Book Review: The Line Between | Tosca Lee

Oh gosh—this is already a top read for me in 2019 and I’ve read some GREAT books! I found Tosca Lee’s latest book The Line Between to be intellectually fascinating, darkly mesmerizing, and addictive. It has it all—cults, romance, signs of the apocalypse, survivalist suspense! This book just kept serving me exactly what I didn’t know I wanted until I devoured every last word. I read this in a day and a half! Do yourself a favor and add this book to your 2019 reads—you won’t regret it!

About the Book

In this frighteningly believable thriller from New York Times bestselling author Tosca Lee, an extinct disease re-emerges from the melting Alaskan permafrost to cause madness in its victims. For recent apocalyptic cult escapee Wynter Roth, it’s the end she’d always been told was coming.

When Wynter Roth is turned out of New Earth, a self-contained doomsday cult on the American prairie, she emerges into a world poised on the brink of madness as a mysterious outbreak of rapid early onset dementia spreads across the nation.

As Wynter struggles to start over in a world she’s been taught to regard as evil, she finds herself face-to-face with the apocalypse she’s feared all her life—until the night her sister shows up at her doorstep with a set of medical samples. That night, Wynter learns there’s something far more sinister at play and that these samples are key to understanding the disease.

Now, as the power grid fails and the nation descends into chaos, Wynter must find a way to get the samples to a lab in Colorado. Uncertain who to trust, she takes up with former military man Chase Miller, who has his own reasons for wanting to get close to the samples in her possession, and to Wynter herself.

Filled with action, conspiracy, romance, and questions of whom—and what—to believe, The Line Between is a high-octane story of survival and love in a world on the brink of madness.

Reflection

Where to begin with this one? Wynter is quite a fascinating character, and completely carries one heck of a story on her young, but strong shoulders. Wynter has spent her whole life being taught that she is weak because she covets what others have, she wants to remember life outside the walls, and because she is curious and inquisitive. To me, all of these qualities truly show Wynter’s strength of character. Wynter is one of many intriguing females in this book. Strong women. Women who seem to go with what society wants, but who rebel in their own private, unseen ways. A lipstick hidden in a pocket. A secret thought not revealed in confession. These women are truly inspiring, and they are pretty amazing!!! For me, Wynter is the best part of this book.

But as Wynter is cast out from the cult, she struggles with re-entry to society. This felt incredibly authentic to me. Wynter wanted nothing more than to leave, but once she is out, she feels quite lost. She hasn’t shaken the fear of damnation instilled in her for most of her life inside of those walls. She sees signs everywhere. She hears the leader’s voice in everything she does. I loved the way Lee wrote this part of the story.

If you read my post a few days ago, I studied cults in my doctoral program, among other violent extremist organizations. Actually, I had a really fun lecture when I taught organizational behavior where I had people review highly-amped organizational cultures and decide if they were a cult or culture, based on the definition of cults. That one had some interesting results! But I won’t shame any companies here. Those lessons were for me and my students (and probably wherever they posted about me on social media or rate my professor).

Back to the cults—Tosca Lee really did a great job with the cult here. Go back and read my post about some hallmarks of apocalyptic cults such as the one in The Line Between. The leader Magnus is SOMETHING else! I can’t wait for you to learn more about Magnus. I actually can’t really talk about Magnus too much because I want readers to experience him in all of his glory! But you are in for a treat when you read this book!

I haven’t even really mentioned the other, even more crazy plot to this book. People are getting sick! Really sick! And doing sick things to themselves and to others. And all of this makes Wynter unsure if she is going crazy or not. Because let’s be honest, the things happening in this book are definitely crazy! The entire plot around the illness and the samples—well let’s just say you won’t be able to put the book down after about the first 25%. I know I couldn’t!

I want to thank the author for my copy of the book, and this awesome promotional pack (pictured)! It made the experience of reading it even more delightful. So clever and fun! I’ll be reading whatever you publish next, Tosca Lee!

Mackenzie