Review - Raw by Lee Quail

Raw

by Lee Quail

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Volume 1 of Raw Instinct

Tags: Contemporary South Africa Setting

Posted in Book Reviews on 4 October, 2026

Rawson, who prefers to be called “Raw”, is a boxer on the way up when he meets Edward, a former boxer who is now retired. The two don’t hit it off at first. Raw isn’t out and has a formidable wall of anger built around his emotions. Edward has his own baggage to deal with as well, but the two eventually manage to connect. That’s just the start of a roller-coaster ride of a relationship.

There are times, fortunately rare, when a book just doesn’t work for me. Often, it doesn’t come down to any single identifiable reason. The writing can be competent. The characters well developed. A believable plot. Sometimes it comes down to very little things that add up over the course of the story. There are a couple of places in this book where characters do something, or make a decision, that is completely contrary to what we’ve learned about them, sometimes even contrary to what they’ve just said. There’s no explanation regarding the change of mind. It’s treated as if it should be obvious or hasn’t happened. There are also scenes of conversations that go on for too long. I suspect they were fun to write, but should have been edited down to reduce what amounts to repetitive statements.

The narration alternates mainly between Raw and Edward. We meet Raw first, during the fight that lands him in the hospital, where he first meets Edward. Raw is, in his own words, an asshole to Edward. None of what we eventually learn about Raw seems to explain his attitude. The young man seems to bounce around from one mood to another. Some of that could possibly be explained by a malady he reveals, but that, like everything else, seems to emerge suddenly and without much explanation.

At first, Edward seems like a more straightforward and understandable character. But then he also makes decisions directly at odds with what we’ve learned about him. Once again, Edward’s reactions seem to have more to do with creating drama rather than staying true to the character other parts of the story establishes.

“Raw” is available from Smashwords or see Bookshop.org to purchase a hardcopy from an independent bookseller.