EL SANTO (Saint-Sinner #1) by M ROBINSON

‘She needed to leave me because I would’ve never been able to leave her. And that was the reality of our love story.’

We absolutely adore this Author and her anti-hero stories, they are always dark, gritty and compelling. Once again she swept us up into her world with fabulous writing. This time we are under a communist regime in Cuba where we meet Damien who’s been indoctrinated into a world of violence and horror by his father and working as a soldier under Emilio the ruthless and vicious leader of the communist party. The character development was brilliant, written with depth and detail resulting in us connecting completely with Damien and Amira.  This is part one of their story which begins under gruesome circumstances, with El Pecador – The Sinner, the concluding story releasing early January 2018.

‘It was only then I truly understood why Damien never asked me about my nightmares…He didn’t have to. He lived them too.’

Damien is such a complex character. On the one hand he’s a violent cold hearted killer yet on the other hand, all he wants is to be loved whilst having an inherent human empathy for the fair and just. He has never known maternal love nor has he received any comfort or compassion from his father. He’s been trained to fight, duck and dive, whilst striking the blow of death. The scene where he meets Amira, nine years his junior, is heart-breaking and psychologically traumatising for both of them for different reasons yet it seals their fate and forges a bond rising out of Damien’s empathy.

‘I may have saved her life. But she kept me alive.’

Amira’s childhood was cut short at the tender age of nine as she had to witness a tragic and brutal event in her family home which no child nor adult should ever have to go through. Coming out of hiding she places herself in a deathly situation where only a reluctant and bloodstained yet helping hand gives her a chance no one would expect nor see coming. She’s given a second chance at life, a life where she falls in love with a ‘monster’.

‘I always thought she was the only light in my life and she was, it was only then I recognised she was also the darkness. Amira held the power of both.’

We follow Damien and Amira over the years and get to fully experience the psychological effects of what happened to both of them on that fateful night and how it’s shaping their lives now. Damien hates his role in life, he hates the monster he sees in himself. He trusts only two people; he has regrets and he does his very best to make up for a past offence where innocents were wronged. He is the epitome of an anti-hero who we shouldn’t love but can’t help but fall in love with.

‘She needed to leave me because I would’ve never been able to leave her. And that was the reality of or love story.’

Amira is a wonderful character; older than her years yet displays such naivety and childlike hero worship of a man she should run from.  However, how do you run from a man who literally saved your life and protects you with fierce passion as you grow up under his protection? The inevitable happens and we are left with an angsty and weeping heart feeling Amira’s desperation. Cruel to be kind, it’s such a wicked concept.

‘He was the beginning to my end or maybe it was the end to my beginning.’