Lots of reviewers have absolutely loved this book, and I can see why, but it had a couple of issues that, for me, dropped it to a like rather than love.

Our un-named mixed-race MC joins his posh university friend at her family house on the French Riviera and is attracted to her brother Felix. So far, so sexy.

However, I found the study of racism and classism, to be rather obvious and hyperbolic.

And the ending, annoying for 2 reasons:
1. From a story perspective it seemed to say ‘stay in your lane‘ and don‘t dare to have ideas above your station, colour or class.
2. From a style perspective, another of those books that just ends suddenly. So much so in this case, that I might pick up the physical book next time I‘m in a bookshop to see if there was a bit missing from my ARC.

I wanted to love this - and I was so pleased to receive it when I requested it. However, I didn't love it. I know this goes against many 4 and 5 star reviews but for me, it is contrived and cliched, although I guess it is meant to be.

When the narrator arrives in a luxurious villa in the south of France to spend time with Lily, a friend from university, he is caught up in a world of opulence and excess - and Felix, the Blakes' son (and LIly's brother) - is a significant draw for him. The novel moves from France then back to London - and I felt it tailed off when the sunshine and sexiness of a French summer is left behind.

Most of the characters are hard to like. Clearly, there are issues here about race, about class, and about LGTBQ+ characters, and I realise the importance of these things. However, the superficiality of the characters jars, as does the way certain things happen which aren't always obvious.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC>

I could not get into this book. It did not grab me, I didn't find what I read so far very interesting. This book is not for me.

I've just finished William Rayfet Hunter's Sunstruck, and let me tell you, it's the kind of debut that genuinely feels fresh and essential. If you're looking for a book that delves into the intoxicating allure of privilege and the complicated dance of identity, this one's for you.

What sets Sunstruck apart is its unflinching gaze at the intersections of race, class, and sexuality, all wrapped up in a narrative that feels both incredibly intimate and profoundly universal. Hunter introduces us to an unnamed narrator, a young mixed-race man from a working-class background, who gets drawn into the opulent world of the ridiculously rich Blake family in the South of France. It’s an immediate hook – think Saltburn meets a sharp, modern British voice.

The first half of the book, set in the sun-drenched French villa, captures that dizzying feeling of being an outsider peering into a world of effortless wealth and charm. The narrator's fascination with Felix, the charismatic and elusive Blake brother, quickly becomes the beating heart of the story. You can almost feel the heat of the summer and the simmering tension between the characters. Hunter does an incredible job of building this atmosphere of desire and unease without giving away too much, keeping you utterly captivated.

But Sunstruck isn't just about a summer romance. The second half of the novel shifts to London, and here, the cracks in the idyllic façade truly begin to show. The narrator's relationship with Felix is tested by the realities of their differing worlds, and the novel smartly explores how power dynamics play out in love, friendship, and society at large. We see the struggles of navigating a new, elite circle while holding onto your own sense of self and community, particularly through the narrator's relationship with his long-time friend, Jasmine. Hunter's prose is sharp and insightful, really digging into the emotional complexities and internal conflicts our narrator faces.

It’s a deeply felt book that had me reflecting on themes of belonging, authenticity, and the price of assimilation long after I'd turned the last page. William Rayfet Hunter has crafted a masterful debut that’s not only beautifully written but also incredibly timely. Trust me, you'll want to pick this one up.

I won't say much as this book was not quite my taste - no fault of the author, more a personal preference. I was hoping this would bring something new but just seemed like it used Saltburn as a crutch.

A classic first-love tale of power, class and race. A young black man from a working class background finds himself swept up in the opulent upper class life of a white friend. When he falls for her brother, he gets further lost inside this world. But he's never quite fully allowed in - the boyfriend doesn't acknowledge the relationship publicly, connections are dangled and pulled back, family remain aloof. After a moment of public protest turns violent, he is shaken from this narrowed existence and starts to reevaluate. What does he want & deserve? Who does he want to be? The characters teeter on cliche at times and are stuffed with tropes. But it's still an engaging read about getting lost in first loves and growing within yourself.

William Rayfet Hunter's Sunstruck is a debut novel set to be released on the 15th of May 2025 by Cornerstone.

