This is a disturbing dystopian read, which I really enjoyed.

Aina and Whitney are exiled together on a remote island croft, they cannot leave as three times a day they must take a pill from the indestructible pill clock. They are anticipating freedom on parole any day, but this day does not come... and having thought they were on an island, one day Aina spots a sheep.

Slowly secrets are revealed, along with the societal crime of which they are guilty.

The emotions in both the characters and the atmosphere are carefully written, and this is a gripping read. One of the best endings I've read for a while too.

Two people in a croft, on a remote island. Marooned and dependent on the land around them and each other as a punishment for a crime which we are told about piece by piece, as the story unfolds. They’re nearing the end of their sentence - over a decade - but they haven't heard anything from their captors for a while.

We follow this through Aina’s perspective as she recounts the story in fragments, trying to keep herself occupied when she’s done everything that she can possibly do. Whitney is her companion, playing chess with the wind over the radio and insisting it’s the warden checking in on them.

I thought it was interesting that their names weren’t immediately obvious as to who was who, just removed enough from perhaps a more familiar set of names. It removes the characters one step from our world. In a similar way to The Handmaid’s Tale, it’s our world but not quite. In more ways than one, as it soon becomes apparent that the crime was something to do with pregnancy and state sanctions.

The other element which introduces some tension is the fact that the island they’re on has something wrong with the air, so in order to make it breathable they need to take pills every 8 hours, or they’ll die. This tethers them to the pill dispensary, and to each other, as the pills are provided one at a time and based on their individual thumbprint.

It sounds like a small, claustrophobic story and in some ways it is. You can feel the walls of their basic accommodation closing in. In other ways, I thought it was representative of the human condition, the tyranny of a government and a set of laws around bodily autonomy and free will. Whitney and Aina come to represent opposing views on their sentence, on the pills, where one is determined to pass this last test to be set free and the other is convinced no-one is coming to help them. In a way this is what religious faith is - neither can be proven as true or false but to have faith is either a comfort, a pathway to justice, or an obstacle to seeing the truth and transforms into shackles which hold you back.

I can imagine this working well as a play, perhaps with voiceovers or projections acting as the flashback scenes.
There have been reviews I’ve seen where it’s described as creepy or full of dread - I do see that, and there are parts which are hard to read as they’re upsetting, but I also thought it had some great dark humour. Imagine being on an island with no other person for 12 years. Even if that person is your soulmate and other half - with the last two years in a pandemic, it's easy to imagine the scene in lockdown where living in such close quarters with people really highlighted their habits and accelerated the annoyance factor on those.

I enjoyed reading this, it’s a story on it’s own but I’d recommend it for fans of Lost (where the repetitive activity may or may not actually mean anything). It also had a hint of a world ending which made me think of The Stranding by Kate Sawyer.

This is a rather dark dystopian book, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Lots of tension and suspense while not a lot was necessarily happening but it just let my imagination run riot and built the scene perfectly for when the action came later. Wonderfully written and I personally thought the ending was very fitting. I’d love to read a follow up from other characters points of view but I’ll most likely just always have to wonder :)

I know I’m being perverse in not liking the ending but there it is. Just too many unanswered questions which is in my defence just as bad as too tidy an ending which I’ve complained about in many other of my reviews.
Not a bad debut though but if I had realised it was set in the future I wouldn’t have chosen it but that’s my mistake.

Metronome is an interesting book set in what appears to be a recognisable England. As the story unfolds the author offers the reader snippets of information - the protagonists are exiled, the government introduced hierarchical rules regarding procreation - clearly echoing 1984 or The Handmaid's Tale. Daily life is controlled by the distribution of pills necessary for survival on a planet damaged by some unspecified blight.
Watson manipulates the storyline switching from past to present to unsettle the reader, unravelling the backstory as the protagonists begin to disrupt their monotone existence.
Metronome offers the question that perhaps is most pertinent in today's self-destructive society, at what point must an individual challenge the status quo regardless of the potential outcome.?

Metronome by Tom Watson is mysterious, intriguing, and has more than a whiff of the dystopian about it. Set on a remote (fictional) island in Scotland, it examines the depths of humanity and plays with the theme of isolation, building a compact world around two characters, Whitney and Aina. Sent to the island 12 years ago, there as punishment for committing a crime not immediately revealed to the reader, their survival relies upon pills which are dispensed from a box every eight hours. The end of their incarceration is due but the warden never arrives, though they have prepared for whoever might inhabit the island next.

