The prologue features a horrific scene of violence that made very unpleasant reading.

The first chapter describes a highly promiscuous older teenager who likes nothing better to strip, looked after by her over-humble cousin who nevertheless sees nothing wrong with over-spending her credit card and drinking too much.

It's a long book. Did I really want to follow the lives of these two unrealistic women, knowing that there would probably be far too much detail about promiscuous behaviour, and almost certainly a link with the violence of the prologue along the way?

Was it going to make good bedtime reading...?

My only possible answer to both questions was a resounding 'no'.

I hate to give up on a book. Maybe one day I'll get back to it. But in the meantime, this has joined a very small handful of books which I am abandoning. ( )