Dan Wright's Reviews > One Small Victory

***SPOILERS CONTAINED IN THIS REVIEW***

Being an avid reader of comics in my time (although less so these days), there has always been one aspect of the superhero genre that has interested me – the double life. It has always been a somewhat torturous aspect of many superheroes. Sure, they may get to save lives and fight the bad guys (and girls), but what about their civilian life? How does it affect the lives of those they care about? This is a theme that I think was brilliant explored in the Spider-Man comics, as Spider-Man often found himself missing an important date or other event because he had to fight a villain, and Peter Parker was often accused of being a coward when trouble started and he ran away, the public not knowing that Peter Parker was actually the one saving their lives.

This is why I was most intrigued by the storyline of One Small Victory by Maryann Miller, it may not be a superhero story in the “traditional” sense, but it does deal with the subject of a double life. But not only that, it also deals with one woman’s desire for closure and seeking justice for her son’s death.

When her son, Michael is killed in a car accident, Jenny (and her family) is torn apart. Learning that the driver of the car was involved with drugs, and realising that these were the cause of her son’s death, Jenny just can’t sit back, knowing the dangers out there. She therefore joins with a special drug task force to help track down the criminals and bring them to justice – but she never imagines the effect it would have on her life, or her family.

Jenny has to be respected as a heroine. Rather than sit around letting the loss of her son drive her into a deep depression, she makes a stand, deciding that she will prevent this happening again (or do so to the best of her ability) and do what she can to protect her own children from this horror. It may seem like a rather hasty move, joining a drug force, but her motivations are completely justified. And I also liked the fact that Jenny didn’t just get a gun and go guns blazing, killing every drug dealer she comes across Punisher style (which has been done too many times in my eyes).

Despite her best intentions, Jenny quickly realises the stress of the situation. Throughout the book, we see her leading two lives and trying to hard to keep them apart. As well as working as an undercover agent in the drug trade, she has to still be a mother to her children and do all the things a single mother has to do to protect her children (Jenny is divorced by the way). But the fact that she has to lie to her children almost tears a hole in her family, as well as eats away at her inside. Throughout the novel, we hear Jenny’s thoughts and feelings, her guilt and even her self-doubt. Whilst she puts on a strong exterior, Jenny is screaming inside and it can be really painful for her at times. But she never forgets why she is doing what she does and we, as readers, support her every step of the way.

The effects of Michael’s death truly takes the toll on the family – particularly in the younger son Scott. He becomes much more aggressive towards Jenny and is constantly harassing her for the truth. Sometimes, the situation between Jenny and Scott becomes really heated – but I can understand Scott’s anger. The family need support after Michael’s death, and Scott feels that Jenny isn’t around that much to be the strong support the family needs. Everything that Jenny does seems to make it worse, and yet if she could only tell the truth, it may make things a little easier. That’s where the tragedy of the piece comes from. It’s brilliantly written and never once ceases with the drama, making you want to carry on reading to find out whether it has a happy ending or not.

I also thought it was a nice touch to see the life of some of the drug dealers that Jenny had to “work” with and there were a few chapters that showed them doing tasks on the orders of other drug barons. Even though they were only short ones, I liked them because they actually showed you that the drug dealers weren’t necessarily the villains, they were just doing what they had to because they were dealt a bad hand – ala, The Wire. There were a couple of characters that I wished could have stayed with the story a bit longer, but overall it was good that the author did this and didn’t just go with the “drug dealers are evil” storyline.

This is a powerful story and it’s not hard to see why Maryann Miller is an award winning author. It kept my interest the whole way through and I would gladly recommend this book to anyone.