Via flashbacks, the author takes the reader back to Aina and Whitney’s former lives, to how they met. The tension between the two characters and the scenery is well described and the taut novel disorientates without ever being perplexing. Sometimes terrifying, with heavy dollops of suspense this intricately layered novel reveals its secrets whilst maintaining a sense of impending doom. It is a terrific début.

A special thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ), Tom Watson, NetGalley and Pigeonhole for the opportunity to read. This review is my unbiased opinion.

Metronome by Tom Watson is a compelling, quick read. Set in a dystopian society, we meet exiles Aina and Whitney who are tethered to their croft by pills they must take every 8 hours in order to survive. They are serving time for a crime they committed together - the nature of which is slowly revealed throughout the book. When the Warden doesn't arrive at the end of the 12 years, the careful order of their lives disintegrates and their trust in each other and the system is tested. Much as I enjoyed the book, I found the ending frustratingly ambiguous and open to interpretation but it didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of this debut novel.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in return for an honest review.

Well, Metronome by Tom Watson is just up my street. It is mysterious, intriguing, has more than a hint of the dystopian and examines the very depth of humanity which ticks a lot of boxes. Set on a remote island this book plays with the theme of isolation, building a compact world cantered around predominantly two characters.

Whitney and Aina have lived on this island for 12 years. Sent there as punishment for committing a crime not initially revealed to us, they are confined by their reliance upon pills which are dispensed from a mysterious box on the wall every eight hours. Without these pills they will die, suffocated by poisonous air.

When we meet them they are reaching the end of their incarceration and are preparing to leave. They have built a life for themselves on the island, planting seeds and farming the land which surrounds the croft they sleep in. They’ve also scavenged as much as they can from the boats which wash up on the rocks surrounding the island, taking such things as mugs, waterproofs and any dried or tinned goods they can lay their hands on.

As their day to leave draws nearer, they prepare for whomever will inhabit the island next, making sure that there is sufficient in stores for them to sustain themselves until they get to get top grips with things. But Aina is unsettled, she isn’t sure that the Warden, due to collect them and return them home, will arrive as intended. The Warden’s regular welfare check phone calls to the croft have stopped, as have the yearly supplies drops, and a sheep has appeared on the island – but they’re miles from anywhere, how did it cross the sea? When her fears become realised, they are faced with being stranded on the island for the rest of their lives. But is all as it seems?

Using flashbacks Watson takes us back to Aina and Whitney’s life in an unspecified country which is very much like ours, but with small yet noticeable differences. We learn of how they met and fell in love and contrasted with their present day predicament it feels jarring. Their relationship has been understandably challenged, twelve years with nobody but your spouse would be difficult for even the most solid of couples after all, but they’ve been able to rub along together, knowing that there was an end point in sight.

Watson has written an accomplished and taut novel which disorientates without ever being confusing. The world building is exceptional and at times quietly terrifying. There is something very scary about the prospect of that sort of isolation and the expanse of time to fill and as Whitney and Aina’s daily life is described to us we understand that they find comfort in the routines. But what happens when their routines are disrupted?

At times dystopian, at others speculative fiction with a dollop of suspense thriller, this is an exceptional read. It’s best to go in knowing very little, because Watson’s intricately layered novel reveals its secrets slowly and it is all the more brilliant for it. In Whitney and Aina, Watson has created a couple whose secrets threaten both their present and their future and whose emotional limits are test. It is at times genuinely moving whilst maintaining an overarching sense of menace and doom. It is a brilliant book and one I highly recommend.

'Metronome' is unique and compelling and strange but all in the best way. A wonderful debut novel from Tom Watson that left me thinking about it long after I had finished!

Having a child without permission leads to 12 years excise for Aina and Whitney. They take a pill dispensed every 8 hours to keep them alive. Aina begins to believe there is a way out but Whitney want to wait for freedom.

A tense thrilling book that confronts how prison can be torture and so you will do anything to escape. Great characters and highly recommend.

‘Not all that is hidden is lost’

My thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing U.K. for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘Metronome’ by Tom Watson in exchange for an honest review.

This debut work of speculative fiction is set in an unspecified date in the future. It focuses on Aina and Whitney, a couple who have been exiled on a remote island for the past twelve years for a crime they committed together. They have to remain close to their croft due to a biometric clock that dispenses pills that they must take every eight hours to ensure their survival.

They keep busy while waiting for their sentence to end. Aina works on her garden, her jigsaw, her music; while Whitney creates sculptures and maps of the island. Yet something is not right.

