Blood Orange – Harriet Tyce

Psychological Thriller
3*s

We have a lawyer and an affair both of which led me to believe that perhaps we would also have a story in the vein of Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty but apart from both featuring a piece of fruit in the title there wasn’t an awful lot that the two had in common.

Anyway in Blood Orange we have Alison a woman who has the high-powered job, a husband, Carl, a young daughter, Mathilde, and a lover, Patrick … and to top it all off she has finally got her very first murder case to take to trial.

And I suppose this is the crux of the problem I had with the book. Harriet Tyce practiced as a criminal barrister for over a decade, she therefore has the knowledge to bring realism into the fictional scenes surrounding her defence of a Madeline Smith who is accused of killing her husband. Sadly most of this aspect of the book is overtaken by Alison’s car-crash of a personal life.

Alison is what is termed a ‘flawed’ character and I partly blame myself for ignoring this flag when choosing a new book to buy because while I can enjoy a novel even if I don’t like a character, I’m not nearly as keen on those who act against their own perceived best interests. I am fairly confident that in real life you have to be smart and strong to become a barrister, Alison appeared to be neither – the fact that the scenes with her lover took submission to a whole new level could be potentially be excused as part of a type of relationship but she was a pathetic mother, a whiny wife and yet did nothing to improve any facet of her home life. Instead the only thing Alison seemed good at was drinking and sadly I don’t find that fun to witness, or even read about.

So that’s what I found less than convincing but I did read the entire book in part to find how the trial went for Madeline, and to see whether Alison could stop her self-destructive behaviour long enough to see how toxic most of the people in her life were. So while the psychological angle wasn’t quite what I expected this was a study of deeply troubled people and could be a text book study of all the varied abusive relationships to be encountered.

This is one dark book and perhaps if I’d been fully prepared for just how dark it was going to be, I would have approached it with a different mind-set and possibly enjoyed it more as a result.

 

First Published UK: 21 February 2019
Publisher: Wildfire
No of Pages: 336
Genre: Psychological Thriller
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My Sister’s Bones – Nuala Ellwood

Crime Fiction
5*s

Well this story was so much more than I expected, the war journalist not a token character to make a difference like I suspected, but someone who really felt like they’d seen and done all those terrifying things that it is easier to shy away from when it comes on the news.

When Kate Rafter returns to Hearne Bay following the death of her mother she is collected from the train station by her brother-in-law Paul. It is clear from the outset that there is trouble between Kate and her younger sister Sally and even when we are forced to confront Kate’s version of events, there are questions as to the real cause.

I’m often wary of crime books that strongly have mental illness at the very centre of their tale, not because I’m in any doubt of the awfulness of the condition but because I harbour slight suspicions as to the author’s motives – do they chose to portray someone this way to be politically correct? Or to capture readers who suffer similarly? Perhaps it has been chosen to excuse the actions of a character to make the unbelievable, less absurd? Not so in this book. Yes Kate is suffering from the effects of all that she has witnessed and she hears voices, sees hallucinations and takes strong tablets to help her sleep, but, and this is crucial for me to keep faith, she is also strong, she takes herself to task, unwilling to play the victim, she wants to return to work. So although we have a reason to doubt her visions, as I got to know more about her, all that she sees and hears has echoes in the war-zones she recently left, it all felt authentic.

What is equally interesting is that we follow Kate in a police station over the course of her detention for some unknown crime. She is guarded, trying not to provide ammunition to the police but we are as unsure of her motive as her crime. In between the interviews she narrates her tale, going back to the weeks leading up to her arrest. Because I knew some of this background and her need to present her most sane self to the police this also gave me a clue as to the strength of this woman, this is no flaky airhead playing at being a war-zone journalist, imagining she’s been to Syria, this is someone who has seen things we don’t even want to imagine.

Most of the book is narrated by Kate but we get to see another perspective through her alcoholic sister’s eyes. Sally always felt her mother preferred clever Kate who succeeded at everything and had moved away and left them, including her mother who had been shattered by the death of their brother when he was just a toddler. This is just one of the shadowy truths that litter this book. We know David died, but how and why isn’t instantly apparent, neither is the disappearance of Hannah, Sally’s daughter.

With many themes of a distressing nature this book could easily have turned into a complete misery fest but it is far too clever for that. Although there is plenty to despair about, some of it far too distressing to deeply contemplate, there is also a plot with a definite ending which lifts this head and shoulders above the competition. I loved the way that the themes reappear throughout the story and loop back to re-examine the truths based upon updated information whilst never labouring the point.

In short, this book was so good, not always an easy read but an informative one, and yet the author never preaches, she is telling a story which has everything you’d expect from a good mystery, in fact there are several mysteries all of which are revealed with an understated style which will make you gasp.

Thank you to Penguin who allowed me to read a copy prior to the publication date of tomorrow. This review is my unbiased thanks to them.

Published UK: 1 November 2016
Publisher: Penguin 
No of Pages: 400
Genre: Crime Fiction
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The Perfect Girl – Gilly Macmillan

Psychological Thriller
5*s

The Perfect Girl is the kind of book that you can get lost in, a totally compelling read that urges you to read just a few more pages and I enjoyed every minute of the journey.

Musical prodigy Zoe Guerin’s mother Maria is found dead very close to the beginning of the book, soon after Zoe and her Stepbrother Marcus perform a duet at a church in Bristol to mark Zoe’s comeback after she was incarcerated for causing the death of three teenagers. Having served her time she  has now  moved well away from the scene of the crime to have her ‘second-chance life’, complete with a new baby sister.

