Violet Grenade by Victoria Scott (Website, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads)Also by this author: Salt & Stone
Published by Entangled Publishing, LLC on May 16th 2017
Genres: Social Themes, Young Adult Fiction
Pages: 300
Domino: A runaway with blood on her hands.
Cain: A silent boy about to explode.
Madam Karina: A woman who demands obedience.
Wilson: The one who will destroy them all.
Her name is Domino Ray.
But the voice inside her head has a different name.
When Madam Karina discovers Domino in an alleyway, she offers her a position at her girls’ home in secluded West Texas. With no alternatives and an agenda of her own, Domino accepts. It isn’t long before she is fighting her way up the ranks to gain the madam’s approval…and falling for Cain, the mysterious boy living in the basement.
But the madam has horrible secrets. So do the girls in the house. So does Cain.
Escaping is harder than Domino expects, though, because the madam doesn’t like to lose inventory. But then, Madam Karina doesn’t know about the danger living inside Domino’s mind.
Madam Karina doesn’t know about Wilson.
Violet Grenade by Victoria Scott is one of those books that as soon as I turned the last page I had to pause for a moment and revisit everything I just read. There was so much about this book that I found interesting…and disturbing but Scott did a wonderful job developing both the characters and the story.
Domino is the primary character and it is immediately apparent that she hasn’t had it easy. When she is first introduced, she is living in an abandoned house in Detroit with someone she considers her person, Dizzy. When Dizzy is arrested, Domino makes a decision that changes everything for her. In her desperation to pay his fine, when Domino meets Madam Karina and is offered a way to make money, she decides to do it. As soon as she got into Madam Karina’s car, I knew things weren’t going to be easy and it was clear Domino has some concerns but she was willing to consider almost anything if it meant she could get Dizzy out of jail and she was convinced that he would do the same for her so her mind was made up.
Weirdly Domino didn’t ask any questions before agreeing to go with Madam Karina and she ends up in Texas at a place called Madam Karina’s Home for Burgeoning Entertainers…let’s just say, the term entertainers is an interesting descriptor. Madam Karina is crazy – that’s about all I can say. She is desperate to keep the people in her life close to her no matter what. She immediately sees something in Domino that makes her both protective and dangerous to Domino. What Madam Karina doesn’t know is that Domino has her own protector who goes by the name of Wilson.
There isn’t a lot I can say about Wilson as I don’t want to give anything away but as you read the story, you will understand the role Wilson plays and how important he is to Domino.
The relationships that Domino builds while she is in the house are key to her story. First, there is Poppet – her roommate and eventually her partner in moving up the ranks. Poppet welcomed Domino with open arms and I liked that about her. She definitely came off as a bit young and naive but when needed, she was willing to jump right into the fray and do what she needed to in order to help her friend.
The other person is Cain. He is big and tough but didn’t speak around the girls unless really pushed. The only time he seemed to connect with anyone was when he and Domino were alone with each other. I thought the way their friendship/relationship developed was interesting. They both have secrets and they both think that when the other finds out about them, they will run away. The interesting thing here is that neither thinks what they did was their fault and they don’t hold their actions against each other.
As the story progresses, we find out what is really going on at the house (there really wasn’t a lot of question around this) and just how much control Madam Karina had over these girls. We also found out what really happens when someone tries to leave Madam Karina.
The characters are really what make this story so interesting. Every one of them is flawed and in their own way and no doubt, dangerous.  This is definitely a dark story and I thought Scott did a great job of tying it all together. By slowly revealing the main character’s backgrounds, I couldn’t help feeling bad about their situations and then rooting for them to survive and get away. I love Scott’s other books and this one is definitely right up there so if you are looking for a story that will keep you on edge until the very end, definitely consider this one.
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