A fierce, affecting debut that lands its blows with both power and heart.
An abused young woman refuses to remain a victim in Noble’s taut, emotionally charged debut. Zena James has spent years running from a brutal father and the memories he left behind. A worn-down boxing gym—and the steady presence of its owner, Matt—finally gives her strength and a sense of home. But when a blackmailer threatens to reveal her location, Zena takes the fight online, enrolling in hacking classes and chasing a hidden enemy, even as old fears close in and the showdown of her life draws near.
Noble heightens the tension with clipped, urgent prose and well-timed bursts of action. The story draws its tension from juxtapositions—the pounding immediacy of training and matches mirrored by the slow, sinister creep of encrypted threats, Zena’s fierce independence balanced by a quiet need for friendship. Noble captures both the wary logic of survival and the mindset of a trauma survivor with understanding and empathy: how fear turns into a constant state of alert and trust becomes a gamble made only after long reckoning. The suspense builds toward a final reckoning as Zena’s father signals his return, forcing her to decide whether to keep running or stand her ground. By the time she enters the ring for her climactic fight—both literal and psychological—the reader has felt every bruise, every jolt of adrenaline, every flicker of hope.
A tense, emotionally charged novel of survival, found family, and the fight to reclaim a stolen life.
FriesenPress
Pub date July 21, 2025
ISBN 978-1038332295
Price $34.99 (USD) Hardcover, $20.99 Paperback, $5.99 Kindle edition