As is common to all of these types of books you can barely manoeuvre between the various issues being tossed from the pages; this one includes bullying, alcoholism, childlessness, hothousing and a whole host of others all of which muddy the waters as to who was twisted enough to kill Maria.

The story also uses multiple viewpoints to tell the sorry tale so we hear from Zoe, her aunt Tessa, Tessa’s husband Richard, Marcus and the attorney all have their say. This switching around is managed skilfully and I have a fondness for looking at an issue through differing eyes which in this instance really added to the tension and who and why the crime was committed. It is also an opportunity to give the reader the background, particularly that of the two sister’s Maria and Tessa although on reflection I’m not sure quite how convinced I was by Maria’s transformation from wild child to pushy parent but I always find with books like this, there is so much enjoyment to be gained from riding the waves it is best to suppress the little niggles that tend to crop up.

The one thing Gilly Macmillan has proved is that she really can tell a cracking good story. The plot was meticulously put together, the voices on the whole convincing and the tension created by a violent confrontation at the concert is successfully maintained throughout.

Lest you think this is a book that can only be read as a frivolous time waster albeit a pleasurable one, it isn’t. If you can stop yourself steaming through at a pace, there is a lot said about those people who mask their true selves to the world, how that works in reality and how manipulative adults cause confusion and distress to those around them. Some of the characters in this book may be at the extreme edge of that type but the truth told in The Perfect Girl is not something that just appears in fiction.

I for one thoroughly enjoyed the mix of characters, the underlying storyline of whether children who commit crime can ever put the past behind them to live a life that is some form of redemption is one that I find appealing and although I had worked out some of the ending, there was still enough to surprise me and I’m going to leave the review by saying it raises some difficult questions for the reader which may unsettle some. Although this book didn’t quite blow me away the way Burnt Paper Sky did, the same elements were present that made this an exceptionally good read.

I’d like to say a huge thank you to Little Brown Book Group (UK) who allowed me to read a copy of this book; this review is my unbiased thank you to them. The Perfect Girl will be published in paperback on 22 September 2016 but is currently available in eBook format and as a hardback book.

First Published UK: 3 March 2016
Publisher: Little Brown Book Group
No of Pages 464
Genre: Psychological Thriller
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Truly Madly Guilty – Liane Moriarty

Contemporary Fiction
4*s

I have loved in varying degrees the five other books I’ve read by this author with last year’s offering, Little Lies being one of my favourite reads of the year, so I was a little surprised that I didn’t instantly warm to this book but happily I soon became engrossed about this tale of middle-class life in Sydney Australia.

Truly Madly Guilty charts the life of three couples; quiet Erika and Oliver are neighbours to the more flamboyant Vid and Tiffany so when Vid in a party spirit invites them to a barbeque on a day Erika’s best, and childhood friend, Clementine and her husband Sam are visiting they feel they should accept. Part of what makes the opening to this book so slow is the use of Liane Moriaty’s favoured device, we all know something huge happened at the barbeque but what the event was is shrouded in mystery, a very heavily signposted mystery at that.

Having got over the frustration of wanting to know what on earth happened in Vid and Tiffany’s back garden I concentrated on the smaller secrets that are revealed. Sam and Clementine have an enviable lifestyle, especially now that Sam has a new job. Their two daughters Holly and Ruby are beautiful and healthy although come with the associated niggles that children bring with them. Clementine is a cellist and about to audition for her dream job. Erika and Oliver are the besotted god-parents to the two girls and have both come from more troubled backgrounds than their friends. But all is not as it seems, Erika and Clementine don’t have a simply breezy friendship, rather these childhood playmates have a complex relationship. Of course Tiffany and Vid are oblivious to this fact and are enjoying the barbeque with gusto.

So once more we have a novel with a psychological bent concentrated at least in part on female friendship. The author, as always has a sharp eye (and pen) which details the everyday events that reveal something far deeper than is initially expected. Sadly, I didn’t find the humour, which is, for me, part of the pull of this author’s books but you really can’t fault her on her observations. The characters, their squabbles, their passions and their secret fears are all absolutely spot on. I felt I knew them all, I felt their guilt (yes this isn’t a title with no relation to the book!) as well as the more mundane emotions such as ambivalence, the author accurately writing about not only those things that are opposite ends of the spectrum of emotion but those middling ones which adds a real edge of realism which helps bring these people to life. And you should also be prepared for a whole heap of issues to keep you enthralled including IVF, hoarding, alcoholism, lap-dancing to name a few! Liane Moriarty’s dialogue was as sharp as ever, the exchanges between Erika and Clementine particularly really lift the book to another level.

The event when it is revealed is a good one, with all the characters behaving and displaying the whole range of emotions imaginable. So whilst this may not be my favourite book by this author I was left satisfied at the end of the book, with it making far more of an impression on me than I suspected it would.

I’d like to thank the publishers Michael Joseph for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book. This unbiased review is my thank you to them.

Published UK: 28 July 2016
Publisher: Michael Joseph
No of Pages 480
Genre: Women’s Fiction
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Other books by Liane Moriarty

Little Lies (2014)
The Husband’s Secret (2013)
The Hypnotist’s Love Story (2011)
What Alice Forgot (2010)
The Last Anniversary (2006)
Three Wishes (2004)