SEMI-SPOILER REVIEW

Sunstruck follows a young man of Jamaican descent as he visits the rich Blake family mansion in the south of France following an invitation from best friend Lily Blake. There he meets her family; younger sibling Dot (never Dorothea), mum Annie (who just so happens to be the favourite singer of the unnamed protagonist’s possibly late mother) and Felix, Lily's brother, as handsome and charismatic as he is mysterious. It doesn't take long for the protagonist to fall hard for the magnetic Felix, and who can blame him? If I met a stunning queer James Taylor fan oozing charm and mischief I definitely would, too.

Told in two parts, Honey and Flies, the first follows the trip to the villa and is told in chapters of days. The second starts eleven months later in London and deals with the consequences of the trip, told through months instead of days.

Beautifully written and atmospheric, Sunstruck is a masterwork of not only queer fiction, but also every other canon it belongs to.

I love the flashbacks to when the protagonist was a child, there is a very childlike lilt to the prose, evoking Jacqueline Wilson’s best work of emulating a child's perspective. There are also moments that have such a visceral edge to them, so relatable that I felt them almost physically, and this is the gift of Rayfet Hunter's prose. I can only imagine how reading this book must be for queer people of colour and especially Black readers.

A lot of advice you are given as a writer is to do with how varying lengths of sentences affects pace; lots of short sentences quicken, longer ones drag things out. There is a scene just over halfway through the novel where Rayfet Hunter uses a succession of fairly long sentences to describe an incredibly traumatic event and somehow this section feels like it goes by in no time at all, and all too long. And it is so, so claustrophobic. I really can't overstate how amazing the prose in this novel is.

There are some sections in the second half of the novel that I found incredibly difficult to read, not because they weren't enjoyable, but because I felt the emotions of the scenes so viscerally. Maybe I just get too attached/involved in some of the stories I read/watch, but there aren't many writers who can affect me to the extent that William Rayfet Hunter did here. Trust me when I say you should be prepared to feel a whole gamut of emotions, sometimes in the space of one page, Rayfet Hunter is just that talented.

One of the most beautiful books I've ever read, Sunstruck is the kind of book that feels destined to sit in the annals of history as a masterpiece. I don't say this lightly, I loved it that much, and feels to me as much of a classic as the likes of Jane Eyre and Orlando. if you told me that in the next century this book reached those heights, I can't say I would be surprised.

The ending of the novel was inevitable, but I still couldn't help wishing things could turn out differently. I really cared about the characters in this story, even some of the ones who were not-so morally good. Maybe I got too invested (as anyone who knows me will tell you I do a lot - Doctor Who, Dragon Age, Warehouse 13…), but William Rayfet Hunter's writing skill definitely contributed to it.

If only summer could last forever…

I was instantly drawn by the blurb and the cover of this book when I first saw it. The first 70% percent of the book felt extremely slow to me but those last 80% are what really made this book a truly memorable one and one that has unexpectedly turned into a favorite for me.

Writing about a toxic relationship is something that I think can be difficult because it's hard to really capture how things become increasingly but gradually unhealthy, and how brains trick us into not seeing the warning signs or to rationalize them away. Sunstruck did really well in capturing that as well as the codependency and the terrible power dynamics between the main character and Felix but also the Blakes at large. It's written in a way that made me feel and understand all the conflicts he faces, from his relationship with the family but also with himself and his community.

Beyond those power dynamics, I think that this book portrays the other forms of oppression and exploitations throughout with so much brutality and realism. Racism, classism and homophobia all play a part in how the characters interact with each other, at many different levels. For this, the book often gets compared to Saltburn but really it has much more depth in exploring the topic of discrimination and systemic violence, and how those in power attempt to profit off the suffering of people. Things here are written in a way that can really draw a reaction out of you but also make you think a lot about the reality of those injustices.

And speaking of reaction, there is a detail throughout the story that seems unimportant at first but takes on all its meaning at the very end of the book and made me want to throw something at a wall in fury. That was the moment that really made me go "wow" about this book, in a mix of rage and disgust for that part and awe at the author's skill. I just love writing that involves stylistic choices that actually play a huge part in the story and I will definitely read whatever the author writes next because this is an excellent debut.

