Living in Ken Berry's World

Have you ever read a book that had names of places or people in it that you couldn't pronounce?  When that happens to me, I just make up a pronunciation, so that it doesn't get in the way of my reading the story, so I am not always stumbling over the work.  That happened to me with Grace.  I feel kinda bad about it because the name was Keran Berj and so I just substituted Ken Berry for it.  Keran Berj is a nut job, an extremist government leader, murderer-type.  Ken Berry has always seemed to me like a really great guy.  So my deepest apologies go out to Kenny Berry.  I know he would be nothing like Keran Berj if he ran his own country.
Keran Berj has his face all over everything.  He owns everything and "god" tells Keran Berj just how everyone should life.  So you don't argue with Keran Berj, because well, that would be arguing with god and also it would get you killed in nasty, painful ways.
There are people who live in The Hills, however, who don't follow Keran Berj.  They send out suicide bombers-- Angels to destroy the upper dudes in Keran Berj's regime.  Grace was supposed to be one of those but she just dropped her bomb, killed others, but not herself.  As a result she is in no man's land.  The Hill folks don't want her and The People, Keran Berj's people, want to kill her, too.  She seeks help from a creepy guy who promises to get her to the border, as long as she pays him.  He sends her off on a train to the border.  The train ride is a ride of self-discovery for Grace as she contemplates what she has done and all of her past and future.  She is riding with Kerr, a boy about her age, who is also heading for the border for reasons of his own.

This is a tough book.  It is an emotional one, and though it is only 200 pages, it takes a while to read if you want to do it right.  Scott wrote another toughie for me, Living Dead Girl and also Love You Hate You Miss You.  There is no doubt in my mind that Scott is a gifted writer who pushes herself and takes risks by choosing to write about such troubling topics.  I am really looking forward to reading more of her books.