Book Review: Glide

This review was written for and first published by Bookmunch.

I rarely read psychological thrillers these days as I found plots were merging, making individual storylines forgettable. Many were of a similar length with a predictable structure that made them appear formulaic and, at times, padded. I picked up Glide only because I enjoyed the author’s previous work (plus page count is slightly shorter than is typical). I’m glad I did.

Narrated by Leo Coffin, a photographer who teaches at a nearby college, the story is told in short and gripping chapters. Leo has been with his Norwegian wife, Liv, for around five years. When the tale opens he is making her a birthday cake, wanting it to be ready and waiting when he picks her up from the airport later. She has been on a regular trip to her homeland, to visit family and order new stock for her business.

The couple live in Massachusetts and the tale is set over the weeks leading up to Christmas. On that first day, Leo hears footsteps by the back door and opens it to find a stranger lighting candles on a store bought cake. The man is looking for Liv and explains he is her half brother. Leo is unsure how to react as such a relation has never been mentioned. Ingrained good manners compel Leo to allow the stranger to enter his home.

This supposed half brother, Morten, is tall and sporty, handsome and highly personable. Leo finds himself wanting to impress, enjoying the man’s company but remaining wary given Liv has never mentioned him. A sense of foreboding builds as the stranger installs himself in Leo’s space, awaiting Liv’s arrival. This increases when Liv is delayed without offering any explanation.

Morten’s charisma contrasts with Leo’s reticence. Wherever the former leads the latter finds himself following. Leo is kind and polite but he too has secrets. When he shares a nugget with Morten that he has not told Liv, alarm bells ring.

The bones of the story are about secrets partners keep – of their past and how this affects reasoning behind current decisions. Leo would like to have children with Liv but she does not want them. He feels he could better accept her stance if he understood why. Liv has never explained and they have argued over the issue. Despite such previous upsets, Leo still wishes to delve deeper.

What comes to the fore in this tense and engaging tale is how fragile a marriage can be. Love is so often based on a mirage constructed from perception, built on sands that can shift due to unexpected revelations. Secrets can come to seem toxic if held close for too many years. There is fear of reaction, of breaking a trust needed to anchor the relationship.

Breadcrumbs are scattered throughout the tale but these are well managed to ensure the reader is kept guessing. More importantly, the writing remains taut without resorting to sudden changes in character traits in order to get to the next reveal. Certain threads could have been embellished to add further dimensions but key plotlines are developed with dexterity and depth.

The denouement strikes a fine balance between tying up threads and leaving some questions hanging. I particularly liked what the author did with Morten.

The pleasure to be gleaned from reading a psychological thriller is often in the guesses a reader makes when led through the twists and turns of plot and character. As this is a book worth reading I do not wish to spoil it by going into greater detail. Suffice to say even when I guessed correctly the story still held my attention for where it would go next.

I must also mention the illustrations that accompany the text. The shadowy images perfectly complement the unfolding narrative. Given that Leo is a photographer, they are an inspired inclusion.

I would not say this is a perfect story in terms of every word and thread counting but it is certainly an engaging tale – most unusually for me I read it cover to cover in a day. That it held my attention during these distracting times is a credit to the skill of the author in constructing a captivating thriller.

Any Cop?: A highly charged and ultimately satisfying read.

Jackie Law.

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Robyn Reviews: Imperfect Women

Imperfect Women is a character study of three women – Eleanor, Nancy, and Mary – who met at university thirty years ago and have been best friends ever since. None of their lives have gone in the direction they envisaged, and none of them are particularly happy. The novel is split into thirds – Eleanor’s point of view, then Nancy’s, then Mary’s – and we get to know each woman from their own perspective and the perspective of those closest to them. Naturally, these differ significantly. They’re all flawed, brilliantly human characters, and whilst I disagree with many of their actions I love how real they always feel.