So, if you enjoy stories that explore the themes of oppression, identity, relationships — the toxic ones, the healthy ones and the ones that are just really complicated — and that really take time to set up their message, I'd highly recommend this.

I think it's also one of those books that is interesting to discuss with others because what you draw from it can look very different and could reveal what we each believe about liberation.

Huge thanks to Merky Books and NetGalley for the E-ARC.

William Rayfet Hunter’s Sunstruck is a luminous debut that delves into the complexities of race, class, and desire. The novel follows an unnamed, mixed-race aspiring musician from Manchester who becomes entangled with the affluent Blake family during a summer in the French Riviera. As he navigates the opulence of their world and a burgeoning relationship with the enigmatic Felix, underlying tensions of privilege and identity surface.

Hunter’s prose is evocative and cinematic, capturing both the allure and alienation of the protagonist's experiences. The narrative transitions seamlessly from the sun-drenched escapism of France to the gritty realities of London, where themes of racial consciousness and societal expectation intensify. While the protagonist exhibits some passivity that can be off-putting, the novel's emotional depth and incisive social commentary resonate powerfully.
Sunstruck is a compelling exploration of belonging and the sacrifices made in pursuit of acceptance.

Excellent reminds me of saltburn and just as good. Social status, hedonism, friendship, deceit and sex, this ticks all the boxes and more. A throughly entertaining read! I didn't expect to enjoy this book as much as i did.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.

There have been quite a few books recently on the subject matter of the clash of cultures between young moneyed people and less well off friends. I suppose this is partly the Saltburn effect. Other reviewers have mentioned that this book is like Saltburn but it reminded me more of Brideshead Revisited except of course in Brideshead it is the aristocrat who suffers more than his more ordinary friend.

As in many of these books, things do not always go well for the characters from different worlds. We have an unnamed narrator, the only name he is ever given is the crass and offensive "Whiteboy" by his black female friend. It might have been interesting and more unusual if the book had explored that sort of casual racism between people of colour. I suppose it underlines that the narrator is an outsider in more than one world, although, to be fair it is only Jazz who diminishes him with this name. The other main character is the privileged Felix who is at best shallow and indifferent and at worst cruel and entirely selfish.

I enjoyed the book, and found the themes interesting. None of the characters are particularly likeable. I did sympathise with the narrator but he makes some foolish choices and seems oddly naïve.

There is a lot of nastiness and pettiness in the end in the way the rich people behave, even to the extent of spitefully withdrawing the narrator's audition for the conservatoire.

I am sure this is not the intention of the book but I can't help but think that the all too English message is "know your place and stay there.".

Thank you to Netgalley and the UK publishers for an advanced copy of this author's debut novel in exchange for an honest review.

Firstly, I really enjoyed this and i would thoroughly recommend! Think Saltburn but minus all the weird stuff and instead injected with a lot more depth and tackling difficult topics and feelings in a lot more detail.

The book tackles racism, classism, ruthlessness, family, friendships, drug addiction, violence and police brutality, and even more. I was always invented and it did this in a sensitive way.

The only criticism I had was that for all the developments in the plot, I didn't feel like the protagonist showed the same internal development and I didn't learn enough about how he was changed by the events in the story.

Saltburn meets your gaslighting ex-boyfriend in WFH's debut novel, and I couldn't put it down!

I was hooked from the beginning - the prose is excellent and I think that William is fantastic at writing awful people. It handles a number of social justice issues really well and I thought the representation was meaningful and delivered well.

I'll definitely be checking out William's future work!

What could be a better setting that the South of France for a summer holiday? This is the setting for Sunstruck where a young unnamed protagonist, from a humble background, is a guest of the immensely wealthy Blake family. Lily, his friend from university invites him for a summer trip and straightaway sibling rivalry between Lily and Felix emerges as they both vie for his attention.
An excellent and subtly presented story of wealth, the class system and racism and how ultimately, the outsider will never be fully accepted. A slow burner that is well written and thought-provoking. Immensely good.

"Walking through the pristine streets of the Blake's neighbourhood, I'd wondered at how, in a city so full of dirt and people and noise, this place could be so neat and quiet."

