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The Nanny by Ruth Heald – REVIEW
The Nanny is an immersive page-turner. It’s provocative and shocking and hurtles along at breakneck speed. The past forges the present; that’s a fact that’s well known. How long can we keep running before it catches up with us? We can lace up those Nikes and get a head start, but the funny thing about our past is that it’ll always know where we are, where we reside; its GPS is continually trained on you. Some people are lucky in the knowledge that their past harbours no secrets, no skeletons in the closet – but for some, as is the case of the protagonist, Hayley, her past is something she’s…
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Stay Awake by Megan Goldin – REVIEW
Stay Awake is a masterclass in visceral levels of tension. This is perfect for TV adaptation. A blistering page turner. What can I say about Stay Awake that will do it the justice it deserves? Never has sleep had such dangerous connotations? It is an intricate game of minds. Wake up, forget everything that has happened in the last two years, spend all day trying to connect the dots and discover what happened in those missing gaps, fall asleep, wake up and repeat. It would be a horrible way to live. You quickly get lost in the plot and you become so immersed in helping Liv discover what happened to…
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Dead Daughters by Tim Meyer – REVIEW
Dead Daughters blew my motherfucking mind! It’s twisted and horrifying, and I couldn’t wait to turn the next page. You can feel Meyer laughing at your shock. Dead Daughters is a story to remind me to be grateful for the boring, mundane, and uneventful life I lead. It’s definitely not something that you want your life to resemble – uncertainty, unimaginable stress, and a worry that your daughter will be taken and end up dead. The story examines the dynamics of relationships through a microscope. A Couple. A cherished daughter. A photograph that depicts the death of your child. Friends. Strangers. The premise of the story had me immediately hooked.…
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The Ex Between Us by Nicola Marsh – REVIEW
The Ex Between Us has a killer premise. The story was impactful with a deep plot that evokes emotion on every page. Marsh constantly stokes the flames of mystery. The story had me instantly with the book cover. Mysterious, the colours remind me of the feeling of sorrow. I had the feeling that the book would be chilling and atmospheric. The story focuses on two main characters, Abi, and Jo. Abi is struggling after her only child, Rob leaves to go to college. Empty nest syndrome is real, she has focussed her entire life on bringing him up to be the young, confident man he has become. Getting pregnant at…
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REVIEW: Sundial by Catriona Ward
Sundial, much like its atmospheric veracity, blew me away. I stood in the desolated desert and allowed the dust and the sound of longing carried by the wind to scratch at my skin. I’ve never been one for extremes, especially the heat but this novel made it more claustrophobic, more suffocating, and felt myself clawing for the cool. Sundial had everything that I love in a horror story…oppressing sense of dread. A threat that is entirely human. A will to protect and survive. Horror isn’t exclusively about ghost stories, the supernatural, and things that go bump in the night. Horror examines just how the humanity (or lack thereof) of our…
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REVIEW: The Marsh House by Zoë Somerville
The Marsh House seeps in atmospheric brilliance. It has the uncanny ability to remind you just how boring your life is. The novel tackles relationship breakdowns from multiple angles. A mother and daughter. A house in the country. Creepy diary entries. Personally, living in a cold, damp property in the middle of winter is a dead cert no for me but the protagonist had a story to unfold. It’s December 1963 and Malorie escapes to the country with her daughter, Franny. Her life is changing far quicker than she could have ever anticipated. Her relationship with Franny’s father, Tony has broken down. Partly due to his multiple infidelities and Malorie’s…
