Damned From Birth – Jon Athan

3 stars

Damned From Birth was an interesting experience for me as I’ve never read a book (that I can remember) told in reverse chronological order.

I’m not sure how successful the reverse chronological order storytelling was here. The story starts with Victor trying to kidnap a young girl named Jasmine but is stopped mid-attempt and shot. What follows is the story of how he became a serial killer in reverse. BUT WHAT HAPPENED TO JASMINE??? Is she alright? I know this is Victor’s story, but a little closure on her since she was such a major focus at the start would be good. By the time the book was over, I’d almost forgotten entirely about her.

I couldn’t help but feel some measure of pity for Victor, reading how his journey actually started. It throws some really interesting thought into the nature vs. nurture debate also. Would Victor have still grown up to do all of those horrible things, or did his tragic childhood turn him into the monster? I think in this case, nurture (or the lack thereof) won out.

And bless Jon Athan for always giving me one scene that makes me horrifically nauseous! That drill to the knee….NOPE! I catastrophically injured my knee when I was 16, and anything with nasty knee injuries makes me cringe. So thanks for that!

This was a little different than what I’m used to from Athan, especially recently. Damned From Birth wasn’t my favourite, but it was an interesting read nonetheless.