The novel starts with Eleanor receiving a phone call from Nancy’s husband, Robert. Eleanor has always been close to Nancy’s family – she has no partner or children of her own, choosing to focus on her career – but receiving a phone call at 4am is still unusual. Robert is concerned as Nancy has not returned home after having dinner with Eleanor. Eleanor drives to Robert’s house and confesses that Nancy has been having an affair and went to meet her lover after the dinner. Robert is shocked – and shock turns to horror when the police suddenly arrive. Nancy’s body has been found by the river in Hammersmith, and suddenly the bubble of normality which Eleanor’s been living in for the past thirty years shatters. Nancy’s death sets in motion a chain of events which expose every crack in Eleanor, Nancy, and Mary’s lives – and by extension, the lives of those closest to them.

This is a character study, so I don’t want to give too much away about these characters. I adore them, even though on paper they might not always seem pleasant. At first, they seem like three stereotypes – Eleanor, the woman who sacrificed everything else for her career; Nancy, the woman who married into money and never had enough to be satisfied; Mary, the woman who gave everything up to raise her children and doesn’t know who she is without them any more – but as the story unfolds they become so much more. Eleanor is probably my favourite, possibly because – as a twenty-something student – I find her easiest to relate to, but Nancy and Mary are also captivating in a different way. Their lives are car crashes, but you can’t look away.

“Women on this world are expected to conform, though it doesn’t seem like that any more. You can be many things in this life, but a dissatisfied woman isn’t one of them.”

The supporting cast – Nancy’s husband Robert and daughter Zara, Eleanor’s elderly neighbour Irena, and Mary’s husband Howard and children Marcus, Maisie, and Millie – have varying degrees of importance depending on the perspective at the time. Robert and Howard especially get a great deal of screen time, and it’s fascinating to see how each character views them differently. I dislike both of them – Howard especially – but given the lens through which they are viewed this is almost inevitable. In contrast, I had a huge amount of sympathy for Marcus – his life is a disaster, but at heart he’s a vulnerable child who truly cares about those around him, which is more than can be said for most of the cast.

“We should learn to find comfort in the fact that everyone’s got their own sadnesses.”

I find it much harder to discover contemporaries that I’ll love than I do science fiction and fantasy novels – and on paper, a novel about three women in their fifties undergoing mid-life crises shouldn’t appeal to me, but for whatever reason I loved this. The writing is excellent, and the characters are so believable you wouldn’t question meeting them on the street. Every terrible decision they make seems perfectly justifiable in their eyes, and you can believe that events would actually unfold this way in real life.

Overall, this was an excellent book. I’d recommend it to anyone who loves a character-driven story.

 

Published by Orion
Hardback: 20th August 2020

Robyn Reviews: We Are All the Same in the Dark

We Are All The Same In The Dark is a gritty mystery novel with twists right to the end. The writing is beautifully atmospheric and pulls you right into the deep Texas setting. It’s a multiple POV novel, but instead of cycling between characters it follows them sequentially – Wyatt for the start, Odette for the build-up, and Angel for the thrilling conclusion.

Wyatt is the town’s pariah. Ten years ago, his sister Trumanell – prom queen and the town’s sweetheart – disappeared, with only a smear of blood and some glitter left behind. The prime suspects were her father – now deceased – Frank, and her mad brother Wyatt. These days, Wyatt hides out at the house he grew up in, talking to his sister as if she were there and painting the walls Chantilly Lace white – her favourite colour.

Odette is a cop, like her father and grandfather before her. After Trumanell disappeared, Odette left town, determined to start anew – but the town’s secrets dragged her home, Chicago lawyer husband in tow. Odette has history with Wyatt, and with Trumanell, and when Wyatt finds a girl on the side of the highway it sets off a chain of events that might just uncover a mystery that’s been sleeping for ten years.

I’m not American, so I can’t speak for the accuracy of the setting or the characters pictured, but they all felt thoroughly believable. It felt like a typical small town – obsessed with its own secrets. I was gripped by the simultaneous fear and veneration of Wyatt, people’s opinions of Odette always framed by their opinions of his dad, the missing girl never let go by a town which only had one claim to notoriety. The writing was as tough and gritty as the Texan setting and, whilst this made it jarring in places, it wouldn’t have felt quite right without it.

