Category: Thriller

‘The Push’ – Ashley Audrain

The Push is a dark psychological study and it covers areas that could trigger many readers, but its key focus is the exploration of the bonds between mothers and daughters. It is far from comfortable reading, and I always felt slightly on edge – never certain to what extent these ideas were based in reality, and what was the product of a disturbed mind.
Our main character is Blythe, a young woman who reluctantly becomes a mother. She doubts herself and her capabilities, constantly feels judged by her ‘perfect’ mother-in-law and worries about the lack of maternal love she feels for her daughter, Violet. Her husband, Fox, seems a natural father and his relationship with Violet is a stark contrast to the one Blythe has. When I read these opening chapters, I really felt for Blythe and wondered how much of her discomfort stemmed from the novelty of her situation.
As the story progresses we learn more about Blythe’s life and the abuse she experienced at the hands of her own mother. Can she be blamed for not feeling comfortable in a role that she has been ill-equipped for?
The novel shows us Blythe’s increasingly dark concerns about her daughter. Mystery accidents that befall children she’s near, things going missing and the callous disdain shown her mother by Violet. She’s so young, but her behaviour is eerily adult. It seemed almost too much at times and it’s very hard to determine how much is in Blythe’s head because we only see her perspective.
Determined to try and make a better job second time round, Blythe pushes for a second child. Sam is a very different character, and Blythe has no issues bonding with him…but when tragedy strikes it’s hard not to wonder exactly what has happened.
I found myself desperate not to believe the worst of either character, and incredibly frustrated by the lack of support shown by those who are meant to be looking out for and caring for their loved ones.
We start to reach an uneasy truce, where it seems both are moving forward and learning to accept their shortcomings. Then came that awful ending, where my heart was in my mouth and I immediately jumped to the conclusion (as I’m sure I’m meant to) that perhaps what we’d been reading was a very deliberate study of someone incredibly dangerous.

 

‘I Know You Did It’ – Sue Wallman

What a rollercoaster of a read…

We know that Ruby is moving to a new school in year eleven, and that things were tough at her previous school – though we don’t learn all the details until later. Her first day seems to suggest a fairly typical experience and I wondered where the twist would come. Right at the end of her first day she finds a note pinned to her locker saying ‘I Know You Did It’…and then we learn that some believe her to have killed a girl.

With such a shocking start, how could you not want to know more? The story is not quite what it seems…and it is very clear that Ruby is struggling to work out how to move on from events in her past and the behaviour of some of those who should have helped her.

The incident in Ruby’s past is bad – but it definitely seems a tragic accident. Unfortunately, someone seems to believe otherwise and this appears to be behind some awful events taking place at her new school.

We follow Ruby as she tried to adjust to a new school. Clearly scarred by her experiences it’s hard not to feel sympathy for Ruby…particularly when we start to get suspicious deaths of students whose last known contact was Ruby.

From the moment we get the first death it’s fascinating to see the reactions of those around Ruby. A rather scary tale showing just how easily some can be manipulated…and just how dangerous unresolved anger can be. So many people could be blamed for how things panned out here, but this was a fantastic read.

 

 

‘Ace of Spades’ – Faridah Ábíké-Íyímídé

Ace of Spades is a gripping read, but one which I wish wasn’t needed. I’m so grateful to the publishers and NetGalley for letting me read this before publication, and I can’t wait to get a physical copy in school.

Our story focuses on Devon and Chiamaka, two students at the prestigious Niveus Academy. They are both determined students, with high hopes and ambitions…but acutely conscious they have to work harder than some of their peers. When they return to school for their Senior Year things start well…but the year quickly takes a turn for the worse.

Someone calling themself Aces begins to send messages to the student body. They threaten to expose secrets that Devon and Chiamaka desperately want to keep hidden. Initially it seems fairly standard bullying…but we soon realise they are the only students targeted and they are both black. There is, sadly, more to this than we might first think.

What started out as a rather obvious high school bullying story soon takes a much darker turn. A little digging and our two students realise that this is systematic racism, and it has been happening annually since 1965. Nothing has been challenged – so we are, of course, right behind Chiamaka and Devon as they attempt to bring down whoever is behind this.

Once we focused on the bigger picture I couldn’t help but feel anger to my core that this could ever be allowed/encouraged, and that so many were complicit in ensuring no harm came to those responsible. Standing by and allowing it to happen is just as bad as instigating it.

