if he is here, looking down at her in the corridor of her school, it must mean something bad has happened. Did he escape from prison? Is she being kidnapped? Where is her mom????  She does not know. But she follows him out the door and into a stolen car anyway.

“Did you break out?” she finally asks him. “Nope. Got sprung on some lawyer shit.”   And so it begins, Polly’s life riding shotgun, as she and Nate, legally released but with a price on his head, hit the road toward a brutal and uncertain future.

This is a crazy good book. It is written in a street voice, with a grey, gritty language I am not used to hearing. We move into areas we do not usually see in our comfortable lives and comfortable houses. Home now to Polly means cheap hotel rooms. Dinner means gas station hot dogs. And it is hot; everything is hot, from the dirty air to the bleak deserted highway Nate and Polly spend hours driving on. The heat bounces off the pavement, off the windows, off the tin shanties smelling of byproduct and waste. Stark and dirty, this is a world where a little girl grows up shooting guns –because living amid such violence you must become violent just to stay alive.

It is important to know this can be a rough read. There is gun violence, drug manufacturing, and implied torture. Foul language is a given. However, there are chances for the reader to breath; mostly provided by Bear. Polly’s best friend gives us wisdom and answers and a voice for Polly in a world she cannot speak in. Bear is loved. Bear gives love back. Bear makes bad people laugh. And Bear is brave, something Polly believes she can never be herself.

This work comes with hard choices. Wrong choices. Bad people, and bad things because bad people can come after you.  What is NOT missing, is the love Polly has for her parents. She had a home once, and a mother who loved her. And Nate…. Badass convict that he is, loves her, too. He denies this, but his first mission after being released from prison is to go to her, protect her, make sure she is safe. “Me for her” becomes his mantra, understanding he has something to finally live for – or die for.

Besides a small piece of collected stories, I believe this is Jordan Harper’s only other published work so far. His written acknowledgement makes me think this was an effort of self-purging; he had a story in his head that just would not allow him any peace until he had written it down on paper. Personally, I am thankful that he did. I applaud stories that allow redemption. For ourselves, and for those we care about.

I cannot recommend this novel enough. Originally finding this on a library shelf, I have since purchased a copy to add to my own collection. I highly encourage you to do the same. Meet Poly, meet Nate, meet Bear. Step into their world and know that as comfortable as our own lives may be, there are other worlds out there, ones that cannot be ignored. We cannot look away. Indeed. We do not even want to.