Back to Reading Retreats - Part Two!

I was supposed to move on from my reading retreat to a writing retreat, but that was cancelled, due to one of the writers who arrived over the weekend testing positive for Covid. I felt very sorry for my friend who was running the retreat - but I lucked out, as Cressi and Sara of reading retreat fame finagled it so I could stay on for the weekday part of the reading retreat, so I got another three glorious days of reading (with one night in a hotel in between)!

So, part two of the reading retreat was thrillers!

Insomnia by Sarah Pinborough:
This is about a woman whose mother stopped sleeping and ended up in a mental institution shortly before her 40th birthday. The protagonist is now approaching 40 herself and is having trouble sleeping...

It's pacy but also somehow a bit slow, as the 'can't sleep, must check the house and children' parts feel reptitive very quickly. Emma isn't particularly likeable in a lot of ways, but her gradual unravelling is cleverly done, as she knows as little as the reader about what's going on, so the options for explanations are left very open. Her lack of allies (as most people start thinking she's the potential threat) and her isolation within her own experience are very effective.

The book builds to quite a climax - I had some theories, which were eventually posited by the protagonist but then proved wrong, so I didn't guess what was actually going on AT ALL. So much so, that the reveal left me thinking, 'WTF???' rather than, 'Wow, didn't see that coming but that now makes perfect sense.'

I did like the aftermath, especially the fact that things didn't just go back to the way they were before - it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, which was realistic and satisfying. BUT - the crazy reveal meant that the whole background situation was desperately sad, and this was dismissed quite flippantly by the protagonist, which jarred and left a rather bitter taste in my mouth.

So, well written for the most part and certainly atmospheric (not the best book to read alone in a hotel room with people wandering past my door periodically...) but the abrupt leftfield shift towards the end wasn't telegraphed enough for me to find it satisfying.


Little White Lies by Philippa East:
This has a very intriguing concept from the outset, as it starts where most stories of this type end. Abigail White is abducted at the age of eight - but the book begins with her being found at age fifteen, and follows what happens upon her return to her family.

I really liked the split viewpoint - half the book is from the point of view of Abigail's mother, Anne, and the other half from the point of view of her cousin, Jess. This allows the reader to see events from two very different perspectives, which worked really well.

I often find it hard to read this kind of book, because I just want to find out what happens at the end, so I find myself skimming - but this kept me interested in all the interim events right the way through, which is a definite mark of good writing.

I did lose that feeling a bit towards the end, as the narrative got a bit wordy and overwrought, but it was good overall and I liked that we didn't get Abigail's viewpoint at all, leaving her inner thoughts a complete mystery until the very end.


Reputation by Sarah Vaughan:
This tells the story of MP, Emma Webster, who suffers online, text and postal abuse and threats when she champions victims of revenge porn. Alongside that, her daughter, Flora, gets into trouble at school when she retaliates against online bullying.

The themes and storyline are very up-to-the-minute, dealing with the difficulties of being female and in the public eye, or just female and engaging with the world online.

There's a bit too much 'little did I know' foreboding for my taste, and it skirts the edge of my tolerance levels for a first-person narrator keeping things from the reader. But the first half is well constructed and compelling - the inter-relationships are well-drawn and Emma's growing fear is well-portrayed.

Due to the nature of the eventual reveal, a lot of the meat of the story is recounted in the very lengthy and detailed trial in the second half, reducing the immediacy of the events a bit, and also telegraphing to me where it was going, as there was only one reason to construct the story in that way.

I was right - and I also felt the very end rather diminished the impact of the message the author was trying to put across, but I guess it was necessary for the inevitable twist in the tale.


Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson:
This didn't quite fit my thriller theme, but I was very glad I read it in the end.

The book follows the interwoven stories of multiple different characters in London in 1926 - the matriarch of a crime family and her various children, a police inspector, a librarian from York and to fourteen-year-old runaways.

It took a while for me to get into it, since there was a great deal of summary background for all the characters as they were introduced, which was done in multiple-page sections of quite dry exposition. However, I persevered and I was glad I did as, once the story got going properly, it was really good.

The switching back and forth in time, and skipping over directly showing various important scenes was a bit annoying - but overall, I loved all the characters, it was pretty funny in places, and I liked the way it eventually all came together. There was another whole section of aftermath summary, explaining what happened to all the different characters (some of which seemed unnecessary and very arbitrary) but overall, a very involving read.