I'm the shadow on the ground: REPUTATION.

Reputation by Sarah Vaughan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Emma, a former teacher, is now a Member of Parliament (MP). As such, her life has changed greatly-- she's now divorced and her relationship with her teenage daughter, Flora, is strained. Emma often finds herself in the spotlight as she campaigns hard for women's issues. She's also subjected to endless threats and online bullying. Flora, too, is being bullied at school--a secret she keeps from her mother. As Emma works to get a new law passed to protect women and girls from the effects of revenge porn, she and Flora find their lives uncomfortably intertwining. And then--a horrible incident occurs, and Emma finds a man dead in her home. The focus increases on her considerably, and she find herself fighting for her reputation and perhaps even her life.

This is another smartly written thriller from Vaughan. It's a bit of a slow-mover, but it certainly gets you thinking. It skips around in time a lot, which made it harder to immediately get into the narrative, along with the fact that I'm not as familiar with the Parliament political system as I'd like. But it's fairly easy to catch up. Vaughan covers the familiar topic of cyber bullying, but with a twist, as Emma is campaigning for stricter laws against it, while Flora is enmeshed in various scandals at school.

REPUTATION does an excellent job in highlighting all the various ways women (and girls) face violence in their daily lives as well as what female public figures must endure. Honestly, Emma could be a bit tedious at times and some plot pieces seemed a little repetitive, but overall, this was a pretty interesting read. There are no huge twists, but Vaughan certainly throws in some good surprises. The insight into female violence and cyber bullying was well-done, and Vaughan writes excellent courtroom drama. The themes of family, motherhood, and (of course) reputation are strong. 3.75 stars, rounded up to 4 here.

I received a copy of this book from Atria/Emily Bestler Books in return for an unbiased review.

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