LitPick Review
To Slaughter a Camel by Raymond Hutson follows 33-year-old widow Erika Harder as she tries to cope with losing her husband who had pulled her out of a dark place. His death has shaken her to the very core and left her afraid to get close to anyone out of a fear of facing losing them as well. A murder at the hospital she works at further shakes her core, and before she can recover, she is offered a position with the CIA. Her skill as a multi-lingual nurse practitioner led to the CIA to hire her as an onsite nurse at Station 31 in Madrid. Just when she starts thinking that perhaps this could be an exciting new chapter of her life, she finds her life thrown into danger and chaos when her workplace is bombed. Does Erika have what it takes to survive and uncover the truth behind the bombing?
Opinion:
I found To Slaughter a Camel by Raymond Hutson to be a rather fast-paced read that did not skimp on details. The book was quite the mix of genres with how at first it felt a bit like a drama, then later it had an action vibe, only to finally end up with a mystery feel to it after Bir Zar. I loved the way the author made Erika feel like a real person, especially with how he crafted her emotional state that she was in from both losing her husband and then the murder of her co-worker. It made her decision to take a CIA job realistic and believable. I found that it made me become emotionally invested in her emotional state as an individual character. I felt like I was truly following her as the author also did a great job in setting the scene. I could almost picture Madrid! That said, there were some spots I found rather upsetting regarding adult concepts like rape and PTSD. While these aspects were important to the story, I would have preferred not to have them.
Overall, I found the book to be a simply marvelous read that I struggled to put down as I felt a need to find out the truth alongside Erika. However, based on some of the adult content, I would only recommend this book to mature readers.
