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‘The LightHouse’ – Fran Dorricott

The Lighthouse had the potential to be a humdinger of a book. A group of friends are travelling to a remote Scottish island to stay on an island for their reunion holiday. Unfortunately, it soon becomes apparent that things are not quite as they seem. From early on we’re waiting to see the creepy things we assume will happen, and yet I couldn’t help feeling things fell a little flat.

Our initial introduction to the characters hints at discord between them. The presence of a new partner will, we assume, be problematic and at least one of them shows signs of growing mental instability. Throw alcohol into the mix and we soon see that things between this group are far from rosy. As we get to see their interactions it’s hard to work out whether the problems are down to them, or if there is something supernatural happening.

After an intriguing start, I felt everything slowed down just a little too much. Seeds of upset are sown, but things took a long time to really develop and the reactions of some of the characters felt rather exaggerated. As we only see their reaction to events, and sometimes some time after the event, it became increasingly hard to feel concerned.

Once we start to get answers as to what’s going on, I found myself frustrated. I can’t imagine this scenario would have taken place, and gone uncovered, so it was difficult to understand how the group got to where they did. The resolution to their problem felt unnaturally quick, and I can’t honestly imagine anyone would experience such an event and be so willing to effectively ignore it.

While I didn’t find this quite as engaging as I’d hoped, I’d like to thank NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this before publication in exchange for my honest review.

 

‘The Herd’ – Emily Edwards

The Herd will, I’m fairly sure, find its way to many a book club and the ensuing discussion will no doubt be interesting. It’s a timely release, focusing on the issue of vaccination and to what extent our responsibility is personal or social.

The book opens with us knowing that a group of former friends are facing each other in court. Of course we want to know why and what chain of events led to this particular scenario.

Elizabeth and Bry are our primary focus. Two very different mothers, with different views on vaccination. With a daughter prone to febrile convulsions, Elizabeth is understandably nervous about people not vaccinating their children. Her best friend has lived for years with the understanding that her brother’s autism was caused by vaccination. She has opted not to.

What transpires is one of those horribly unlucky events. A measles outbreak occurs, many in the community are ill but Elizabeth’s daughter ends up blind. She wants revenge on the ones she blames-the parents who would not vaccinate their daughter.

The book took a while to get going but the establishment of the characters was engaging. By the time we got to the court scene it seemed that we’d be waiting for some kind of twist. When it came I found myself a little irritated because it seemed so at odds with what we’d been told throughout and made a mockery of the situation.

 

‘You’ve Reached Sam’ – Dustin Thao

You’ve Reached Sam is a book that will impact some people hugely, and even if you don’t find yourself a blubbery mess once it’s over then you will at least recognise how valuable this is to get people thinking about death and how we deal with it.

Julie is our main character and we learn that she has become something of a recluse since the death of her boyfriend, Sam. It frustrated me that for a character who plays such a pivotal role we know so little about him, but it was clear that he’d left his mark on the world somehow.

For reasons we never have explained, Julie finds herself able to talk to Sam on her mobile. There appear to be strict rules to follow, but these conversations allow Julie to say the things to Sam that she never had the opportunity to in life.
Only she can’t tell anyone what she’s doing or it will break their connection.

Slowly, and with the help of her friends, Julie learns to live again. By the end, things are settling back to a new reality but Julie is showing signs of accepting what has happened, learning to value the time she had with Sam and recognising the influence he has had on her life.

I personally found Julie quite irritating at times. Many of Sam’s friends and family were grieving but they rarely factored into her thought process. This is, probably, quite realistic – but it was nice to see there was no hard and fast approach to how someone should be seen to grieve. However, the steps she took allowed her to move gradually closer to accepting her new reality.

 

‘Mayflies’ – Andrew O’Hagan

When we first meet James and Tully they are music-obsessed teens railing against the world. Their group of friends squeeze the life out of every experience, helped by alcohol and whatever they can get their hands on. Their defining moment is a trip to Manchester for a gig at the new G-Mex. We follow them on their weekend as they visit places they’ve heard about and are desperate to experience.

This section of the book was important in order to establish the bond between the group, but particularly between James and Tully.

The friendship between the two is maintained throughout adulthood. They support one another in their attempts to navigate their adult years, and the bond between them is clearly strong.

While I enjoyed this from the perspective of someone who’d visited many of the places mentioned, it didn’t strike me as particularly memorable. I wondered why so much was made of the book…but then came the second part.

Set thirty-one years after their trip to Manchester the two men remain firm friends. James is a writer and Tully a teacher. They are both successful, and in relationships that appear to be good. It also signals the beginning of the end for these two.

When Tully texts James to ask him to call, we know it’s not going to be good. He announces he has cancer, has four months to live and that he wants help to manage the last months of his life. James, out of respect for their friendship, agrees to support him.

What follows was an unsentimental account of one man’s determination to end his life as he lived it…controlling his narrative. There were rather mawkish scenes as each comes to accept what’s happening, but it explored attitudes to death and the extent to which we might influence the lives of others. The final scene had an understated exuberance to it that left me feeling a peace I wasn’t expecting to.

 

‘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.

‘A Terrible Kindness’ – Jo Browning Wroe

A Terrible Kindness opens with William Lavery at a celebration of him becoming the youngest embalmer to pass his training. It should be a defining moment in his career, and it is…but not for the reasons we might think.

During the course of the evening, October 1966, news filters through about an awful event that has taken place in Aberfan. The school has been buried, and many lives have been lost. Embalmers are needed to help with the identification of the dead, and the preparation of their bodies. William volunteers, and it becomes a night that he cannot forget.

