Category: Mental Health

‘BFF: A Story about Bullycide’ – Lindsey G.P. Bell

BFF is the kind of story that you read and weep over. The idea that children can be so cruel seems hard to believe if you’ve never experienced bullying, but it always amazes me how some people seem to know exactly which words will cause the most upset. That we can still have situations where children are made to feel so low by their peers that they commit suicide, shows that it’s painfully clear something is very very wrong.

The story begins with Abby moving from California to live in the home her mother grew up in. Though her mother left years earlier, and has since died, Abby knows that her father couldn’t afford to turn down the opportunity to live in a home that is paid for.

Their arrival at their new home immediately emphasises their sense of isolation and discomfort at their new environment. But Abby makes the acquaintance of Hollis on that first day and the girls quickly become friends. Hollis is inventive, caring, thoughtful and incredibly mature. But she is seen as weird by her peers, and as the summer draws to a close and the girls prepare to return to school, it becomes clear that things are going to change.

Abby and Hollis try to weather the storm. They acknowledge their friendship and try their hardest to seek help. Sadly, to no avail. When Hollis’s mum bans her daughter from seeing Abby, the bullying becomes more vicious. Abby tries to seek help. Those involved seem to suffer no consequences. Eventually, things reach a deeply tragic end.

This book spent so much time showing how wonderful Hollis was, and how she touched the lives of those she met, that it seemed all the more brutal to have her life snuffed out so quickly. It made me angry. It made me sad. It made me want to ensure nobody is made to feel so worthless. I can only hope that this book gets in the hands of the right people.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this in advance of publication in exchange for my honest review.

‘The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill’ – C.S. Robertson

 

Grace McGill…a character who makes her living out of death, and the undiscovered deaths referred to in the title are not quite what we might believe. Our journey with Grace might seem quite predictable in ways, but it throws up some interesting diversions along the way.

I’ve noticed there’s been an increasing number of characters in books released over the last year or so that are likely to be on the autistic spectrum and Grace is no exception. Socially awkward, lonely, liable to become fixated on certain topics and with a keen sense of right and wrong…Grace ticks a lot of the conventional boxes that alienate her in a neurotypical world. Her choice of job exacerbates the sense of oddness that hangs over Grace, but it’s crucial to what unfolds.

Grace is a death cleaner. She is called to clean up after a body has been discovered – often having lain undisturbed for months, sometimes years. Grace cleans and decontaminates these rooms, preparing them once again to join the normal world. The details given are stomach-churning, but to shy away from them would make us part of the problem. Grace believes that these people she works with, though no longer with us, are victims. Victims of society. The ones that slip through the cracks, with nobody deeming them important enough to check in with. So Grace vows to do her duty and help them leave this world with dignity.

I’ll admit to finding the details about Grace’s work unpleasant but darkly fascinating. I was intrigued by her attitude to her work, and the revelation that she creates these beautiful dioramas of the rooms she encounters struck me as unusual. Grace’s determination to honour each of her clients in representing their final rooms showed her obsessive nature to perfection. So it came as little surprise when she started to notice patterns in the scenes…

When she goes to the police with her observations about a dried daisy being found in two of the rooms she has recently cleaned they virtually laugh her out of the station. Yet Grace is convinced there’s more to this than meets the eye. In her mind, these deaths are related and she is determined to find out how.

It was at this point – a little over halfway through – that the book takes a turn in a rather unexpected direction and shifts into more familiar territory. Grace gets caught up in investigating a decades-old mystery, determined to restore dignity to this young girl who went missing after a holiday with friends. This shift in focus jars initially, and felt a little disappointing after such an intriguing opening, but as things continue it becomes apparent why it’s been done this way.

Grace McGill is not a character that readers will necessarily find endearing. She’s not without her faults, and yet there’s something about her and her story that gets under your skin. As we got given more details about Grace and the mystery of Valerie Moodie it was apparent that there was more to the character of Grace than meets the eye. There were signs throughout the book of what was happening, but it was easy to overlook them or – as I did – think I was reading too much into a throwaway comment. However you come to view Grace it’s hard not to be affected by her final work and what it tells us about her.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read this before publication. I can’t wait to see how Grace is received when she makes her way into the world in January 2022.

‘PAH’ – Orla Owen

I knew nothing about this before starting it, hadn’t heard of the book/author and I had already bought The Lost Thumb (her first book) before finishing on the strength of my reaction.

PAH is a story that explores relationships, and though our main character is not likeable I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for her.

Susan Brown is a nurse, desperate to escape her life. She alludes to a past that caused discomfort and the details we get (slowly) help us to understand some of her behaviours. Certainly guilty of some dubious conduct, there was a steeliness to Susan’s attempts to get a husband that surprised me.

Watching the interactions between Susan and Jeffrey was difficult. Both very needy and struggling with their own issues, it was hard to see a way out of things for them. The casual violence and disregard for others was alarming, and there were so many examples of this.

