I-5 by Summer Brenner – review

Anya is the victim of a deep deception. Someone has lied to her; and because of this lie, she is kept under lock and key, used by her employer to service men, and indebted for the privilege. In exchange, she lives in the United States and fantasizes on a future American freedom.

I-5 by Summer Brenner is the second release from the Switchblade imprint of PM Press, and all I can say is wow. I don’t know if this one is on people’s radar screens, but it should be.

In some ways I-5 is like a gender-reversed version of Senseless by Stona Fitch. Both characters are held captive and are forced to undergo tremendous physical acts before finally earning their freedom through force. But where Eliott Gast’s imprisonment was symbolic of the direct economic involvement of the U.S. in foreign governments, Anya’s imprisonment is symbolic of the dangers inherent, and the falsehoods promised, in the meritocratic underpinnings of the American Dream. The walls of her prison are invisible but powerful enough to keep her in her place. She wants what so many of us want:  to work hard, to rise to a higher station, and to have a better life. She’s the ideal employee in many respects, except those above her exploit these traits and make them weaknesses. She is a bruised and tragic character who, in pursuit of the American Dream, looks up one day to realize that she took a wrong turn somewhere, and she isn’t where she thought she would, should, or could be. But still the allure of freedom is strong, and through it all Anya will prove to be a survivor. But part of what makes her such a great character is that surviving doesn’t mean sanding away the edges of who she is. She retains her humanity and in some ways her vulnerability.

The I-5 highway in the novel is like the river in America’s heart of darkness, and the surreal nightmare journey that Anya must travel on it is terrifying in its capacity to assault the reader. But like Anya, the reader must endure these dark passageways that are filled with horrific images and scenes, and not be caught by them, so that we can come away changed by what we have been made to bear witness to.

I-5 is a wholly original piece of dark fiction that never goes where you expect it to and ventures into uncharted waters. It’s uncompromising in ways that should be exceptionally appealing to readers of dark fiction. I-5 is as tough a crime tale as you’re likely to find anywhere.

About Brian

Brian loves both kinds of books -- fiction and non-fiction. He is an all around book john and reviewing roustabout. His semi-regular columns at BSC include BSC Radar Screen, The Electric Mayhem, Conversations with the Bookless and Short Thoughts on Short Fiction. He blogs at Observations From the Balcony.