Luana Lewis the author of Don’t Stand So Close is a psychologist so it is no wonder that her debut novel features some damaged people.
When agoraphobic Stella is confronted by a knocking at her door she wants to ignore the sound and the possibility that someone has managed to get passed the sensor which is there to warn of intruders. It is snowing and the girl on her doorstep introduces herself as Blue, she used to live in the house and wants to come in out of the cold, and so the story starts.
We have the present with Stella and Blue, what should Stella believe? Is there any need to feel quite so scared of a young girl? Stella had been a psychologist and it looks like her last case may explain why she is so frightened to leave her own home. Luckily for the reader we have an insight to her casebook in 2009 and gain an understanding of the woman she was before…. Max, Stella’s husband is also a psychologist, we also see some of his sessions through his patient’s eyes.
I loved the structure of this book, I get a real sense of satisfaction when reading a book with different viewpoints and I’m interested in the way minds work, particularly damaged minds. The difficulty I had with this book (and others like it) is that those suffering mentally, often have irrational feelings which I find hard to follow. To be blunt, I wanted to shake some of the characters as the denouement became more and more obvious. As the book had revealed enough clues by the half-way stage for me to realise what the links probably were, from that point on, bar some events which I found quite shocking, I felt that I was going through the motions to find out what I already knew.
Having said that there is some great writing in this book. Luana Lewis set the scene impeccably, I think I could probably sell Stella’s house it was so vividly described! The snow falling outside added to the feeling of helplessness that poor Stella felt and was mirrored in little Blue poorly dressed for the wintry weather and in need of something….. A great book for whiling away a few hours on a cold weekend.
I’d like to thank Bantam Press for allowing me to read a copy of this book in return for my honest review. Don’t Stand So Close is due to be published today 13 February 2014!
This sounds great !
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There is a huge amount to enjoy in this book 🙂
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Your comments show how difficult it is to lay clues and red herrings, and keep the reader reading until the end! SD
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I totally agree Sandra. There was some fantastic points to this book but maybe I saw through the red herrings too easily 😉
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Sounds similar to the problem I had with In the Blood – it takes a lot of the pleasure away when you’ve worked out where the story is going. Still, sounds as if there’s plenty to like about it too (also like In the Blood)…
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I had just written my review when I read your yesterday and thought how similar our experiences were regarding the outcome. There was a lot to recommend in this book but for me it the second half was a bit of a let down. I wonder if I’ll feel the same about In the Blood…
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I hope not – maybe I was just unlucky in spotting the baddie so early, and if it hadn’t been for that I’d have felt more positive about the book as a whole.
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What can I say: TBR list. 😀
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Excellent news, I do hope you enjoy it 🙂
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TBR’d…I just read Where’d You Go, Benadette and I have to tell you that her mental suffering took a bit of a toll on me. She was so scattered. Anyway, enjoyed this review, Cleo!
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I have Where’d You Go, Bernadette on my TBR although I am tempted to listen to this on audio as I’ve heard the narrator is excellent 🙂
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Ooo, go that route!
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I’m fascinated by psychology and the mind, so I love books like these! Thanks for sharing – sounds like an interesting book.
Lauren from http://www.shootingstarsmag.blogspot.com
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Understanding the way others think is a fascinating thing to do. This book was very interesting particularly as it was written by a psychologist.
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You’ve tempted me!
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🙂 Always happy to add to other TBR’s!
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