The Outlaws Scarlett & Browne by Jonathan Stroud

 

Set in a fragmented future England, The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne introduces us to a world where gunfights and monsters collide, and where the formidable outlaw Scarlett McCain fights daily against the odds. When she discovers a wrecked coach on a lonely road, there is only one survivor – the seemingly hapless youth, Albert Browne. Against her instincts, Scarlett agrees to escort him to safety. This is a mistake. Soon, new and implacable enemies are on her heels. As a relentless pursuit continues across the broken landscape of England, Scarlett must fight to uncover the secrets of Albert’s past – and come to terms with the implications of her own.

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Years after an unexplained cataclysm has shaken England - and presumably the world - to its core, Scarlett roams the outskirts of the walled towns that protect what's left of civilisation, stealing and killing where she has to - but only where she has to. She's quite moral, actually. And that very morality gets her into trouble when she meets the sole survivor of a bus crash. Against her better judgement, she offers to escort him to the nearest town. And that's when the trouble starts...

Ok, confession time; I haven't read any other Stroud books. They published when I was too old to read children's books, before I was old enough to know I could read anything I bloody well wanted to. I'm glad I read this one. Jonathan has a deft hand with the characters; narration sounds completely different depending on which character is doing it, which is something that doesn't always happen in dual narration books.

The countryside they travel through is well described and thought out, but there's no real explanation as to what happened to turn everything upside down. And, although it's clearly been a long time, there's petrol all over the place. Who's refining petrol and selling it in Wild West level England?

I really enjoyed this read. Jonathan wisely lets a good part of the book go by before we start figuring out what's up with Albert. but once the revelations start coming they come thick and fast. There's something in Scarlett's backstory we don't know about yet, but hopefully that'll come up in a later book.

BE AWARE, although Scarlett is not gratuitously violent, she has no hesitation in injuring or killing people who are trying to kill or injure her.

This is a great read and I'm really looking forward to the rest of the series.

The Outlaws Scarlett and Browne publishes on the 1st of April, 2021, in the UK, and in October in the US with no cover revealed yet. I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.