Review: The Opportunist

Rating: ★★★★★

Author: Tarryn Fisher

Genre: Adult Fiction; Contemporary Romance; Suspense

Publisher: Tarryn Fisher

Publication Date: December 3, 2011

Pages: 188

Series: Love Me With Lies #1
Format: E-Book, Self-Publish Paperback

Content Rating: R

“I think that after the first time you give your heart away, you never get it back. The rest of your life is just you pretending that you still have a heart." ~ Tarryn Fisher, The Opportunist

Overview

Olivia Kaspen has just discovered that her ex -boyfriend, Caleb Drake, has lost his memory. With an already lousy reputation for taking advantage of situations, Olivia must decide how far she is willing to go to get Caleb back. Wrestling to keep her true identity and their sordid past under wraps, Olivia’s greatest obstacle is Caleb’s wicked, new girlfriend; Leah Smith. It is a race to the finish as these two vipers engage in a vicious tug of war to possess a man who no longer remembers them. But soon enough, Olivia must face the consequences of her lies and in the process discover that sometimes love falls short of redemption. (Goodreads.com)

Review

Every review I have read about this debut novel by Tarryn Fisher reads something like this:  Oh Hell No! I am at a complete loss and not even sure how I feel at this point. WTF?  etc. 

While this normally would scare the bejesus out of me when deciding whether or not to buy a book, I could not ignore the fact that almost everyone that wrote said reviews also rated it five out of five stars. So I gave myself a pep talk, I bought the book and I waited for the promised mind games to begin. And begin they did.

To say this story is the antithesis of all the Harlequin inspired happily-ever-afters is a serious understatement.  From the first sentence a deep ache settled in my gut and grew with every passing word until the very last one 187 pages later. And even worse, it is still growing five days later!  Not since I read Wuthering Heights, have I felt that kind of ache from a book and God help me I loved to hate and hated to love Wuthering Heights each of the five times I read it.

  

I don't normally compare contemporary novels against classic literature but I could not ignore that Fisher's characters drew out the same feelings in me as Emily Brontë’s derailed lovers, Cathy and Heathcliff. Olivia and Caleb's love is selfish, destructive and psychologically intense much like Cathy and Heathcliff of Wuthering Heights. Case in point, the following quote from Brontë’s Heathcliff could have found a home in The Opportunist:

“You teach me now how cruel you've been - cruel and false. Why did you despise me? Why did you betray your own heart Cathy? I have not one word of comfort. You deserve this. [...] You loved me - then what right had you to leave me? Because misery, and degradation, and death, and nothing God or satan could inflict would have parted us, you, of your own will, did it. I have not broken your heart - you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine.”

And here are Caleb's sentiments from The Opportunist:

"I will love again, Olivia, you will hurt forever. What you've done is....you are worthless because you make yourself that way.  You will remember me every day for the rest of your life because I was the one and you threw me away." 

Yep, it really is that intense.  I didn't want to put The Opportunist down but for my own sanity I had to put it down occasionally and take a breather. I had many a moments where I detested the hero and heroine and yet I related to them and found myself completely caught up in their brand of toxic all-consuming love.  Although their relationship is wrought with lies, manipulations and deceptions, there was almost an endearing quality to it that makes it real in a way that eludes most romance novels.

It is a rare book that can invoke the whole spectrum of human emotion.  Love, sympathy, anger, fear, amusement, hope and hate all merge together in The Opportunist to produce an unforgettable reading experience.  

All that and the ride isn't over.  Fisher has plans to release the sequel, Dirty Red, in 2013. I may need a drink just thinking about it.

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