A debut novel is always an exciting prospect. Like opening a new jar of coffee. This offering from Emily Freud proved to be a tricky one to place in any single genre. It’s not exactly a thriller yet there’s plenty of elements to place it in the psycho thriller compartment, there’s romance, that might propel it into the chick lit box but ….. not completely , and there’s sufficient for it to dip a toe in the mystery category. However the overriding themes embrace female friendship and substance dependence.
‘Kate Sullivan has a beautiful home, a job she loves and a handsome fiancé: all she’s ever dreamed of since getting sober and painstakingly piecing her life back together.
But a chance encounter with her old best friend, Becky, threatens Kate’s newfound and fragile happiness. She remembers nothing of the last drunken night out, the night Becky broke off their friendship without warning or explanation.
With Becky back in her life, Katie is desperate to make amends for the past. For the closure she craves, Kate needs to know what she did that ruined everything. But what is the truth is worse than Kate could’ve imagined?’
A blurb sufficient to whet your appetite. Then you begin the book and you realise you are starving! For the first two pages suggest a less than straightforward fiction and you are urged on by the perceived premise of those opening paragraphs.
When I used the phrase ‘substance dependence’ I was trying very hard not to offer a spoiler. But it would be hard to write about this book without acknowledging that Kate’s problem has been that of alcoholism. The blurb does hint of it by mentioning her getting sober but a very large part of the book deals with the acknowledgement that alcoholism is a disease, an illness and sufferers require treatment and support. The story also highlights the pressure and strains that such an illness can place upon friends and family and the damage that can be done. But it is also a redemptive tale. I think that makes the book an important one and may offer help and hope to sufferers of this dreadful illness. Alcoholism might be seen as a sensitive subject to deal with effectively in a fiction but I believe the author has done so convincingly and with such compassion that I am fearful that much first hand experience went into the writing of this book. If so, then I hope writing this book was a cathartic experience.
But it is more than a signpost to Alcoholics Anonymous for it explores the nature of friendship and family ties. As you progress through the narrative suspicions start to creep in as to the credibility of some of the characters and the nature of, Becky, the best friend, and the secret. For the author skilfully leads the reader down one path, we are fully engaged with Kate and we see things from her perspective but is that necessarily the correct one? The final twist, the secret, wasn’t wholly predictable but all the clues were there, I guess, for the astute reader and it’s explosive.
I found it easy to read in spite of the sometime challenging story line. The characters were well drawn and believable. Kate’s vulnerability was skilfully portrayed and Becky, enigmatic and elusive as Kate tries to unravel the ‘secret’. Oliver’s almost perfection had me pondering. The locations were described palpably. Camden, always a vibrant, cosmopolitan part of London, the sights and sounds come alive. This is a credible debut from a new writer of whom I am sure we will be hearing more of in the future.
My thanks to Joe Christie at Quercus Books for a gifted copy and a place upon the blog tour. My opinion is but one. Do see what my blogging colleagues have to say about this book.
No comments:
Post a Comment