I felt sorry for Wyatt – haunted by the past and unable to move on – but even in his own head he is never framed as an innocent party. Whether because he truly believes it or simply because so many people have told him so, he doesn’t think of himself as a nice man. Readers can judge for themselves.

Odette is a fantastic character – brave, feisty, reckless, and never defined by her weaknesses. She makes mistakes – and plenty of them – but she is honest, and always determined to do the right thing. The town sees Trumanell as some sort of goddess – Odette sees her as a girl. Spending time in Odette’s head isn’t always easy but it is fascinating – especially the insights into her disability and how it frames her outlook on life.

Angel was my favourite. Her section flew past much faster than the rest of the book – possibly because it was faster paced, but I think because it gripped me more. It would be spoiler-y to give away too much about her, but she is a fascinating and brilliant character; the epitome of the impulsive teenager but also one who’s had to fight to survive. Her interactions with Rusty and Finn were spectacular, and every twist – of which there are many – had me on the edge of my seat.

Overall, this is a great book – one that really draws you into its setting and complex characters. The disability representation was a bonus. If you like stories with an eerie atmosphere about strong characters and long-buried secrets, you’ll like this. Recommended.

 

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Michael Joseph for providing an eARC of this book – this in no way affects the content of this review.

 

Published by Michael Joseph
Hardback: 6 August 2020

Book Review: A Killing Sin

A Killing Sin, by K.H. Irvine, is a tense and engaging psychological thriller, although it does take a little while to get into. The fragmented structure – short chapters that jump around in time and point of view – lead to early confusion as to who is who. The core characters are three friends who met while at university, two decades previously. Also important are their partners, both business and personal. Adding to the mix are family members – how much can those we love and believe we know, truly be trusted? Once character names are remembered and relationships understood enjoyment of the tense and timely plot becomes the key reading experience.

The story is set a few years in the future, in a post-Brexit London. Amala and Neil are tech entrepreneurs who made their fortune developing tracking software that the government now embeds in personal ID cards and payment systems. Amala is also an irreverent stand-up comic, harnessing the tropes of Islam for edgy if uncomfortable laughs. Neil advises politicians and has the ear of the Prime Minister – they went through the same public school education system.

Amala befriended Ella and Millie when they all attended Edinburgh University. Ella is a freelance journalist, currently working on what she believes will be two huge stories that should finally establish her professional credentials. Millie is a psychologist specialising in radicalisation and increasingly asked to work with government departments to profile potential terrorists and their recruitment methods. These intelligent and wealthy friends are about to have their privileged worlds turned upside down.

While Neil and Millie are in a meeting with the Prime Minister and other officials, they are informed that Neil’s partner has been taken hostage by Muslim extremists. An horrific video of her being tortured and maimed is played. Money is demanded along with the closure of controversial Prevent and Protect Centres whose staff routinely harass young men whose appearance is considered suspicious.

The Prime Minister insists that his government will not negotiate with terrorists. Neil is determined to do whatever it takes to save his partner. He harnesses the considerable talents and power of his tech company in an attempt to find where the hostage is being held. GCHQ, MI5, the police and military are called in to assist. The focus is on Tower Hamlets where radical extremists have imposed Sharia Law and where what appears to be diversionary rioting is now taking place. Then a suicide bomber walks into a building in Central London and detonates.

Complex issues are touched upon without detracting from the suspense and action: Mass surveillance or civil liberties? Freedom of speech or a crack down on offensive language when dealing with sensitive topics? The right to choose how to dress or a tool of suppression? How much leeway should venal governments be granted in order to supposedly protect citizens? Extremes on both sides are portrayed.

