Rage Within (Jeyn Roberts)

This is the sequel to the first book (Dark Inside), despite the fact that I have not reviewed the first one (due to the fact that I read it quite a while ago), I would highly recommend it.

This book continues on from a couple of months after that of the first one; however it gives us a prequel if you will, towards the start of the book, and explains what happened a couple of weeks before the events of "Dark Inside".

We discover that the "baggers" have implemented their control over not only Vancouver, but also the majority of the world. With white vans patrolling the streets tricking people into believing that there was a sanctuary across the city, and "baggers" still doing regular searches of houses; life begins to steadily get more difficult for Aries and her "crew". We witness the main characters begin to rebuild their lives; only to be ripped apart when the "baggers" attack two main safe-houses near their location. They now face a fight for their lives. Told from the perspective of Clementine (continuing the search for her brother Heath, and then for Michael in the latter stages of the book); Aries (the leader of the group and deeply in love with the odd Daniel, who never stays around for long; "Nothing" (who is in fact a "bagger" but with a sense of humanity and a conscience left) and Mason (in love with Aries, he battles with the "dark" within him, yet reassures himself that he will never give into it), we get a birds eye view of the whereabouts of the character and can begin to piece together the story and finally begin to make sense of the events in "Dark Inside".

However, this momentary "knowledge" of the meaning of some of the hints dropped by the writer, is ripped apart towards the end when the characters begin to question if they themselves have become victim to the unfounded rage found within the "baggers".

Jeyn Roberts cleverly makes us question if we can in fact trust others; and if we can't trust others than how can we trust ourselves? The answer is that we can't. We can only hope that the goodness within us outweighs the bad. Nobody is perfect; and the morals and philosophical, theoretical questions that Roberts poses us, makes this book all the more special to read.

When a writer can, after reading their fictional book, make us question ourselves; they know that they have got inside the reader's head. And if they have got inside the mind of the reader, then they not only have an award-winning, best-selling book on their hands; but they can also rest in the knowledge that they have created an effective, psychological book, that undoubtedly prevents the reader from looking at things from the same perspective and leaves a lasting impression for weeks to come; and in my book, that is the definitive meaning of success.

Rating: 4.2/5