The Cruelty

By Scott Bergstrom

Book Overview

The Cruelty is an action-packed young adult thriller (optioned for film by Jerry Bruckheimer) about a girl who must train as an assassin to deal with the gangsters who have kidnapped her father.

Gwendolyn's father kept his life a secret from her. When he goes missing, she's plunged into a world of assassins, spies, and criminal masterminds.

When Gwendolyn Bloom's father vanishes, she sets off on a journey she never bargained for. Traveling under a new identity, she uncovers a disturbing truth: to bring her father back alive, she must become every bit as cruel as the men holding him captive.

This suspensful debut from Scott Bergstrom features a strong female character and nonstop, cinematic action.

Praise for The Cruelty:

"Liam Neeson's 2008 film Taken concerned a spy who engages in mass mayhem while attempting to recover his kidnapped daughter. Bergstrom reverses this plot in his violent, well-crafted first novel. Seventeen-year-old gymnast Gwendolyn Bloom doesn't learn that her father is a genuine spy?and not merely an overworked State Department employee?until after he is kidnapped by international gangsters, and the CIA makes little attempt to recover him . . . A grim, fast- paced tale." --Publishers Weekly

" T]his debut novel is relentlessly paced, full of global sets, slick action...with a grim, ass-kicking antihero." --Booklist

The Cruelty is a nominee for the 2018 Edgar Award for best Young Adult book.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1250144191
• ISBN13: 9781250144195
• Release Date: February 2018
• Publisher: Square Fish
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.3" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 17 to 18 years
• Grade Range: Grade 12 to Postsecondary