This is an interesting book. Interesting and frustrating in some ways. It’s a reminder though that we all have our beliefs… ones we assume to be the correct. We’re often raised with these beliefs so don’t question their veracity. It’s a given (for us) that it’s others who are wrong. Particularly if THEIR beliefs seem diametrically opposed.
I like to think of myself as having discovered UK author Clare Mackintosh. It’s not true, obviously, but I read her debut novel I Let You Go very early and it was one of my favourite books that year. Indeed, its mid-way shocker was one of the best I’ve ever encountered. I’ve also read and reviewed her subsequent novels, I See You and Let Me Lie, enjoying both because of their twists and her innovative plots.
Interestingly her latest, After the End, is quite different. It immediately reminded me of recent work by Jodi Picoult in that it’s boldly confronting and will have readers questioning preconceived ideas… or certainly challenging our thinking. It’s different from Mackintosh’s previous work but that variety isn’t something I mind. Surely if someone loves writing (and excels at storytelling) then it doesn’t matter what they write?
I very much enjoyed Laura Marshall’s debut novel, Friend Request last year – as did many, according to the reviews I read and the stats on my own blog post.
Her latest, Three Little Lies is equally twisty and will certainly appeal to lovers of psychological thrillers.
I stumbled across Mark Billingham’s Tom Thorne series at number 13. Amazingly it wasn’t a problem at all that I’d missed the first dozen and the two (Time of Death and Love Like Blood) I’ve read since could easily be read as stand-alone novels for those who haven’t previously met the English homicide detective. (Bringing me to the 15th book in the series and my third!)
I’d planned to just read a few chapters of this book before launching into Lost in Space on Netflix last Saturday night (hee hee, see what I did there? Not on purpose incidentally, but… #whatevs). I probably should know myself better as once I started I kept reading until the end, needing to know what had happened to baby Midas.
Fans of Kate Forsyth will appreciate this tale of a young woman 15 years after she discovered the father she adored kidnapped her 16yr old mother and held her captive until the pair escaped when Helena was 12. Apparently (I say, because I’d never heard of it), there’s a (1858) Hans Christian Anderson fairytale called The Marsh King’s Daughter which centres around the child born to a princess captured by the evil Marsh King. And the plot of this book (told in the then, when Helena was young; and the now) unfolds in a way that kinda mirrors the fairytale.
Jessica Treadway’s If She Did It (aka Lacy Eye) was published here in Australia in early 2015. It was a book I adored and couldn’t put down. Better still it had a kinda shocking ending. Which I hate to love. Or love to hate. Whatever…
Treadway’s latest is another attention-grabber, but though enjoyable, didn’t have quite the same addictive pull as its predecessor.
Clare Mackintosh’s 2015 release, I Let You Go, was one of my favourite books of the year. It featured a mid-story twist which almost made me drop my iPad in the bathtub. (In related news, thank god for LifeProof covers!)
So… you can imagine my excitement when I discovered Mackintosh had a new book being released… and fortunately her latest, I See You offers up the complex and twisty plot we’ve come to expect from the former police officer.
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