For years shipwrecks have washed up on the island and have been salvaged by the couple. They have managed to survive even though their regular supply drops have stopped. Then on the day they’re meant to be collected for parole, the Warden does not come. Instead, they find a sheep. But sheep can’t swim…

I felt that Tom Watson was quite economical in terms of his world building. There are hints of a widespread environmental disaster and the daily pill regime appears to be counteracting a prevailing toxicity in the air and soil. It’s also clear that the society that exiled them is extremely repressive.

I certainly found this a bleak novel, though that is to be expected given the circumstances that Aina and Whitney find themselves in. However, I would have appreciated more details about the outside world and what events lead to their situation going dark.

Overall, while it didn’t wow me, I found ‘Metronome’ an unsettling novel and felt Tom Watson utilised his desolate setting effectively.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

This is a gripping dystopian novel with a suitably ambiguous ending.

Whitney and Aina have been sentenced to exile on a remote island, for the crime of concealing a pregnancy. In this world, couples are allowed to become pregnant but must then apply for permission to have the baby. If this is denied (no reasons are given), they must abort. After three refusals a mandatory hysterectomy takes place. When Aina falls pregnant a third time after two refusals, and manages to find out that she has no chance of an approval third time around, she and Whitney decide to have the child and conceal it. They build a cubby hole in their apartment and their son Maxime is only allowed out when they are there to supervise. Until the time nine years later that the cubby is inadvertently left unlocked and a box of matches is left out...

The punishment they face is a harsh one. Not only will they be exiled to a croft on a remote island, but Whitney must choose between Aina and Maxime, opting to let Maxime be taken. Their croft is in a state of disrepair, with no neighbours or amenities. The permafrost is melting and releasing toxic spores into the air. They can stay safe by taking a pill every 8 hours, dispensed by an unassailable clock in the croft which releases one pill each, with a 3-minute window, on presentation of a thumbprint. It is a simple and effective way of keeping them tied to the croft, hoping for parole to be granted by the Warden eventually.

Cut to twelve years later and the world around them is in increasing disrepair too, with birds migrating north one year and not returning the next, and all radio communications with the Warden mysteriously ceasing one year, and their food drops failing to materialise, and the occasional boat being wrecked off the coast but with never any sign of life on them. Then one day, a sheep appears, with pine needles tangled in its overgrown coat when there are no pine trees on the island. Where did it come from? Could it be that this is not an island at all?

As Aina starts to suspect that Whitney has known this all along, the trust between them evaporates and she starts plotting how to make a journey longer than the 8-hour window between pills. When a stranger arrives with a daughter in tow, offering fear and hope, the stage is set for some impossible choices to be made.

Tom Watson skilfully creates a claustrophobic atmosphere, not only in the tiny croft itself but in this bleak, harsh, lonely existence Whitney and Aina are sentenced to indefinitely. The tension builds slowly as the atmosphere becomes more and more charged. He is also masterly at depicting a slow breakdown of trust between two people who only have each other to rely on, and the conflicting pull of love and suspicion. He keeps us guessing as to whether one of the two is perhaps insane, what their underlying motives might be, and in the end, whether redemption is possible. The ending is impressive - powerful, ambiguous, and perfectly judged. Well worth a read.

Metronome is a tense dystopian slow-burn thriller, set in the unspecified (but presumably near) future. Whitney and Aina have been exiled to a lonely island cottage for disobeying societal rules, and are tethered in place by a forced reliance on pills, which are dispensed every 8 hours by a “pill clock”. They’re coming to the end of their sentence, but release doesn’t seem to be assured for them. How are they going to survive?

The novel is made creepily terrifying by being so believable. A recommended read.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for honest feedback.

Punished for the crime of having an unauthorised child, Aina and Whitney are banished to an island and tethered to a pill dispenser which keeps them alive. Full of hope, Aina can’t give up on their son. Really enjoyed the journey, beautifully written and characterised. It was however quite slow to build up and then the end seemed very rushed. Too many unanswered questions so ultimately disappointed.

