JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

All the Hidden Truths by Claire Askew

This is a fact: Ryan Summers walked into Three Rivers College and killed thirteen women, then himself.

But no one can say why.

The question is one that cries out to be answered – by Ryan’s mother, Moira; by Ishbel, the mother of Abigail, the first victim; and by DI Helen Birch, put in charge of the case on her first day at her new job. But as the tabloids and the media swarm, as the families’ secrets come out, as the world searches for someone to blame… the truth seems to vanish.

A stunningly moving novel from an exciting new voice in crime, ALL THE HIDDEN TRUTHS will cause you to question your assumptions about the people you love, and reconsider how the world reacts to tragedy.

All the Hidden Truths by Claire Askew is a debut crime novel about a horrific college shooting in Edinburgh. Thirteen women are killed, and the gunman — Ryan — commits suicide before the cops can arrest him.

The shooting shatters the local community, but it also ruins many families — the families of the victims, mostly. But also Ryan’s mum. She was his only family, and after Ryan’s death, Moira is demonised by society for what her son has done. She is threatened, abused and tormented.

Novels that are centred around public shootings are always tough to read, because they feel so real. Shootings happen so often, particularly in the US, and Claire Askew focuses on the aftermath and what a shooting does to the people left behind.

Claire builds suspense and tension and she causes the reader to question many things — are the parents responsible when their child murders another? Can they really say they didn’t know what their child was capable of? And if the child uses their parent’s weapon, is the parent at fault as well?

All the Hidden Truths forces the reader to really second guess their moral compass and rethink where the blame lies in a situation like this.

“She couldn’t quite believe that there were people out there who might want to kill her…but then, she could also believe it just fine She tried to imagine what she’d have felt if the roles were reversed — if someone had walked into Three Rivers College that say, and killed Ryan.”

The most heart-wrenching account is that of Ishbel, the mother of Abigail, the first victim of the shooting. Ishbel is an incredibly relatable character, and I imagine a lot of mothers would read this and see themselves in her. She cared about her daughter, who at times was reckless and rude and stubborn, and she struggles to move forward after Abigail’s death. Isabel’s chapters are very haunting for the reader.

“Ishbel wasn’t sure how she’d got there herself. She had no memory of the short drive over, though she knew she had done it: right now she was leaning against the back corner of the car to cover up the shaking in her legs. This was the first time she’d changed her clothes in two days, and she’d taken them from the drawer and put them on without really looking at them.”

I felt that a key element missing from the novel was any sense of who Ryan really was. I expected the reader to — through the lens of the other characters — find out more about him and what events really drove him to do what he did. At the very least, I wanted to understand him as a person a little better. But, we’re offered very little. Not even that much about his personality or his manner or his personal life.

Even his mother’s POV chapters don’t provide any insight, and as a result Ryan seems like a cardboard cut-out character, the stereotypical college shooter. The blurb implies that you’ll find out why Ryan shot all those women, but I don’t think you do. And it’s a bit of a letdown.

“They cut to a picture of Ryan’s face. His last school photo, a few years old now: Ryan in his navy school sweater, the stiff white collar of his shirt sitting wonky in its pilled V-neck. He was smiling, but he didn’t look happy — a handful of years back he’d decided he hated having his photograph taken.”

This is a character driven story, not the plot driven narrative you think you’re going to get. All the Hidden Truths explores family, love and the trauma and heartache of lives interrupted.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

All the Hidden Truths
Claire Askew
August 2018
Hachette Book Publishers

Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott

You told each other everything. Then she told you too much.

Kit has risen to the top of her profession and is on the brink of achieving everything she wanted. She hasn’t let anything stop her.

But now someone else is standing in her way – Diane. Best friends at seventeen, their shared ambition made them inseparable. Until the day Diane told Kit her secret – the worst thing she’d ever done, the worst thing Kit could imagine – and it blew their friendship apart.

Kit is still the only person who knows what Diane did. And now Diane knows something about Kit that could destroy everything she’s worked so hard for.

