Women in Gray

De: KD Rye

Narrado por: Jeremy Carlisle Parker

From the outside, Daphne Zeledyne and Hazel Wright look like an impressive power couple—being that Daphne is a practicing doctor and an even more brilliant inventor, while Hazel is well known in the courtroom for taking on some of New York’s more prominent cases. Heavily layered with sophistication and refinement, no one can see that their marriage isn't what it appears.

Told through the perspective of Hazel, who is secretly being controlled by her wife via a mind-control device, she recounts their daily lives and history while struggling to break free. The situation seems bleak, after all, Hazel has spent the last four years attempting to draw attention to her situation. However, when her law firm hires a new associate who has been a long-time admirer of Hazel, a new relationship is formed—one that carries guilt and danger into an already tumultuous mix.

Women In Gray explores the common pressures associated with matrimonial lifestyle, various ethical questions concerning the rights and wrongs of humanity, and the complicated nuances of three women struggling to find and feel love within the bounds of a broken society.

©2020 KD Rye (P)2024 KD Rye

Brilliant!!!

This book is a complete mind jumble of scientific horror/brilliance. Brilliance isn’t a strong enough word for what this book is, and horror doesn’t scratch the surface of the evil in this book.

This book is painful in so many ways, but it’s also a beautiful book. The writing is superb, the characters are real. This book is like constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop while not wearing shoes. It’s every reader’s dream/nightmare, a book that makes you think and won’t let you stop thinking about it.

I remember discussing this book with the narrator, Jeremy Carlisle Parker, when it initially came out. She warned me that it dealt with heavy topics, like rape and abuse. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was having a conversation with my future self along with Jeremy. Books like this are important for many reasons, one reason is because it’s sci-fi or fantasy, there’s a separation from reality that lets readers delve into topics that are difficult to discuss in our day-to-day lives. It’s this “other” world where our brains get to try and fix or make sense what’s wrong in the book.

This book has the separation, but it is very thin. The hurt is real, the utter “messed-up-ness” that happens is real. The parallels Rye writes between the characters makes the atrocities so difficult to digest, but also the villain maintains her humanity without discounting the evil.

Whew… okay so not only is this book an emotional mind jumble, Jeremy Carlisle Parker makes it worse. But not in a bad way, her performance is phenomenal, it’s more in a “see yourself” way, which isn’t always great?
I’m struggling here, because the writing paired with the narration made the perfect mixture of identifying evil while maintaining hope, while also dreading the next moment? Gah… this is so hard to describe. The characters are clearly defined and the transitions between are flawless.
So, to review, the book is incredible as is the narration! This book will not only stay with me, I’d love to revisit it at some point.