Category: Adult Fiction

‘The Only One Left’ – Riley Sager

A Riley Sager novel appearing on NetGalley always puts me in a flap…just in case I don’t get access to it and have to wait publication. Thankfully, that didn’t happen and this is definitely a thriller you will not want to put down.

Kit is in a difficult position. Since being accused of killing her most recent patient she’s been suspended from work and her father can’t look her in the eye. The people around her think she’s a killer. So when she’s given the chance to work again, she’s desperate to take the job…even after she learns who she’ll be looking after.


Kit’s new patient lives at Hope’s End, a rambling mansion perched on the cliff tops. Her name is Lenora Hope, and when she was seventeen she was accused of murdering the three other members of her family.

The story follows Kit as she spends her days caring for someone she isn’t entirely sure she trusts. Strange noises can regularly be heard from her room, but Lenora can’t walk or talk. When Lenora lets on that she can type, Kit starts to learn more of what happened that night.

Sometimes the truth is stranger than anything you can come up with.
Sager does a good job of drawing us in to this very mixed-up family. The atmosphere of the house is suitably oppressive and the development of the story is well paced. I can’t say more as I’d hate to ruin the surprises for someone.

‘Mad Honey’ – Jodi Picoult

Mad Honey is a real thing. It’s caused by bees using pollen from specific plants and the honey they make can cause nausea and hallucinations. It has seemingly nothing to do with the story, but bees are a recurring theme – primarily because the mother of one of the characters is a beekeeper, but also because of the things we have learned from bees about gender and how the bee communities work (hard not to see the links when they seem to be mentioned all the time).

This was a book that I meant to read on its release in 2022, and didn’t get round to. I was intrigued by the details we’re given in the synopsis about a mother whose son is accused of the murder of his girlfriend and the introduction to the story certainly got the book off to a good start. I found myself, certainly to start off with, confused by the different timelines to the narratives of Lily and Asher. It does come to make sense – and was an interesting approach – but it did come to feel that this had been done deliberately to make the details that are shared about Lily seem unnecessarily shocking rather than an integral element of the character’s life.

While I understand why some of the seemingly crucial details about the characters are not revealed immediately, it did lead to me feeling rather ambushed. Perhaps this is deliberate, and certainly some of the details we are given should not matter. The fact that they have come to seem so important in the eyes of some reviewers only highlights to me what a long way there is to go in respect to the social issues explored in the book.

The focus on Asher’s mum, how her past has influenced her perception of events/people and the shifting dynamic between her and her son was at the heart of the book. Not an easy read for so many reasons, and much of this made me so so sad.

‘The Last Passenger’ – Will Dean

4.5 stars…Will Dean must be some kind of twisted genius as this was a book that was genuinely hard to put down even though the content was truly psychologically tormenting.

Our main character Caz is headed out on a cruise with her boyfriend. She thinks he might propose while they’re travelling, but nothing prepares her for what happens.
On her first morning she wakes up to find her room empty and no sign of Pete. When she sets foot outside her cabin she notes an eerie silence and all the other cabin doors are propped open. As she wanders the ship the grim reality becomes apparent. She is the only passenger left on board.

Very quickly Caz – and we the reader – are let in on what’s happening. While I’d like to think there’s something fundamentally decent about humanity that would make this impossible, the way it is executed is horribly plausible. Forcing us to watch as the unmanned ship continues its journey meant a number of difficult decisions and some genuinely scary moments as it was hard to tell just how far things would be taken.

It was impossible not to feel for those we encountered along the way, and the revelations during the book built far more nuanced characters than I was expecting. It would be hard not to consider the psychological impact of such manipulation, and there were no real answers given to this. Upon immediately finishing the book I was left open-mouthed at the ending, convinced this was one step beyond, but it certainly offered a different take on those thorny topics raised by the book.

‘Landlines’ – Raynor Winn

In this third book we see Moth’s condition has worsened. He struggles to prune the trees in the orchard, and feels unbalanced when walking. Having previously seen the restorative power of walking, the decision is made to undertake a walk they’ve always dreamed of.

Perhaps when you are at your low points, and feel there’s nothing to lose, you can find the inner strength to do something that might – by any stretch of the imagination – seem crazy. However, when packaged in this way the walk from Scotland to Cornwall does offer a chance to reconnect with nature, the opportunity to reassess what is important and the time to test one’s resolve in the face of some very challenging circumstances.