How far would Kit go, to make the hard work, the sacrifice, worth it in the end? What wouldn’t she give up? Diane thinks Kit is just like her. Maybe she’s right. Ambition: it’s in the blood…

Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott is a psychological thriller about two women and the power of a secret.

The novel explores female friendship and how two women can toe the line between friends and enemies. Diane Fleming and Kit Owens haven’t seen each other for over ten years, until Diane shows up at Kit’s work and the two women are forced to co-exist together. But no one can know the real reason why they stopped speaking after high school.

The two women were close friends once, but now seem to be professionals rivals. And since Kit knows Diane’s biggest secret, Kit is worried that Diane feels threatened by that. And if so, what she’ll do to silence Kit. Much more than just their careers are at stake.

“You always wonder, when someone is trying so hard, what it’s really about…Maybe, for Diane, working really hard was a way of crouching low in her grief, of staying under the radar. Of hiding. But in other ways she was impossible to miss.”

Megan Abbott has captured setting incredibly well. Most of this novel takes place within the walls of a science lab, so everything feels very claustrophobic and tense. It’s the perfect setting for Diane and Kit’s reunion.

Kit is a postdoc researcher for Dr. Lena Severin, a well-respected, inspiring mentor. She’s strong and determined and confident. She’s everything Kit wants to be.

There’s an exciting opportunity at the lab — Dr. Severin is spearheading a study of PMDD, which stands for premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Everyone wants a spot on that team, but there’s only room for two researchers and there are quite a few colleagues to choose from.

It’s a high-stakes environment and Diane wants this more than anything. But so do her colleagues. And as tensions rise and Diane and Kit’s working relationship starts to fracture, the people around them are starting to notice that something is amiss about the two of them.

“In the car, we don’t speak. She drives carefully. Stopping at all the yellow lights. Every time she turns a corner, her key chain smacks the ignition panel. One of those furry key chain kids used to have swinging from their backpacks.”

Something about this novel just doesn’t hit the mark. Not once did I feel like Diane was going to threaten everything Kit has accomplished. Diane is supposed to be seen as an unpredictable, unstable villain but really she seems like a complicated woman with a tragic secret and a dark mind. And Diane’s ‘secret’ — the author teases it for the first half of the book — is incredibly predictable.

If you’re a lover of crime, thriller or psychological fiction, then this story accomplishes enough to entertain you. You’ll be intrigued by Diane’s secret and the evolution of Kit and Diane’s friendship. Unfortunately, I felt like this novel fell short of what the blurb claimed, but others may enjoy it.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Give Me Your Hand
Megan Abbott
August 2018
Pan Macmillan Publishers

Floored: A Collaborative Novel

When they got in the lift, they were strangers (though didn’t that guy used to be on TV?): Sasha, who is desperately trying to deliver a parcel; Hugo, who knows he’s the best-looking guy in the lift and is eyeing up Velvet, who knows what that look means when you hear her name and it doesn’t match the way she looks, or the way she talks; Dawson, who was on TV, but isn’t as good-looking as he was a few years ago and is desperately hoping no one recognizes him; Kaitlyn, who’s losing her sight but won’t admit it, and who used to have a poster of Dawson on her bedroom wall, and Joe, who shouldn’t be here at all, but who wants to be here the most.

And one more person, who will bring them together again on the same day every year.

Described as The Breakfast Club meets One Day, Floored is a collaborative young adult novel by seven bestselling and award-winning authors: Sara Barnard, Holly Bourne, Tanya Byrne, Non Pratt, Melinda Salisbury, Lisa Williamson and Eleanor Wood.

Six teenagers coincidentally end up in the same lift together at a TV broadcasting building. They’re joined by an older gentleman who seems unwell when he enters into the lift. The man suffers a medical episode and dies in the lift. And so begins their connection. The seven characters bond over the sudden death of this man, and these six strangers soon become friends.

“Ivy and I have always had this policy: brutal honesty. And, until recently, I’ve never been tempted to break it. It’s just that if I tell her I’m going to the bloke from the lift’s funeral, she’s bound to want to come with me. And for whatever reason, I feel like this is something I need to do alone. More than tat, it’s something that I want to do alone.”