The portrayal of a community suffering was done sensitively. Accounts of this tragedy are many, and there will be some that offer more factual detail. However, this setting is more of a backdrop for us, helping to explain the way our character develops. After the start, it remains a moment that helps to shape William but is not really addressed until much later.

Having had such a monumental start to his career, we then learn a little more of William’s past. We see how his background helped shape the man he becomes, and we are – very slowly – given the details that help us to understand the significance of some of the events we witness.

I found William something of a strange character, but the gradual peeling back of his layers was very natural. Learning about his childhood as a chorister was both entertaining and moving, and the descriptions of the role music played in his life was powerful. There was plenty of detail given about the embalming process (perhaps a little more than I might have wished to know) but I found myself struck by the kindness and care shown by William to those he works with. The latter stages, where William has his breakthrough moments, were awash with acts of kindness and compassion that had me tearing up, but it never felt mawkish or overly sentimental.

As the book moves towards the end, we know William is going to have to face his ghosts. This is not easy by any means, and yet there was a beautiful sense of a man learning to accept himself and his situation.

Thanks to the author for this sensitive exploration of the human condition, and thanks to the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read it in advance of publication.

‘Em & Me’ – Beth Morrey

Delphine Jones is someone who feels as if she’s existing. Stuck in a job she doesn’t particularly like (working in a coffee shop) she does her best for her daughter, but as Em matures it highlights the things Delphine gave up on.

We are slowly introduced to Delphine’s life now, and learn about her as a teenager. We see how both she and her father have somewhat stagnated following the death of mother/wife, and how Delphine found herself abandoning her dreams once she got pregnant.

Potentially a most depressing subject, but there’s a warmth to this which carries you along. We see the importance of choices, and the need to be willing to open yourself to opportunities. There’s a strong cast of characters that aid Delphine in her journey of self-discovery, and though things might all end on a rather rosy note it certainly offers food for thought.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the chance to spend some time with Delphine and Em.

 

‘All the White Spaces’ – Ally Wilkes

All the White Spaces forces its characters to confront their fears as they struggle to survive a seemingly doomed expedition to Antarctica.

Our main focus is young Jonathan Morgan, left behind during the War, who follows famed explorer Randall on his journey to Antarctica. From the outset things seem tense, with certain members of the party resentful of some of those invited. When their ship is burned, the men are forced to strike out for an unchartered space. As they prepare to overwinter in this inhospitable area, it becomes clear that someone – or something – is threatening this group.

The book opens in the early stages of the journey, with Jonathan stowed away and full of excitement at the thought of proving their worth. Though slow, the opening allows us the opportunity to get to know each of the key characters within the expedition party. We see a little of their background and learn that there are many secrets on board, with all having a vested interest in keeping these secrets hidden.

When the ship is found on fire we know someone has done it. We don’t know why, but it forces the men into a situation that is fraught with danger. Slowly, details are revealed that show just how dangerous this area can be…and the creeping sense of horror was well-conveyed.

Once the men are in the abandoned huts, wondering what happened to the German party that passed this way a year earlier, I found myself more invested in the story. The underlying tensions within the party are exacerbated by the events surrounding them. Voices are heard. People find themselves lured into the open, following something they believe. Strange things start happening. Who, or what, is behind this soon becomes our focus.

What we soon realise is that the worst ghosts are those we conjure for ourselves. Haunted by the War and their own experiences, each member of the party has to confront their own ghosts if they are to survive this.

A haunting exploration of identity and historical attitudes, this was an intriguing story. I’m grateful to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this prior to publication.

 

‘Fear No Evil’ – James Patterson

To get to 29 books in a series suggests you’re doing something right…and things appear to be far from over.

This time around Alex Cross is called in to investigate the death of a CIA agent, forced into making a confession of corruption prior to her death. A Mexican cartel – whose leader has been in prison in enforced silence for nearly a year – appears to be behind it. Before we know it, tit-for-tat deaths are a thing and the body count is racking up

While Cross and his best friend Sampson are doing their best to piece things together, we get an update on the family. Some play a peripheral role, but they’ve earned such a place in these books I guess they have to be mentioned. Bree is more involved in these events than she realises as she is involved in an investigation into a wealthy French financier.

Initially, the strands seemed very disparate but the pacing of chapters rattles along, and it doesn’t take much time before we start to see the connections.

By the close of the book, Cross and Sampson are out in the Montana wilderness and being hunted by two interested parties. Tension aplenty…but things work out as we’d hope.

Throughout, there’s the cat and mouse interactions with M. A person or a group? Nobody’s sure…but we get some answers.

 

‘Little Bird’ – Tiffany Meuret

The cover and tagline had me intrigued, but I was unsure exactly how this book would blend horror and magical realism. Having finished it, I’m still not entirely certain I get it.

The story opens with our introduction to Josie, a rather reclusive character who does all she can to minimise interactions with others. Somewhat struggling with the death of her beloved father, Josie keeps her life together with the help of strict routines, her dog (Po) and copious amounts of vodka. When she finds herself visited by a new nosy neighbour who seems determined to befriend her, Josie is concerned at what is to come.

What she could never have foreseen is the arrival in her home of vines that seem to grow with her state of mental health and a skeleton who promises to leave her alone if she tells an original story.

The character of Skelly was, for me, a kind of barometer for Josie’s mental health. I liked that Skelly tries to help Josie regain a sense of purpose, but the whole thing was a little strange.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.