No One Is Safe

THE ENDING.

Simon Gutmunsson is back! The black prince of murder!

And he's putting himself in Nomi's hands as a weapon for her to wield. Because of how she treated him when he didn't remember anything. How she kept his identity safe even when she was terrified that he had killed a child. And that part by the way? Insane. Simon back to acting like his usual self for a hot second there even without his memories, and Nomi having no way to know that he was playing their captors until he winked at her. SUCH a good ending.

Nomi, tied to a chair: Simon, kill these chuckleheads

Simon: [unfolding in a very predatory manor]

Nomi: I may have miscalculated.

I forgot how brutal Simon could be. The man is an apex predator. Literally taking someone out with just his teeth. To be fair, is it really his fault? The guy electrocuted him so hard he accidentally cured his amnesia. Lesson learned: think before you torture random amnesiacs. Even Nomi doesn't know if she can put Simon Gutmunsson back into the box he just came out of. If there is any fixing this, any turning back the clock. Her reactions as Simon mows through these guys… It really was the perfect perspective choice. The bit of dark humor, the bit of hysteria, the immediate and violent consequences that come with, you know, torturing Simon. The way the perspective flicks all around as Nomi tries to avoid the worst of what's happening, how we see Simon flicker from person to person almost like a wraith. It is. A REALLY good scene.

And the only thing I can think of is, Simon warned them. He told them earlier in this book, my name is Simon Noone and if you ever mess with me again you will not live to regret it. And guess what? GUESS WHAT? They did NOT. And Nomi getting in on the action too. She sees what Simon can do with just his teeth and TAKES THAT EXAMPLE AND RUNS WITH IT? Stunning. I love it here.

One of my favorite lines too, one I recall from the None Shall Sleep Series: "Hello, friend." That's when you know what it is. You read the line, and you understand exactly who is talking.

"For people like Lamonte, murder is business. For people like Simon, murder is fun." WHAT A BANGER LINE. It IS a spoiler so I can't post it in the main review but it has to be said.

Yet again, the book ends with the question: Is Simon Noone an entirely new person, or is he still Simon Gutmunsson? At the end, Simon doesn't quite know what he's doing. Doesn't know that the Simon he used to be has taken over — he just thinks he's cutting meat at work. It's NOMI that manages to put Simon Gutmunsson back in the box, and pull Simon Noone back out again. And even then, you KNOW something is different. Simon knows things that he didn't before, things Simon Gutmunsson knows. How many of his memories have come back, if any? Or is it just information? Nomi gets into this too, and I really like her thoughts on the matter.

AND RESCUING BRITTANY TOGETHER. Man, her enthusiasm really made me feel the victory in my heart. In my chest. They SAVED her. Simon managed to do something GOOD and keep her alive and do it in a clever way that utilized the skills that he has.

Lastly, there was no good place to crunch this in, but: THE INTIMACY of Simon and Nomi. Two different types of predators, following their own instincts and doing what they have to do to survive. The fact that they have never been intimate but they have seen each other's insides via stitching each other's wounds up (or well, watching Simon stitch his own.) That's a bonkers way to think about intimacy but it is what it is.

I love that Simon and Kristin continue to be bonkers. Not even death can make these siblings normal. Simon having reoccurring dreams about his dead sister and drowning… I can't help but think that this ties back to the last book, All Shall Mourn. Kristin wanted a different life for her brother, wanted him to be happy, I feel. And even though she's gone, that feeling remains. It's touching to me…

I love the looks at Simon's life as Haw, and even the meaning of his name (River, as in, the one he got pulled out of at the end of All Shall Mourn) before discovering his actual name. The headaches, the hair color change, the fact that amnesia and being shot in the head comes with so much baggage even if you live… The bit where he mentions he couldn't retain any memories at first and asked the doctor who saved him a million questions over and over… And that even when he could, it was his instincts that ruled him. Scary instincts he didn't always understand — ones that he was taught were wrong. Instincts from when he was a serial killer. I love Simon Noone is essentially built on the bones of Simon Gutmunsson. Simon doesn't remember enough about himself to still be the exact same man, BUT. He still has pieces of that original Simon left behind that he has to figure out what to do with… I love that.

In a way, it sort of mirrors Nomi's situation as an ex-cop. She still has contacts from her old life, still uses her old badge and gun, but she is just as disconnected from actually being a cop as Simon is from being, well, a serial killer. They're both at a point of trying to reinvent themselves and live their lives according to their own wishes. Nomi even has a great piece of advice for Simon that I felt was very compelling: Stop trying to figure out who you were and figure out who you're going to be. Completely cut to the heart of Simon's identity crisis with that, I was floored. Nomi, your wisdom…

And the ending! It is phenomenal! I can't wait to see more of Nomi and Simon working together! Where will Simon decide to take his life? What will Nomi do next? And what sort of trouble are they going to get in together?

Self harm, murder and violence, torture, kidnapping, and trafficking. It's a crime fiction book set in 1980's New York. It doesn't pull punches, but it's not unnecessarily gratuitous either. It is gritty and real.