I recently read Hangman’s Game by Kenna Hugo. It had good reviews, it was free with Kindle, and it was often compared to my favorite video game.
I should give a brief summary of the book first. Hangman’s Game is a psychological thriller from the perspective of a teenage boy, Rowan, who meets a mysterious delinquent girl, Monika Ross. Something isn’t right about her, and Rowan is trying to piece together the mystery.
That’s as far as I can go without getting into spoiler territory. Monika Ross is an enigmatic presence cense, and Rowan is trying to understand her. But as the book goes on, something is clearly *wrong* without Rowan. Simple things set him off, he goes on unrelated tangents, and rambles to the reader incoherently. He alludes to certain things in his past. Rowan is an unreliable narrator. While Rowan is trying to figure out Monika, we are trying to figure out him. That added layer made the front half of the book interesting to me.
Most people don’t like the first half of the book, but recommend it for the last three chapters. You can find me and others on GoodReads saying we were brought to tears. I can’t in good consciousness tell you the ending. I won’t rob you of experiencing it for yourself. But I can tell you how it made me feel.
Two years ago, my abuser killed myself right in front of me. She pointed a gun at her head and shot herself while I was frozen in place. I did nothing.
She left a note. She said the only reason she did it was because of me.
For one year I was catatonic. Everyone around me was telling me it wasn’t my fault. But it objectively was. Their words were a facade of false comfort and politeness.
She would emotionally and physically abuse me. But I wasn’t a saint. When I had to, I hit her back. When she berated me, I insulted her back.
I wasn’t a perfect victim.
So in my eyes, I was a murderer.
That is why the ending to Hangman’s game got to me. It broke me. Two imperfect victims found eachother. They came out of the page and told me I wasn’t a bad person.
I hope this didn’t get too sappy. Apologies for bad english. TLDR: 11/10, but I don’t think I can bring myself to read it again.
by willbuypollypockets