As someone who enjoys walking I truly admire what Raynor and Moth have done. As someone who also detests midges, sore feet and heavy rain, I read most of this book feeling I was reading about some kind of personal hell. 

Throughout the book I found myself quite taken by the obvious love of nature and the focus on how we as a race are slowly destroying the world we inhabit. The signs are there of damage to our environment, but these are signs that we are not in a position to heed while engrossed in the small stuff that occupies us so much of the time. Having walked some of the areas they cover in their route, I also found myself recollecting my own walks and how they’ve impacted me. The little connections made along the way – particularly when taking place immediately after COVID lockdown regulations were being eased – were touching, but each of these moments also highlights the shifting attitudes towards walkers/the countryside that seem to be taking place.

It left me with a definite sense of wanting to finally get round to reading The Salt Path – clearly a defining read for many, though each seems to take their own ideas from it – but I’m also wondering if buying husband a copy of this to read might be a mistake! The bug will hit him hard after reading this

‘Thunderstone’ – Nancy Campbell

A memoir of life in lockdown, examining attitudes to health and the way we interact with the world around us.

The author’s account is based on her journals but it is, above all, a deeply personal exploration of the self and her relationship with those around her.
I was fortunate to be gifted a copy of this by the publishers in exchange for my review.

The book opens with her realisation that her relationship with her partner has drawn to a close. Unfortunately, this realisation takes place as her partner is suffering the after-effects of a stroke and as the country goes into lockdown. A deeply difficult situation to deal with at any time, and I was struck by how few people she seemed to have around her that you might, traditionally, expect to offer support.
Campbell decides to buy an old caravan off eBay and find a way to forge a new life in this remote home. She describes the process with grim humour, and there is a clear sense of her finding a new community amongst those living in their unconventional homes.

Some of the descriptions of the natural world and her observations during this time show how many of us were forced to slow down during lockdown and to reevaluate our ideas about what is important. When she is faced with her own health issues this new community of support comes into its own.

An insight into an unusual situation and there were some interesting details shared. Ultimately, I found myself wondering why we stopped so abruptly and being curious about the details that were not shared/ignored that might have offered us a fuller picture of the author and her experience.

‘The Paper Palace’ – Miranda Cowley Heller

The Paper Palace is a book I’ve heard so much about, with so many positive reviews, and though there were parts of it that I enjoyed I would be hesitant to recommend this to people.

The book opens with us learning that Elle has just had sex with her childhood friend Jonas, though their respective families are inside the holiday home they have visited every summer. We don’t know how this came about or why, and I was expecting the story to focus on trying to explain how this even came to pass. It does, but it takes a very long and winding route to take us there.

With no context to this incident it is hard to feel sympathy for the characters. If they have been such close friends for so long I spent most of the book wondering why they’d never discussed their feelings beforehand. What we come to see – eventually – is that they were dealing with a lot of other things that certainly will have impacted on their behaviour.

Elle’s family background is complicated. While I do not want to bury my head in the sand, I found the focus on child abuse that features throughout the book concerning. We see instances of abuse happening in a number of families, yet nobody seems to recognise that is happening and those perpetuating it don’t ever seem to face any consequences for their repulsive behaviour. The detached way in which some of these instances was recounted felt quite authentic, a coping mechanism, but I really struggled to read about these children developing very unhealthy coping strategies.

The split narrative did not help me to feel engaged by the story. It felt elusive, and I found it hard to warm to any of the main characters. Jonas could have spoken up earlier, as could Elle, about their feelings and it is cruel to be toying with the lives/emotions of others – even if they are unaware of it – as they try to work out what to do. The closing stages of the book were, for me, infuriating. Apparently the author said it was clear who Elle chose…perhaps this is a cue for me to reread it again because I genuinely could not fathom out what was going on.

‘Summerwater’ – Sarah Moss

Our setting is a rather dated holiday park in Scotland set on the banks of a loch. A rural retreat, and the holiday destination of choice for a number of families. Beautiful in its own way, but limited in others.