 

‘The Family Tree’ – Steph Mullin

Sending off your DNA and learning you were adopted would be a shock for anyone. But when you’re contacted by the FBI because your DNA matches someone in their files…that would haunt you.

Liz is our main character here, and when she gets this news she is – understandably – reeling. She wants answers about her family and, of course, we want to know what the connection is.

What Liz gets told is that her DNA is a match for the person they think is the Tri-State killer, a person of interest for over forty years. He takes pairs of young women, keeps them for nine months and then kills them. According to the FBI the results hint strongly at a link between Liz’s family and this person.

Getting to know someone you’ve only just met is tough at the best of times. Knowing you were adopted because your mother was a drug addict makes it harder to ask questions. When you suspect your kindly new uncle might be responsible for over twenty murders…what do you do?

There were moments in this that were genuinely terrifying. Reading about the girls taken leant a chilling personal element to the story…and I was ready for all manner of bizarre occurrences to allow this to play out.

What I wasn’t remotely prepared for was the ending! Talk about a surprise. That creeping ominous sense that this was not over had the hairs on the back of my neck prickling…

I’m hugely grateful to NetGalley for granting me access to this before publication.

 

‘Madam’ – Phoebe Wynne

If something sounds too good to be true…it usually is. When Rose is offered a job teaching Classics at the prestigious Caldonbrae Hall she isn’t sure whether she’s qualified for the position. As a single young woman with an ailing mother and a father’s shameful secret she is, albeit unwittingly, proving herself to be the perfect candidate.

Arriving at the school she has many questions, but every attempt to learn more about her new role and the environment she has joined is stone-walled. That should have been her first clue that things weren’t quite what she thought.

When, only a couple of weeks into term, the entire upper sixth are taken to London and the students she does get to teach take more interest in baiting her than learning, that should have set some alarm bells ringing. In fact, from the outset there are so many instances of strange occurrences that anyone with half a brain would now this place is not what it seems. It takes Rose a considerable time to start to question what she’s walked into.

The staff and girls at Caldonbrae are unsettling. The wrongness of the situation is evident from early on, but we don’t find out what is happening until considerably later on. Attempts are made by many to justify the environment…and the classical allusions offer an interesting exploration of the ideas and characters.

There is a rather dramatic near-ending and a small glimmer of hope for Rose. Unfortunately, the detail slipped in at the end implies, quite bleakly, that when such behaviour is institutionalised as it is here, it will be nigh impossible to tackle. That’s depressing.

 

‘The Last Thing He Told Me’ – Laura Dave

I’m still waiting on NetGalley regarding this one, but I had heard such good things about this that I couldn’t resist buying it…and it is a bit of a treat.

Hannah is our main character. She is a woodturner by trade, and she has not long been married to Owen. They have a relatively quiet life and she is, slowly, making headway with Owen’s daughter, Bailey, who has been rather resistant to the appearance of a stepmother having spent so long on her own with her father. Hannah senses that Bailey remains resistant to her, but she keeps trying.

This could have been a relatively humdrum story focusing on the developing relationship between Hannah and Bailey. While their relationship is a focal point, it is set against an intriguing backdrop of events that you can’t help but get drawn into.

One night, Hannah receives a message on a torn piece of paper from a girl in Bailey’s school. She is told that Owen passed it on. The message says ‘protect her’. This means nothing to Hannah, until she hears on the news that Owen’s office is under investigation for fraud. Could he be hiding something?

The answer – obviously – is yes…but it isn’t exactly what you are thinking.

We follow Hannah and Bailey as they try to adjust to their new situation, deal with the fallout of events Owen is caught up in…and Hannah tries to make sense of the new details she learns about the man she thought she knew.

Pacing was, for me, a bit of an issue at times. I’m not wholly convinced that people would have reacted in the way they do here, but it was entertaining and definitely a good burst of escapism.

 

‘Little Secrets’ – Jennifer Hillier

Little Secrets explores the depths you might be prepared to go to when your life is turned upside down.

Our main character, Marin, is so removed from the everyday experience that it was hard to warm to her initially. The book opens with her Christmas shopping with a fractious four year old…then the worst happens. She loses hold of little Sebastian’s hand and he is gone. Over a year later there is no sign of him, and Marin’s relationship is under extreme stress.

