Trigger by C G Moore

Jay wakes in a park, beaten and bruised. He can’t remember what happened the night before. But he has suspicions.

Jay realises he has been raped — and that his ex-boyfriend may have been involved.

Counselling sessions cause Jay to question everything. His new friend Rain encourages his pursuit of justice. Jay wants answers, but his search will lead him down a perilous path.

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This is one of those books that's hard to review, because it's so visceral and real that it's difficult to read. That's a mark of its quality; a lesser book would have skated over these issues, but this free poetry novel puts them front and centre and makes them the whole point.

The format makes it very quick to read, but you're going to want to linger over certain parts (and probably speed past others.) to absorb the musicality of the writing. This is clearly a broken boy, but the entries are still amazing to read.

The only slight problem I had (and I'm reading a proof, this may be changed in the final book) I had no sense of how much time was passing. One entry said it was a week after the attack, but that was the only one I saw that had any kind of timeline...I don't know how long until Jay got his counsellor or joined the support group, how long he was in treatment, how long the investigation ran...none of it's anchored anywhere. However, that did add to the intense feeling, so maybe it was deliberate, and if so it's very well done.

A difficult read, but one that deserves to be read and shared and discussed.

Trigger publishes on the 7th of March, 2024. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.