Identity unknown

I didn't realise until I came to write up this review that Identify Unknown is self-published. I love the cover art which is what first attracted me to the novel, and the whole publication is very professional. What let this book down for me though is, unfortunately, Wojciak's writing style. One the one hand, this is a thriller so I expected lots of action which we do get, however I also wanted at least a little description and this is almost completely absent. For example, I have no idea what most of the locations looked like. I also struggled to understand much of the main characters motivation. Identity Unknown is written from three points of view, with two of these - Krystian and Lena - taking it in turns to speak directly to us for the majority of the story. Lena is a spoilt, bratty rich teenager who frequently irritated me with her entitled attitude and complete lack of empathy. Krystian is harder to pin down. He finds himself drawn to a criminal life but, even despite his own experience, seems not to have any understanding of the consequences of his actions. In a lot of ways, I found both as exasperating as each other!

The narrative keeps up a good pace throughout so I easily read the whole book in an afternoon. This isn't an especially pleasant read, but it did keep my attention. There are lots of violent scenes including rapes and child abuse, most of which aren't graphically described but the callousness of most of the characters does make such episodes difficult to stomach. I didn't like the flippant way violence, particularly sexual violence, was often dismissed and grossly sexist remarks don't seem to warrant notice. If I had been reading a fifty-year-old novel, I could have perhaps have understood such attitudes, but instead I felt quite angry. For example, at one point a young girl has been repeatedly sexually assaulted. We learn that she will be put into foster care, at which point Kristian sees fit to tell us that she will get therapy so everything will be okay and that's that. Subject changed!

I think people who like pacy action stories and aren't prone to asking 'how' or 'why' as they read will probably enjoy Identity Unknown. Despite the violence, it is very readable - up until the point where the two stories intersect anyway (After that it does get less believable). I wanted more details though, especially regarding why Krystian and Lena behaved as they did. There's a lot of telling in this book, but not much in the way of showing or explaining so I'd advise potential readers to go along for the ride, and read fast enough that you don't find yourself questioning the whys!