I found it really hard to get into this book and the characters frustrating and uninteresting. Islands are always good places to set thrillers on, dystopian or otherwise but I never really felt I understood the geography and must admit I was pleased to get to the end

Thank you to netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for an advance copy of this book

Metronome
Aina and Whitney have lived together on an island for 12 years. It’s a bleak existence as they have had to live off the land and survive. They have a pill clock that releases pills 3 times a day to prevent them succumbing to the toxic spores being released from the thawing permafrost. This effectively traps them as they can’t go too far in exploring their environment as they have to be back in time for their pill. Aina tends the garden, cooks, helps harvest anything useful from the 12 shipwrecks that lie about on the beach while Whitney has his projects. The birds all left the island 3 years ago and they are alone. They have committed a crime and are being punished.
But release is imminent or so Whitney believes. The mysterious Warden is going to come very soon for them and they will return to land.
Then the sheep arrives, and their carefully constructed world begins to slowly disintegrate. ‘Where did it come from?’ Aina wonders. It didn’t swim there, and she begins to question whether they are actually on an island at all. Maybe Whitney is keeping secrets from her….
But the Warden doesn’t come and radio communication with him appears to have ceased. In fact, there hasn’t been any word from him for the last 3 years. However, Whitney still stubbornly clings to it and believes that there is someone on the other end of the radio signal who plays chess with him.
Slowly Aina and Whitney’s story begins to be told. The reason that they are there in the bleak landscape is because they had a child despite not being given permission to have one by the authorities. They had asked twice before and been refused but this time they had help. Maxim, their little boy was hidden away until one day he was discovered. Aina now begins to think about him more and more and the ticking pill clock reminds her of the metronome on top of the grand piano in their apartment when they all lived together. She resolves to escape and find him.
Then they see a boat on the sea and climb aboard to salvage what they can. But when there is more confirmation that they are not alone, the stage is set for a confrontation and an acknowledgement of betrayal and even death.
Metronome is set in an eerie dystopian world, and it held my attention throughout. The descriptions of the landscape and Aina and Whitney’s relationship as it begins to break down are so well and subtly described. It’s an atmospheric novel and I loved the scenes in their flooded house when they had to swim through the dark water to the pill clock. Whitney drops his pill and Aina gives him a spare one that she has been hiding. He then realises that she has been making other plans. He believes that he will be guilty by association with what she has done and stubbornly clings, like a security blanket, to his belief that it’s all a test set by the Warden. The rhyme ‘yan tan tehea methera pip’ that appears throughout the book is an ancient method of counting sheep used by shepherds in the North of England – another metronomic reference to counting.
A slow burning, creepy tale and one of control and a mother’s love for her child. Aina had, and would again, risk everything for Maxim. But she is caught in a trap on the island however she tries to escape. The ending is very ambiguous and I felt that the reader was invited to make up their own mind about it. I had to read it a couple of times to decide.
The elegant cover was what drew me to the book, and it was such an engaging and, at times, challenging piece of speculative fiction. It gave up its secrets gradually and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a book in which to immerse themselves.

My thanks to Bloomsbury and Netgalley for an ARC.

Metronome is a deeply eerie post-apocalpytic tale that follows two people trapped on a remote island, as a punishment for some unmentioned crime. Watson writes stylishly and creates haunting images from things that seem mundane - a countdown clock, a damp sheep, an isolated house.
The two central characters are compelling, if not overly so - I took a long while to connect with them, to be honest, and their frayed relationship. But Metronome is nonetheless very compelling, with a number of heart-in-your-mouth moments that Watson wrings every drop of terror from. One memorable chapter sees Aina go for a swim, something to innocent that becomes heart-stoppingly stressful.
Overall, I am not sure how I felt about this one, but it was nevertheless an interesting read with a lot more heft than I expected. I'd pick up another novel by Watson - this is a clautrophobic, chilling, stirring debut.

A bleak story of survival in a future where people are exiled for punishment and left reliant on pills that are dispensed automatically to keep them alive and dependent in a hostile environment. Aina and Whitney are exiled together and make a life in truce while blaming each other for the loss of their child. You never really find out what went wrong and why they are in the situation without wider context. And while this helps with the suffocating atmosphere at the very bleak end you're left with little understanding or resolution.

I havent read a book like this before and I really liked it. It was well written with a compellingly unique storyline and well developed characters. it had a creppy atmosphere at times and I didn't want to put it down.

I found this a really fascinating book- we are presented with a couple trying to atone for a crime they are sure they did not commit, and are seemingly kept healthy by a single pill, taken exactly every 8 hours without fail, the timing of everything drilled into their subconscious.

We see what happens when a pill is not taken, and one of the couple, Aina, starts to struggle. But she also notices that she can go a tiny bit longer than 8 hours between pills, and so a plan is hatched.

Although I occasionally got lost at parts of this story, there was something so deviously claustrophobic about their lives that I was intrigued throughout.

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.