Review: One Kick

One Kick by Chelsea Cain
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I procrastinated on purchasing One Kick due to the question mark over the publication of book two. I had no wish to read the first book in a series when there are doubts about when – even if – book two is going to be published. However, when I found One Kick going extremely cheap in the bargain section of the book store, my ability to put off buying the book completely crumbled. Being a fan of Chelsea Cain’s Archie Sheridan and Gretchen Lowell series, I found myself too curious about Kick Lannigan.

I left this book feeling how I feared I would – I regret reading it. Not because it was a bad book, but because I need to know what comes next and I have no idea if I will ever receive all the answers I desire. My fingers are crossed we one day get the rest of Kick Lannigan’s story, yet a part of me does fear it may never happen. As I said, though, crossed fingers.

Having read the Archie and Gretchen series, I knew to expect something dark from Kick. Anyone who has picked up a Chelsea Cain book knows she deals with dark topics. It’s the thing that pulls me completely into her books. I may not be the biggest fan of Chelsea Cain’s actual writing, but the stories she creates are always gripping. We look evil in the face, and it pulls us in deep.

Despite loving the darkness in the Archie and Gretchen series, I was worried about the darkness in Kick’s story. The topics dealt with in One Kick are extremely sensitive, and had it not been done right things could have gone very wrong. Hence why I was tentative. Fortunately, I had no reason to fear. Chelsea Cain deals with a very dark topic, and does so well. It is grisly without being overly graphic – we know what happened without the book going into vivid detail. It is a nice divide between the two, ensuring you get all the darkness without being forced to read things that could be considered taking things too far.

As with Chelsea Cain’s other series, the dark topic leads to a complex main character. We may not love all the characters involved, we may not enjoy all the choices made, but the story does pull you in. There are points where things move a bit slowly, but throughout we are interested in seeing how things come together. There is plenty to the story to keep you engaged, many things that will leave you wanting more. Once the story pulls you in, it is extremely difficult to take a step back.

This brings me to my annoyance – the ending. There are plenty of questions left open at the end, a cliff-hanger in many ways, and I’m annoyed at myself for putting myself in this position. I really do hope we get our answers one day, as the ending left things so open regarding where things could go in the future. I’m sure if this series continues, it will grow ever stronger.

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