The author is unafraid to confront the existence of radical Muslims and their desire to force prescribed behaviour on more tolerant believers. By involving westerners whose personal wealth and professional position provides distance from the wider effects of their work, the story brings home how much it is possible to switch off from worrying actions happening elsewhere in the world. The hostage taker points out that in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan innocent lives have been lost for a cause western governments claim is worth such ‘collateral damage’. In bringing their battle to London the terrorists are unapologetic when bystanders – infidels – die.

The background to the plot may be religious and political but this remains a tense thriller with a roller coaster of events playing out as the reader tries to guess what could happen next. The writing is fluid and the structure well paced for maximum engagement after the slower beginning. It is a timely reminder of cause and effect, of the complexity of military action and resulting carnage – that we cannot predict how even those close to us will react to losses inflicted. A thought provoking and compelling read.

My copy of this book was provided gratis by the publisher, Urbane.

Gig Review: Novel Nights in Bristol, with guest speaker Sanjida Kay

Novel Nights is a monthly gathering of writers, with groups currently meeting in Bristol and Bath. Co-founded in 2013 by Grace Palmer, who is herself a writer and creative writing teacher, the group offers a platform for up and coming authors who may introduce and read from their work. These readings are followed by a discussion with an invited guest who will offer insight into some aspect of the creative writing process.

I previously attended when Jon Woolcott, from independent publisher Little Toller Books, gave a fascinating talk on The Business of Books. On Wednesday of this week I returned to Bristol to hear Sanjida Kay discuss How to Plot. This subject was of particular interest as the emphasis was to be on writing commercial fiction – genres that are popular with readers and sell in large numbers. I wished to better understand the perspective of an author who started out writing literary fiction but now writes psychological thrillers.

In preparation for the event I read Sanjida’s latest book, My Mother’s Secret. I have previously read three other of the eleven books she has published (these include non fiction – she has a PhD in Chimpanzees) – Bone by Bone, The Stolen Child, and from her earlier work, Angel Bird.

The first half of the evening showcased three other writers. First up was Emma Gifford who read from her novel, All Our Possible Futures – a love story with adventure elements that she started on her Creative Writing MA at Bath Spa University. She recently graduated with distinction and has since completed and edited the manuscript. The story is set in the UK and the Amazon rainforest. It explores the effects of the environmental crisis on a young mother’s mental health.

The second reader was Dave Weaver who has had five novels published by speculative fiction publisher, Elsewhen Press. He has also self-published three short story collections. He offered his thoughts on being published by a small press. The main issues appeared to be the problems of promotion and distribution, which he felt were similar to those faced when self publishing. He did, however, enjoy benefits from being a part of a publishing ‘family’ and the personal attention this offered from the team.

Dave read from his novel, The Unseen – a ghost story with an unreliable narrator who has visions and dreams. The latest of these involved the protagonist’s late wife, urging him to buy a cottage she had wished to purchase. He suffers from guilt following her sudden death.

The third reader was Jen Faulkner who was tutored by Fay Weldon on her Creative Writing Masters at Bath Spa University. The manuscript Jen created was shortlisted for the prize for best submission in her year. Following her inclusion in a subsequent anthology she signed with an agent and is now working with an editor. Writing a novel may be a challenge but is only the beginning of a long process involving much editing and then waiting.

Jen mentioned that she watches many films and learns from how stories are developed in this medium to help her balance structure, pace, tension and drama in her writing. She read from her book, provisionally titled The Cuckoo’s Child, whose protagonist suffers from post-natal depression. The woman is concerned that she is losing her mind, and that those close to her are not taking her concerns seriously. She feels trapped in a life she does not want, feels mounting anger at her baby’s crying, and suffers increasing paranoia.

After a short break it was over to Sanjida who was interviewed by Grace before answering questions from the audience. First though she read from the prologue of her recently published novel, My Mother’s Secret. The cliffhanger she left us on generated a collective exhalation from the audience.

Grace asked, do you plot? 