Over the course of one rain-sodden day we are introduced to a number of characters. Each gets their own vignette, and they combine to tell a story that is unremarkable in many ways. From the retired doctor and his wife who’ve been bringing their family here for years, to the younger couple staying in a family lodge as preparation for their move to one of the Scottish islands, the guests are varied. They each share a desire to reflect on their experience and consider its significance.

Moss writes evocative natural description. Some of the inner thoughts of the characters offer more than others, but each develops our understanding of their environment. While this was interesting, it was the unexpected act on which we end that I feel will split readers. There were little clues as to what might happen, but the closing scene was deliberately ambiguous and while I liked this I can see there are others who won’t.

‘Death of a Bookseller’ – Alice Slater

Brogan Roach has been a bookseller since she was sixteen. She works in Spines, a rundown store in Walthamstow. Obsessed with true crime, Roach does not make friends easily. Awkward, prone to obsessive behaviours and not keen to change she is a hard character to like.

As part of a move to try and overhaul the fortune of an ailing store, a team of booksellers are drafted in. Amongst them is Laura Bunting, professional and full of positivity. She writes poetry and seems to have everyone wrapped around her little finger. But she does not like Roach.

The rejection sends Roach into a dangerously obsessive spiral. This is made worse when Roach learns that Laura’s mother was murdered by a serial killer. Determined to get closer to Laura, Roach takes increasingly dangerous steps to try and force a friendship.

Told in alternating viewpoints we see very different perspectives on the fascination with true crime. Neither character endears themselves to us, and there were a number of moments where I wondered quite where this would end up. It didn’t take quite the dark turn I feared it might, but there’s plenty to find unsettling. I liked the setting of the bookstore and some of the discussions around reading behaviours. The ending was interesting, and it certainly offered an unusual way for each to resolve their issues.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me opportunity to read and review this in exchange for offering my honest thoughts.

‘Rebecca’ – Daphne du Maurier

What a read!

The introduction to the edition I read offered valuable insight into the mindset of the author at the time, and this lent a different light to the novel.

The opening firmly establishes the setting of Manderley. We see it ruined and deserted, but with no idea why. I felt this made the ending more poignant as we never find out if this was Danvers’ last shot at the man she’d come to loathe or an unfortunate natural occurrence. Regardless, the descriptions of the home were beautifully atmospheric.

The story focuses on two characters who don’t particularly endear themselves to the reader. Our unnamed narrator who marries after only a few weeks of acquaintance with Max de Winter, a widower. Gauche and painfully self-doubting, our narrator seems ill-equipped to form such a bond. This exacerbates her feelings of inferiority when she returns to Manderley and is faced with the ghost of her predecessor, Rebecca.

From start to finish it was obvious that things were not well in the de Winter home. As our narrator stumbles through married life, hindered by the housekeeper of horrors, she uncovers secrets that could have awful consequences. 

Strangely, the people in this story and the damage they wreak upon each other did not have the impact I expected. None are particularly pleasant, and all bear some culpability for the situations that arise. Though I sympathised with our narrator for finding herself in this scenario, her sacrifice at the end seemed unnecessary. 

There were many similarities to Jane Eyre, high points and low, and it strikes me as strange that one book can be so revered and another – very similar – can be so easily dismissed and overlooked.

‘If I Let You Go’ – Charlotte Levin

If I Let You Go is a story that quietly worms its way under your skin, gradually revealing the details of its protagonist’s life. 

Janet Brown is a woman used to not standing out. She cleans offices for a living, has few friends and lives with an emotionally abusive husband. We gradually learn some of the details of her life, and it’s hard not to feel sympathy for her.

When Janet wakes in hospital with a head injury, she is thought to have been involved in a serious train crash. She can remember little of the evening, but footage emerges of her helping to rescue the daughter of a local celebrity. Before you know it, Janet is being interviewed on national TV and hailed as a hero. She can’t be certain, but Janet is convinced the details aren’t quite right. And how do you tell anyone of your fears when you’re trapped in your situation?

Though she does a thing that I find awful to consider, Janet is painted in such a way that it’s hard not to hope things work out for her. As we learn the true story of that night, and see the damage caused by the death of Janet’s daughter years earlier, it became harder to see this story in black and white terms. Grief is destructive, and we see how damaging it can be for all concerned.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this before publication.