SHEgo by Tania Zaverta Chance

I was intrigued by the author's daring experiment of not naming one character in the story and, in my opinion, she pulled it off. And it's an appropriate tactic when the reader considers the early self-absorption of the narrator, her main character. In the first few chapters, I laughed at the narrator's sassy attitude about everyone and everything. Then I sensed unnerving shadows lurking about, like the darkness behind the door of a partly open closet or the unclear bottom of a basement stairway. I actually began to feel fear at the intimacy of being so much inside the mind of someone whose sanity I began to doubt. The author uses unusual strategies that reveal some of the main character's flaws; for example, the narrator, someone I'd definitely call an antihero, is highly educated and frequently calls it to the reader's attention, yet tramples on language usage as easily as she tramples on the feelings of other people. Also, jumping in and out of other characters' minds, an omniscient approach frowned on in beginning writing classes, gives the reader relief from the sarcastic and angry voice of the main character and the opportunity to gauge what's really going on. The dark humor running through the story helps balance the uncertainty of what will happen to this person, or what she will cause to happen. Despite almost continued anxiety as I read, I enjoyed the book and recommend it.