Humans intrinsically have stories. They understand the need for a beginning, middle and end – the essence of plot. Genre fiction, which includes psychological thrillers, requires tight plotting due to deadlines. Sanjida is contracted to submit one book each year. She explained how she achieves this.

Her idea for a next book is submitted as a one line pitch. If accepted she will then turn this into a half page summary, like the blurb on the back of a book but containing spoilers. From here the story is developed into a four or five page document detailing who the characters are, whose point of view the story is told from and what is going to happen to each of them. An 8-10,000 word draft is then produced which includes every scene from the novel but lacking detail, for example from My Mother’s Secret there were several scenes ‘Adam and Stella get closer’ which obviously needed elaboration. Sanjida has six months to complete a manuscript, including her own initial editing. By putting down 2500 words a day this can be achieved but only if structure and content are already clear. There is no time for major plot revisions so advance planning is necessary. After submission she will receive her work back with suggested changes and have a mere three weeks for rewrites before it goes for copy editing, proof reading and printing.

Writing commercial fiction has its constraints.

Psychological thrillers are about the bad thing that might happen. They are about fear and threat internalised. Each story requires an exciting incident at the beginning to draw the reader in. There then need to be crises to maintain interest. There must also be a satisfying ending that offers closure for the reader.

There are certain obligatory scenes – love interests must at some point get together. There must be twists, turns and reversals, progressive complications. These could be small events that create a major crisis for a particular character. Whatever happens leads to an inevitability that must at some point be addressed.

Grace asked, does setting influence plot?

Setting is important as it mirrors the characters and their actions. In Her Mother’s Secret, Lizzie felt safe in the wide open spaces of the Lake District whereas Emma felt safe in the middle class surroundings of Long Ashton and Tyntesfield (a National Trust property).

Grace asked, with three narrators how do you keep track of narrative arcs?

Prior to writing the detail, who exactly will be in each scene is set out. The secret is revealed half way through but not all characters are privy to this, and that must be managed and developed. There is also a big twist at the end which must remain consistent with what has gone before. Emma and Stella are on the same timeline so were written together, from beginning to end. Lizzie’s chapters were then dropped in as required. Graphs were used to chart emotion and action, with plot points marked. Sanjida’s current novel has ten characters and two points of view. She has added index cards to her process to help keep things in order.

Questions were invited from the audience, one of whom asked about reversals.

Scenes require changes in emotion, a reveal or a twist that the reader won’t have seen coming. It is not necessary to write in acts but reveals must move the plot forward.

How does Sanjida lead the reader to a big twist?

Drip feed information so that the reader begins to guess, hopefully getting it wrong. Set up red herrings. Add innocent actions that can be deemed incriminating. Introduce diversion tactics.

Did a book deal change how Sanjida plots?

Her first book took ten years to write and involved extensive research, including travelling abroad. She then had a year to write the next book so had to change how she worked. She also had to figure out what her publisher wanted – her second book wasn’t. Now she is more savvy, not so much constrained as writing to meet her readers’ expectations. Her publishers are keen that she deliver what her particular readers want, for example she was advised not to kill a character, although putting him in a coma was fine.

Writing can be character driven (they do something which changes the direction of the plot) or plot driven (work that out first and then create characters to fit). What matters is authenticity.

Sanjida no longer has time for lengthy research but has early reader buddies and brainstorms with a police procedural expert.

Why did she switch to psychological thrillers?

This followed a meeting with her agent. They were discussing an idea (from a dream!) and Sanjida was advised to write it. There is also the financial aspect. She no longer has the luxury of spending two years in a library, she has to make money. Literary fiction gives a warm glow in the heart but won’t pay for the champagne.

How does she stop her day to day mood affecting her writing?

Partly to do with deadlines, which can be stressful, but mostly managed by routine and getting into her writing zone. This is not to say she doesn’t procrastinate…

Sanjida works out in advance what her characters need, what they want, how they will change through the course of the story. She finds pictures on the internet of how she imagines they look and keeps that image in mind as she writes. She does not base them on real people, although aspects are drawn from those she knows, including herself, and these are magnified to make them more extreme. She has done the Myers-Briggs Personality Test on some characters.