The third character, Calton, to feature in the novel always felt slightly off-kilter. Orphaned as a teen, he was placed in a difficult situation and it took a while to work out how the paths of these characters would cross. When they did, I feared what might happen.

Owen has created a character that is so clearly suffering the effects of trauma, seemingly destined to continue such behaviours, but one you can’t help but feel sympathy for and understanding of. Dark, at times incredibly uncomfortable but also fascinating. I have to thank the online book club for putting me on to this.

 

‘If This Gets Out’ – Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich

If This Gets Out takes on what I’m fairly sure is an age-old issue (the manipulation of young singers by their management) and turns it on its head while delivering a sweet romance.

Our focus is a boyband called Saturday, formed after a summer camp and at a high point in their careers. Two years after they formed, the boys are starting to find the relentless grind and excessive management stifling. Relationships are strained and all four feel they are struggling to be true to themselves when their every public moment is monitored and choreographed.

Ruben, Zach, Jon and Angel were great friends and things began well. Somewhere along the way things have started to feel less fun, and as their success grows they are under increasing pressure to toe the line.

The book focuses on the relationship that develops between Ruben and Zach, but it also explores attitudes to sexuality, the mental health issues such a high-pressure existence creates, the way friends and family can sometimes be part of the problem and the role the media/fans play in such situations.

Perhaps this is a reflection of my age, but I found the romance element of the story the least engaging as I was more fascinated by the behind-the-scenes look at this fictional boyband. I can only imagine this story may have been influenced by events surrounding some of the highly successful boybands over the last few years, but the issues it explores are probably age-old. The lack of resolution may have been an attempt to show the growing empowerment these boys felt they had, but it also left it a little too open-ended for my liking.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest thoughts.

 

‘Idol’ – Louise O’Neill

What a twisted web has been woven here. A timely and engaging read, packed with O’Neill’s wry observations, but one which left me feeling distinctly nauseous.

Samantha Miller is the kind of character you might love to hate. Ruthless in her determination to succeed and something of a social-media icon, I found her whole demeanour unpleasant. She is adept at spinning the truth to suit her narrative, and this propensity makes the crux of the book more than a little problematic.

Sam herself is a victim of abuse, in therapy to help her manage the effects of the trauma and definitely struggling to keep a lid on her more self-destructive tendencies. This is heightened when her best friend from school sends an email accusing her of assault. Sam recalls the night referenced very differently, and we get to watch things unfold as we follow Sam try to manage this potentially disastrous moment.

As we journey with Sam through a return to her home-town we learn just how difficult it can be to ever know the truth, as each of us will experience things differently and bring our own experiences to events in our lives. Just because two people remember an event differently doesn’t mean one is lying.

This was a murky read, certainly encouraging us to reflect on how we interact with others and the role social media has in our lives. I can’t wait to see what other O’Neill fans make of it when it’s released next year, and I’m grateful to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this prior to publication.

 

‘The Trial’ – Laura Bates

A solid read, which will serve its purpose if it gets just one person to think about the way they treat others. Once again, Laura Bates brings her social commentary to a story that you find yourself drawn into.

I don’t usually comment on covers, but this was one I felt drawn to. It shows the power girls could have, in the right circumstances, and it emphasises just how small this little world that the group of characters inhabit is.

Seven teens survive a planet crash as they are travelling back from a baseball tournament. They are, initially, excited by the break from routine but it doesn’t take long for the gaps and issues between them to bubble up.

Very different personalities; each thinks they know the other but their time on the island soon shows they don’t know as much as they think.

Strange events start to take place and some of these events are serious in their potential for harm. A sense of mistrust soon develops and all we know is that it has something to do with a party that was held before the night of their crash. Who is behind this? Can they find out what is going on before someone is seriously hurt?

We learn fairly early on that the tension is real, and that it links to their life before the island. Of course we want to know exactly what led to this point, though it felt quite obvious fairly early on what we’d focus on.

The crash came from now where but as a means to an end it works well. The group don’t seem to know each other very well, and though we could see the developing issues, it was good to see how they all slowly came to realise the significance of their actions/inaction. Unfortunately, it felt as if the latter part of the story was rushed which was a shame as it certainly is a story that has resonance.

This is a book that you feel you ought to recommend though, and I’m grateful to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read the book before publication.

 

‘Meredith, alone’ – Claire Alexander

Our introduction to Meredith is very matter-of-fact and it’s almost comical how she tells us it’s been over 1,000 days since she left her home. We learn she has a cat called Fred, enjoys jigsaws and has a best friend (Sophie) who comes to check she hasn’t died and been eaten by her cat! However, someone willingly becoming a social recluse has – in all likelihood – experienced a traumatic event, and it doesn’t take us long to see these signs in Meredith.

The book focuses on Meredith making the best of her very narrow life. Interspersed with details of her online friendship are details of her developing friendship with Tom, part of a charity group that befriends people in isolation, and details about her brief interactions with her sister and mother. Through the course of these interactions, and the flashback memories of her past, we come to learn more about Meredith and how she came to be in this situation.