If these teenagers had met under different circumstances, they probably wouldn’t have been friends. For example, Hugo is a self-entitled, womanising asshole who only cares about himself. Sasha is from a working class family who is trying to help out her father. These six characters are all incredibly different, but their lives become bound together when they witness this man’s death.

The novel takes place over approximately six years, and we follow these six characters as their lives intertwine and they stay in touch. For the first couple of years, they meet up on the anniversary of the lift incident. And then as they bond, some of them become close and spend much more time together.

There’s not a huge amount of plot to this novel; it is more of a character-driven story. The novel jumps forward in time a lot, mostly following these characters on the anniversary of the man’s death. Even though we find out little things about their lives and the authors tackle issues such as Alzheimer’s, friendship, family, love and sexuality, the book moves pretty slowly. There’s drama and tension and evidence of these teenagers navigating their lives, but I wouldn’t recommend this for readers who are looking for a lot of plot.

“I want to laugh and tell him he looks worse than I do, like he’s just seen a ghost. I want to tell him not to worry about me. But none of that comes out. He looks at me, and I burst into tears. The tears I’ve been trying so hard to hold in for so long.”

Unfortunately, I found it hard to really connect with all of the characters because we don’t spend much time with them. When there are seven main characters, the focus is divided and so I got to the end of the novel and felt like I wasn’t as invested in their storylines as I could’ve been.

Floored is a surprisingly smooth read, considering there are seven novelists in there. All the characters feel so different, but when they come together I didn’t feel jolted by different voices or writing styles. The plot flows really well.

Young adult readers will love this collaboration.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Floored
A Collaborative novel by Sara Barnard, Holly Bourne, Tanya Byrne, Non Pratt, Melinda Salisbury, Lisa Williamson and Eleanor Wood
July 2018
Pan Macmillan Publishers

Clean by Juno Dawson

When socialite Lexi Volkov almost overdoses, she thinks she’s hit rock bottom. She’s wrong. Because rock bottom is when she’s forced into an exclusive rehab facility.

From there, the only way is up for Lexi and her fellow inmates, including the mysterious Brady. As she faces her demons, Lexi realises love is the most powerful drug of all …

It’s a dirty business getting clean.

Clean by Juno Dawson is a young adult novel set inside an expensive rehab facility on a secluded island.

Clean is a really honest representation of recovering from addiction. There are setbacks. There are complications. There are relapses. Recovery is not a linear process.

I think it’s really important for teenagers to read about addiction and how it can affect your life, but I also think it’s really important for them to see what recovery looks like. It isn’t pretty.

“I check the other messages. Mummy asks how I am and is then sniffy when I haven’t replied. I do so now and tell her my phone was stolen by Muslim immigrants outside Clapham Junction. This plays gloriously into about nine of her prejudices.”

Lexi Volkov is a pretty horrible person — self-centred, cynical, judgemental, rude and incredibly privileged. She does grow over the course of the novel, but she is still incredibly flawed by the conclusion of the book.

She’s from a wealthy family and is adored and can get away with pretty much anything. Her brother Nikolai is the only person who wants her to take responsibility for her actions. She enters the exclusive rehab centre Clarity with a heroin addiction and meets other addicts who are all filthy rich and in need of recovery.

“I grab a rock and hurl it at the sliding doors. It pings off without even making a scratch. I try again, pelting stone after stone at the window. How sodding thick is the glass? By the time the nurses come running in, I’ve crumpled to the floor, my energy sapped. As they try to restrain me, I start to lash out with the now empty bowl.”

Juno Dawson tackles addiction with brutal honesty. There are many unpleasant moments in the novel. Each character in rehab is struggling with some sort of addiction, and their road to recovery is not going to be easy.

But at the same time, the book has heart. There are moments of humour and self-realisation. This book is as addictive as the drugs in the story, and I devoured the novel. I found myself really invested in the storylines and the character journeys. I wanted to know how each character was going to progress through the novel.

“I bristle at the quasi-religious flavour of that word. You don’t face temptation, you face life. Life is full of nice things that are bad for us. Temptation is just a fancy word for wanting them. It’s the same as ‘demons’. The first time someone says I have ‘demons’ I’m out of here. I don’t need an exorcist. I need a drink.”

