Anastasia Pestova is a quiet teller at the Bank of Moscow, in a city that doesn't notice if she breathes. But when millions of rubles vanish through her terminal, she is suddenly the centre of a money laundering conspiracy.
A frantic tip-off offers a harrowing lifeline. But to take it, Anastasia must shed her identity and slip through a dragnet of watchful eyes.
With authorities watching the gates and her passport flagged at every checkpoint, she has less than twenty hours to do the impossible. One mistake, and it will be her last. And even if she succeeds, her ordeal is only beginning.
Note to Readers: No Passengers is the prequel to the upcoming thriller Foreign Muse, introducing Anastasia Pestova before her life changes forever. It is an 18,000-word escape on-the-run thriller, designed to be devoured in one sitting. This edition now includes an additional sequel short story.
From the very beginning, I was intrigued by this premise. The setup was high-stakes, and the story itself was chock full of potential.
One thing I genuinely appreciated, was the descriptive language. Lines like “sandwiched with lettuce between a rock and a hard place” and “the forest had fought her like an abusive boyfriend the whole way” not only made me smile, but to me, they did an excellent job of conveying Anna’s emotional state. Those metaphors felt vivid and personal, and they pulled me further into her mindset.
On the flip side of things, there were a few moments where the phrasing caused confusion for me. For example, “A hand flies over Anna’s mouth” initially made me think someone else had grabbed her, rather than it being her own hand. Similarly, another line that gave me pause was “leaping over a stream and down a ravine and then loses him.” Leaping over a stream, sure, but down a ravine? Wouldn’t she have slid, stumbled, or fallen? Small things, but they momentarily disrupted the flow.
The action sequences occasionally had a similar effect. Descriptions like “his voice getting closer and farther as she loses him and then he catches up” clearly communicate what’s happening, but they don’t quite deliver the pulse-pounding urgency the scene seems to aim for. The mechanics are there, but the danger doesn’t fully land on the page for me.
Overall, this was a story with a fantastic premise and some genuinely strong, evocative language. With a bit more tightening, particularly in maintaining consistency and sharpening the action, it could have been even more immersive.
That said, I cannot wait to read the first full-length novel in this series to see what is next for Anna and how she handles what the future holds for her.
Posts
Post a Comment
0 Comments