For the situation alone I found myself wondering how this would impact her. Her stress, guilt and reactions to those trying to support her were very sensitively portrayed…and this sense of discomfort never left us. While the story of Sebastian’s disappearance begins the book, it is used as a way of introducing some of the little secrets to which the title alludes.

Quite early on Marin reveals she hired a private investigator…and she is shocked to learn that her husband has, for the last six months, been having an affair. The young woman concerned is not an anonymous figure – we learn a lot about her and her motivation.

This was a book I found myself quite absorbed by. Some of the hints given early on seemed like huge flags to me, and yet having an inkling of how this might end up didn’t put me off while reading. I enjoyed thoroughly seeing how the various strands played out, and my only gripe was that the final elements of the story seemed to get resolved rather quickly. This isn’t necessarily a read that’ll stick with me long after is read it, but as I was reading I found it captivating.

 

‘Every Last Secret’ – A.R. Torre

Every Last Secret was, thankfully, a slow burner. When I started reading I felt genuine antipathy towards the characters, and the writing style left me feeling as if I were watching specimens in a jar. Though this lack of engagement with any of the characters put me off initially, upon reflection I think it serves the book well as you watch the drama unfold.

Cat Winthorpe is our alpha-female. Leader of her social circle, her marriage to William Winthorpe puts her in an enviable social position. Few see how much time and effort is invested in keeping this position, but it’s fascinating to see what she does when her role is challenged. The potential usurper is Dr Neena Ryder, the new employee at her husband’s company and their new neighbour. From the outset we mistrust Neena, and sense her motivations for cosying up to Cat are not entirely wholesome.

What seemed to be a story about a rather unexciting affair/love triangle soon develops into a more menacing game. There’s ‘accidents’ that could have been worse, and our insight into the psyche of both female leads means we are genuinely uncertain who is behind the increasingly bizarre things happening. On more than one occasion we are wrong-footed, and when we finally realise what’s happening it’s safe to say we’re truly immersed in the madness.

 

‘The Girl Who Died’ – Ragnar Jónasson

My first Jonasson read, and it definitely won’t be my last. The Girl Who Died is a haunting tale, deftly weaving a contemporary tale of murder and deception with a years-old ghost story.

For reasons known only to herself our main character, Una, has decided she needs a change of scene. Fed up of the anonymity of living in Reykjavík, she decides to look into the advert given to her by a friend. The job? Teacher to a small school in the village of Skàlar…population, ten.

Her arrival at her new home and the sense of unease she feels was masterfully presented. The beauty of the landscape can’t hide its oppressive qualities, the locals are not all that friendly and she can’t help but feel uneasy at the rumours of ghosts in the home she’s living in.

Not much happens…but the building sense of unease hints at Una being caught in something she’s unprepared for. The residents of the village have their secrets, and it’s just a matter of time until these secrets start to unravel.

I’m so grateful to NetGalley for granting me access to this prior to publication (scheduled for June 2021) and now I need to look through my kindle to see what other books by this author I can read. Any recommendations?

 

‘Our Last Echoes’ – Kate Alice Marshall

 

Our Last Echoes was always going to have to be a book I tried as soon as I saw the Twin Peaks mention…and it definitely has its surreal, downright creepy, moments where you’re never quite sure what is actually going on. I also started reading The Girl Who Died by Ragnar Jonasson at the same time, and there was a similar oppressive quality to the description of the place where much of the story takes place.

Our main character Sophia recalls nearly drowning as a young child, and she has always been plagued by memories that she can’t explain. Passed from one foster home to another, she has always felt the need to learn more about the disappearance of her mother and to learn of the significance of Bitter Rock to her life.

After pestering Dr Kapoor – the woman who is in charge of those who are allowed to work on the island – Sophia is allowed to visit. Given what we later learn about her link to Bitter Rock I still think this is rather unlikely, but it’s a necessary device to get her to the heart of where these strange things keep happening.

Many people have heard of this place. Throughout time, people who have visited the island mysteriously disappear. Nobody can explain what happens to them. As we learn more about these unusual events, I can fully understand why.

From the outset it is highly suggested that we are in the grip of something that is hard to explain. After finishing the book I can still think of no rational explanation for what happens, and if you were to get caught up in events such as this in reality you would be terrified.

This is certainly a book to go into with little warning of what is to come. It doesn’t shy away from some very dark moments, and this will not be to everyone’s tastes. However, the inclusion of interview transcripts and the details from different times lends a fascinating element to a most unusual story.