And with that, time ran out and Grace had to draw the evening to a close. I was grateful for the candour with which Sanjida spoke. I may no longer read many psychological thrillers but I can understand the reasoning behind writing in that genre, and also, of course, why well written commercial fiction remains popular with so many readers.

 

My Mother’s Secret is published by Corvus Books and is available to buy now.

 

The next Novel Nights gathering in Bristol will be held on 27th June. In this talk and discussion, award-winning author Tyler Keevil will explore how music can influence the way writers work, both as a source of inspiration and as a means to help maintain creative focus, and keep a project on track. Further details may be found here.

Book Review: My Mother’s Secret

My Mother’s Secret, by Sanjida Kay, is the author’s third psychological thriller. It is told from three points of view and across two timelines, opening with the pivotal event from which the rest of the tale unfolds. Unusually for this genre it took several chapters before I was fully engaged. A lot of characters are introduced in a short space of time and I kept having to flick back to work out who was who. Once I had placed each alongside their contemporaries I was able to settle and enjoy the sequence of teasers and reveals.

There are good reasons why so many psychological thrillers become best sellers. They are engaging, easy to read and offer a puzzle to solve. This book is well paced, smoothly written and typically structured. The settings are brought to life becoming both comforting and threatening as the plot requires.

The earlier timeline involves Lizzie, a young wife and mother who leaves her family home – a remote cottage in the Lake District – for a few days each week to work in Leeds. Here she gets caught up in a violent crime that changes her life. The chapters telling her story explain the before and after of this incident, what she must do to survive and protect those she loves.

The later timeline is narrated by Emma and her fourteen year old daughter, Stella. Emma is neurotic, her instability manifesting in overprotecting her two children. Stella is starting to rebel against the restrictions imposed due to her mother’s condition and her father’s complicity. It is notable that both Stella and her younger sister, Ava, display their own anxieties, likely instilled by the manner in which they are required to live under the guise of keeping them safe.

Emma works at a bakery and there are many descriptions of food, not something I have an interest in but likely to appeal to certain readers. Her husband, Jack, attempts to impose his healthy eating ideas on his family. He has provided them with a lavish home and likes to keep it and its residents in a manner that suits his ideas of beauty and order. This is a loving family but one that relies on a strict code of parental control.

Much of the story is set in and around Long Ashton on the outskirts of Bristol. The descriptions of place are rich – aesthetics are held in high regard.

Emma’s story begins with a chance encounter with a man from her past. She arranges to meet him at Tyntesfield, a National Trust property near to where she lives. Stella notices a change in her mother and decides to investigate. What she discovers threatens their carefully cultivated stability. Alongside this, Stella enters into a relationship with a boy at school. She and her mother try to guard their secrets, not easy in a family used to strictly monitoring all activities.

Despite correctly guessing the various reveals in advance, this was an enjoyable read. That is not to say I didn’t have a few quibbles – such as the dual mention of the Moorside power plant, which seemed unnecessary, and the changes in wording when the prologue is retold. These are small details though in what is a well crafted addition to a popular genre. Fans of domestic noir will likely enjoy.

My copy of this book was provided gratis by the publisher, Corvus.

Book Review: Fear

Fear, by Dirk Kurbjuweit, is a story of a murder and a marriage and of how far a man will go to protect the foundations on which he has constructed his adult life. Set in Berlin, the protagonist is Randolph Tiefenthaler, an architect living with his beautiful and intelligent wife, Rebecca, and their two young children. Their nightmare starts when they purchase a well located and spacious upper ground floor flat, perfect for family living. Randolph is now sitting at his desk writing an account of events that led to his seventy-eight year old father being imprisoned for manslaughter. Randolph’s father confessed to killing Dieter Tiberius, the tenant of the flat downstairs.