The writing is incredibly compelling, enticing the reader with flawless dialogue, prose and pacing. The chapters are short and the cast intriguing. I wanted to know more about all of these characters, and they have been brought to life so vividly.

Juno has captured their voices so well — they’re all incredibly unique, and therefore you sympathise and empathise with them and you keep reading because you want to find out what happens.

I appreciate that Juno doesn’t romanticise illness or addiction. It’s important for these characters to recover, and not just mask their problems with a relationship. It’s rare to see that in young adult fiction, and it’s one of the things I loved about this novel.

Clean is described as Gossip Girl meets Girl, Interrupted and will appeal to fiction lovers and readers of contemporary young adult fiction. It’s hard-hitting, unapologetic, bold, ugly and compulsive.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Clean
Juno Dawson
April 2018
Hachette Book Publishers

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father is not a very good one. Free to lend and reluctant to collect, he has left his family on the edge of poverty – until Miryem intercedes. Hardening her heart, she sets out to retrieve what is owed, and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold.

But when an ill-advised boast brings her to the attention of the cold creatures who haunt the wood, nothing will be the same again. For words have power, and the fate of a kingdom will be forever altered by the challenge she is issued.

Channeling the heart of the original fairy tale, Naomi Novik deftly interweaves six distinct narrative voices – each learning valuable lessons about sacrifice, power and love – into a rich, multi-layered fantasy.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik is an epic fantasy novel with a new take on the classic fairytale Rumpelstiltskin. At almost 500 pages, Spinning Silver follows over six different characters and their intertwined stories. It’s a grand story, slow-paced and meant to be savoured by the reader.

The world is enchanting and the setting so vivid. This may be loosely based on Rumpelstiltskin, but it reads more like an original fantasy story. With a girl who can turn silver into gold and a King who can stretch Winter for years, the premise is incredibly intriguing to any reader. There are also many underlying themes to the novel that readers will be able to recognise.

The first half of the novel is stronger than the second half, where the pacing slows dramatically and the events in the book seem a little absurd. However, Naomi’s writing is poetic and magical. The prose flows, and the description is detailed and really evokes a strong image for the reader. I could feel the cold and the Winter, and my stomach ached just reading about how impoverished, poor and hungry these characters were.

“I didn’t try to sew. I had a book from off my father’s shelf in my lap, a rare pleasure I couldn’t enjoy. I stared down at the painting of the storyteller and the sultan, a thready shadow-creature taking shape out of the smoke of the brazier between her weaving hands, and I couldn’t even reach the end of a sentence.”

I have mixed feelings about this title. On the one hand, I love retellings. And I adore the story of Rumpelstitzkin and how creative Naomi was in her retelling. However, the pacing is slow and there are too many characters to try and keep track of, and I actually felt really exhausted by the end of the book.

I read an ARC of the book, so perhaps this is different in the final edition, but each section of the book doesn’t say whose POV it is. There are little illustrations used for each character POV, but with so many characters, I couldn’t remember which image belonged to whom, and so whenever the POV shifted it took me a good couple of paragraphs before I knew for sure which character we were now following along with.

It really confused me, and I hope the final edition at least has headings with the character’s name so the reader can follow along easily.

Additionally, I still don’t think I fully understand how the world works? I understand the prolonged Winter and the relationship between all of the characters, and the plot is easy to follow. But I felt like some events in the story weren’t realistic, but were in fact there because Naomi was trying to keep remnants of the original Rumpelstiltskin story in place.

“There was a lot of snow in the yard. I shovelled some of it into big heaps so the goats and chickens could get to the grass. The ground was frozen, but I took out the nut from the white tree and looked at it and wondered if maybe I should plant it here.”

This story is for fans of epic fantasy tales — for readers who will stick with a long story, even if the pacing is quite slow and the world-building a little hard to grasp. It’s not my favourite retelling, but I did keep reading because I was invested in the characters and their individual stories.

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Spinning Silver
Naomi Novik
July 2018
Pan Macmillan Australia