While there is not a lot of action in the plot, we’re given a clear picture of Meredith and her experience. As we grow to learn exactly what happened to her I feel it’s hard not to feel sympathy for her, and anger on her behalf.

The details of Meredith’s story are not easy to read. She’s a character who becomes increasingly self-aware, and seeing just how those who should have been helping her treated her was challenging. It’s a fairly bleak story, told with love and I can’t help but feel Meredith will be a name we’re hearing a lot of next year when she ventures into the open.

Huge thanks to NetGalley for allowing me into Meredith’s world early. It was a true experience.

 

‘Dinner Party: A Tragedy’ – Sarah Gilmartin

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this in advance of publication.
Dinner Party focuses on food and the role it plays in our lives, binding us to others and being part of celebrations as well as something that can be used to cause pain. Our main character is a young woman who it becomes clear has an eating disorder and who is struggling to cope with the death of her twin. Kate is a difficult character to engage with. There’s a veneer of hardness to her, and it always feels rather as if she’s keeping others at a distance in order to manage her emotions. We learn little about her and I’m sure this is deliberate, but it meant I found my attention wandering rather.
The story was written in a way that I could recognise as having quality, but – honestly – my overwhelming feeling as I read was of anticipation, waiting for something to happen to suggests purpose to the events described. Nothing did.
As the focus shifts in time and we see fragments of Kate’s interactions over time it always felt as if something was being held back. While her brothers were sympathetically portrayed they were weak in the face of their manipulative mother. This was not a family that I warmed to and it was frustrating that so much of my attention during reading was trying to establish what, if anything, might happen.
I’ve been lucky enough to be included in the blog tour for this, so I won’t post my review until the day of my scheduled involvement.

 

‘The Prank’ – L.V. Matthews

A prank is defined as being a bit of harmless fun. But what do you do if someone else’s fun causes another person pain? At what point should an innocent bystander intervene? And is it ever right to have such moments of humiliation recorded publicly?
El has been a different person since her father committed suicide. She knew he had depression, but had repressed her memories of the build-up to his death after finding his body. However, when a famous TV exec – who just so happens to be the producer of an infamous reality show called Pranksters – is served in her restaurant, El starts to remember things. She recalls her father being deeply affected by a prank that meant he felt responsible for the death of a young man. She eventually remembers the link between her father and this show.
Determined to avenge her father, a rather elaborate plan is hatched. El wants revenge, but is – as many of us would be – wholly clueless. She is not suspicious when an online search results in a friendly reply from someone calling themselves Horsehead who wants to help her. Alarm bells rang from the off, but it was great fun watching El worm her way into Jim’s life and start her preparations to bring him down…wholly unaware that someone else was pulling the strings all along.
The story was well-plotted and I loved the fact that nobody was quite what they seemed. Dig a little and it seems many people have something to hide, but there was a grim sense of satisfaction from watching how events unfolded.

 

‘The Missing Hours’ – Julia Dahl

The Missing Hours is a book that will infuriate many readers. Though it is a book focused on a deeply triggering topic, our character takes action and this could seem a positive step. However, by the end it’s fairly evident that little has changed for our main character and such an incident could easily reoccur.

The book opens with a graphic account of our main character, Chloe Castro, waking up the night after an evening out. From the description of her it’s clear she’s been attacked, but we’re not given the full horror until later. Chloe is a girl who, on the surface, seems to have it made. She’s from a wealthy background, is friendly and doesn’t have to worry about much. But, the Chloe we meet at the start of the book is one who is very far from okay and who you cannot help but feel sorry for.

The attack that took place on Chloe was perpetrated by people she knows, a guy she dated in the past and a new acquaintance from college. One raped her, the other forced her to perform oral sex and they filmed it. This sickening act is described a number of times as one of them sends the video to Chloe and a couple of her friends.

I found the way this incident was treated fascinating. Chloe’s initial reaction is to hide away and though she deals with some of the practical issues arising from such an incident, the emotional impact is ignored. Once the video is released, family members try to step in and prevent anyone learning of it…and the focus is very much on damage-limitation. I struggle to understand how anyone could see such a film, know a criminal act had been committed and not do anything to challenge it.

Certain people within the book blame Chloe and there are some distressing moments that clearly indicate why so many victims never bother to report such events. Chloe is in the position that many might envy…she has the money and means to do something about her attackers.

Vengeance is a key element of the book. While Chloe’s actions cannot be condoned, they are understandable and those impacted are such unpleasant characters that you almost feel like turning a blind eye.

This is a murky read, nothing is clear cut and I liked the way we are presented with the facts and left to judge for ourselves. However, it still felt as if the victim was to blame for things and I found it hard to deal with the lack of closure by the end.

I’m grateful to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this prior to publication and it’s one I would, with caution, recommend.