Based on true events, the author has created a thriller that questions how fragile the edifices of civilised life can be, and of the pressures a man feels to be a protector. Soon after moving into their flat, Rebecca starts to receive letters from Dieter. He is watching the family, listening to their movements from below. When the letters become threatening Randolph takes the matter to the police only to discover that no crime has been committed. Dieter’s reaction is to accuse his neighbours of sexually abusing their children.

Randolph writes of his childhood and of the disconnect and fear he felt due to his father’s gun obsession. He is determined to do better with his own children but has allowed his marriage to grow stale. As Dieter’s behaviour escalates Randolph and Rebecca are drawn back together. Their middle class confidence, bordering on arrogance, is pierced as they realise reasonable tactics to resolve the matter are ineffective. If Randolph is to keep his family safe he must consider more radical action.

The voice and behaviour of the narrator come across and honest and reasoned. He is writing to confront the truth which he tells the reader he has not yet fully shared, even with Rebecca. I found it harder to empathise with her. Rebecca had hysterical screaming fits even when her children were at home. For a medical professional this loss of control under pressure seemed strange.

The story though revolves around Randolph, the impotence he feels and the growing realisation that he will need to compromise his valued integrity to deal with Dieter. Despite knowing from the first few pages how things will end, the tension in the telling is skilfully maintained.

Events force Randolph to confront an aspect of himself that he had denied existed. I am curious about how he would cope with that in the afterwards. The child abuse allegation also puts thoughts in his head that he struggles to contain. In attempting to prove innocence his behaviour is affected, as is his confidence in Rebecca.

Each of these strands offer food for thought but it is the basic premise that is the most disturbing. In a civilised society it is assumed that wrong-doers will be punished, the innocent protected. How to define wrong-doing and innocence are perhaps more complex than is generally accepted.

My copy of this book was provided gratis by the publisher, Orion.

Book Review: Close To Me

Close To Me, by Amanda Reynolds, is a domestic thriller in which a woman suffers memory loss following a head injury. The protagonist is Jo Harding, an affluent stay-at-home wife and mother of two grown children. When the story opens she is lying at the bottom of a flight of stairs in their luxurious home. Her concerned husband hovers over her and medical assistance is on its way. Jo remembers little of what happened but is aware that she does not want her husband near.

The tale progresses along two timelines, the first starting from her fall, the second from a year ago. It is Jo’s memories of this year that she has lost. Gradually fragments return but she struggles to place them in context. She discovers that the settled family life she has relied upon, the life she still remembers, has fallen apart.

Jo’s husband, Rob, is reluctant to fully fill in her blanks. She finds his proximity and concern stifling. Their two children, Sash and Fin, are also reticent and more distant than she expects. Initially Jo feels too battered and exhausted to fight back against their secrecy. She also grows afraid of what she may discover when her memory returns. As her recovery progresses she sets about reclaiming her life.

There are the requisite twists and turns as the reader is fed suggestions of disagreements, infidelity and violence but must wait for the truths to be revealed. Jo volunteered at a drop-in centre where she befriended Rose and Nick whose existence Rob deleted from her digital records following her fall. Sash has an older boyfriend whose image triggers disturbing recollections. Fin appears estranged for reasons Jo cannot recall.

Jo is a needy mother, mourning the role she assigned herself in life now that her children have flown the nest. She is aspirational on their behalf, convinced that her offspring could have fabulous futures if they would only do as she says. Jo struggles to move on, to accept the decisions they make for themselves.

I read this book in a sitting; the writing throughout is taut and engaging. There were, however, aspects that grated. Jo and Rob played a ‘game’ where they discussed the method they would choose to kill each other, a conversation I found weird. Jo opines that “Rob’s love and loyalty are two things I never have to worry about” which came across as glib.

As a novel to provide escapism this is a well constructed thriller even if personally I prefer stories with more breadth and depth. For those looking for easy entertainment, with an added touch of the disturbing, this could be a good book to read.

My copy of this book was provided gratis by the publisher, Wildfire.

Book Review: Nemesister

Nemesister, by Sophie Jonas-Hill, is the first book in a proposed series of American Gothic thrillers. The story opens in a remote and run-down lodge hidden within the swamps of Louisiana. The protagonist is a young woman who arrives at this place badly injured, with no recollection of who she is or why she is here. In her hand is a gun, in her pocket a leaflet. She can find no other clues to her identity.

As she stumbles into the damp-ridden shack a man appears who introduces himself to her as Red. She is terrified of him but has no idea why. Red offers her water and then a bed on the couch. When she wakes from exhausted sleep he has tended to her wounds. Despite these efforts the woman remains wary. With injured feet and no means of transport she has little choice but to stay. Red tells her that his truck requires attention, that once mended he will take her to the nearest town as she has requested.

Over the course of the following twenty-four hours Red tells the woman about himself. He was a soldier, had a wife, and is at the shack to meet his brother for a spot of fishing. He is not always consistent in what he says. The woman feels a strong urge to escape but when unknown assailants fire shots at the house, the doors are locked and the key pocketed by Red.

The woman’s memory returns gradually with brief flashbacks to scenes that as yet make little sense. It is unclear if she is remembering what happened to her or to others, and who those others are to her. Within the shack are clues, but the more she uncovers the less she understands. Then what happened to her sister returns.

From the first page the tale unsettles. Despite the unremitting tension it takes some time before the flashbacks coalesce and characters gain form and context, enabling greater reader engagement. From here the pace picks up as backstories are presented and woven together. The drip-fed details now make disturbing sense.

The writing is taut and polished. Each of the cast’s true motives keep the reader guessing to the end. Dark and disquieting throughout, this is an intense, compelling read.

My copy of this book was provided gratis by the publisher, Urbane.

Book Review: Exquisite

Exquisite, by Sarah Stovell, is a deliciously disturbing psychological thriller centring around two women. It employs familiar tropes such as troubled childhoods, the unreliable narrator, and an ill advised affair. Yet it rises, indeed it soars, with a use of language that matches the title. Beneath the beauty of the descriptions, the subtlety of the prose, an undercurrent of menace pervades every twist in the tale.

Bo Luxton is an established author of best selling books. She is married to Gus, twenty-two years her senior and retired from his successful city career. They have two young daughters and live in a beautiful house near Grasmere in the Lake District. Bo has worked diligently to achieve this settled life after a difficult childhood from which she ran away when she was fifteen years old.

Alice Dark is a twenty-five year old English graduate whose life has stalled. She is living in a damp and dreary bedsit, or at her boyfriend’s equally squalid shared house, in Brighton. When she is accepted onto a residential creative writing course in Northumberland, to be run by the famous author Bo Luxton, she is inspired to seek change.

Bo likes to take waifs and strays under her wing. She sees something of her younger self in Alice who spent part of her childhood in care and whose latent talent Bo now wishes to nurture. With the older woman’s encouragement, Alice starts to believe she could write the book she has dreamed of creating.

Bo and Alice form a connection on the writing course which they continue to develop via email when they return to their respective homes. Then Bo invites Alice to visit her in Grasmere. Gus is wary of their burgeoning friendship and voices his concerns but to no avail. Bo tells Alice he becomes jealous when she offers her loving care to anyone but him.

Each section of the book opens with an update from a woman serving time in prison. The reader knows that the story being told is leading to this. The subsequent short chapters are written from either Alice or Bo’s point of view. Overlaps create doubt as to whose version may be complete and true.

The tension builds as the protagonists find themselves backed into corners. The final page provides a memorable end to what is a satisfying, chilling denouement.

A tightly constructed, beautifully written, impressively unsettling psychological thriller. For fans of the genre this is a must read.

My copy of this book was provided gratis by the publisher.

This post is a stop on the Exquisite Blog Tour. Do check out the other blogs taking part, detailed below.

Exquisite is published by Orenda Books and will be available to buy from 15 June 2017.