A hypnotic, atmospheric novel. Reminiscent of Emerald Fennell's Saltburn, but with more depth, heart, and a more nuanced take on class and sexuality, with the added critical perspective on racism. I ate this UP, finishing it in just a few days.

It took me far too long to realise that the narrator is never named. Once I realised, though, it made complete sense. He is an outsider in the Blake's world. While he isn't desperate to be a part of it, he justifiably believes that through Felix, he somewhat is. But he never quite breaks through their exclusive membrane into the world of privilege. So of course he is never named; he doesn't truly mean anything to these people. He is just a visitor in their world.

Speaking of Felix and the Narrator: at first, I thought the tension between the two wouldn't go anywhere, that it would be more of a Saltburn/The Talented Mr Ripley deal where one is obsessed with the other (or in Sunstruck's case, both obsessed with one another) to a homoerotic degree, but never quite breaches a true romantic bond. But I was pleasantly surprised when they actually acted on their desires, and confirmed them to be more than just intense fascination. Their relationship quickly becomes unhealthy and less worthy of admiration, but it was just refreshing to see this (somewhat) trope turned on it's head.

The novel's first half follows the Narrator and his summer with the affluent Blake family, and the second chronicles the former's life in London, now intertwined with said family. The first act is heady and escapist, almost removed from reality in it's cloud of privilege. The second half is more grounded, grittier, exploring themes of race and class in more depth. Bonds are made, shattered, rebuilt. and shattered once more. The Narrator is asked to keep more secrets than he ever bargained for. You'll have to read this wonderful novel for yourself to find out just how it all starts to break down.

Thank you NetGalley and Cornerstone/Merky Books for this ARC, I can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy!

"It’s kind of mad here. I knew they were posh and stuff but this is next level."
"You’re at a castle in France with a girl whose dad owns half of Kensington. Babe, what did you think it was gonna be like?’ ‘Yeah, obviously, but, like, at uni Lily’s relatively normal—"
"Be f*cking for real, WhiteBoy. She once looked me directly in the eye and asked me if I could ski."

New fave book alert! I knew i would enjoy this but I didn't know i would be obsessed with it !
This ticks all the boxes that i want from a book, great writing, great setting , immersive story and characters that stay with you when you are not reading. It's Saltburn meets CMBYN meets Open Water. It's about race, class, wealth and British society. It's lit fic at it's best and I cannot recommend this enough! It also has BBC drama vibes so here I am waiting for a screen version......

Beautiful but pacey, this is a fantastic debut novel!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy.

This book featured in the 2025 version of the influential and frequently literary-prize-prescient annual Observer Best Debut Novelist feature (last year included Colin Barrett and Kaliane Bradley, 2023
Tom Crewe. Michael Magee and Jacqueline Crooks – and earlier years have featured Natasha Brown, Caleb Azumah Nelson, Douglas Stuart, Sally Rooney, Rebecca Watson, Yara Rodrigues Fowler, JR Thorp Bonnie Garmus, Gail Honeyman among many others).

It was also winner of the 2023 Merky Books New Writers Prize – Merky Books is a PRH imprint set up with Stormzy with a worthy aim to publish “bold voices from untraditional spaces that are inclusive and intersectional .. [and] .. to break down barriers in the publishing industry” and the prize comes with a publishing contract for the unfinished submission (I think its will be the fourth of the winners to be published – with Hafsa Zayyan’s “We Are All Birds of Uganda” and Jyoti Patel’s “The Things That We Lost” the two others I have read.

The author is British-Jamaican, growing up outsider Manchester as the children of lawyers before studying Medicine and earning a Master’s in Clinical and Forensic Psychology at Newcastle University – and worked as a Junior Doctor before (I think) becoming a full time writer after their Prize win.

The author has said of the book that it draws on their “experiences of dating, but also just of like, being a person of colour in quite white spaces, which is something that I think most people of color in the UK experience to some degree, and trying to find the point of human connection in those, like, quite fraught spaces. I guess it’s come from a thought experiment, on how to bridge those gaps and love across things like race and class. And it's just about how, whether or not it’s strong enough to overcome those very structural things because love feels so organic in some ways, but then, now there’s all of this structure around it”. And also that it draws on the cultural dislocation they felt when sent to board at the exclusive Shrewsbury School aged 13.

Their unnamed (which at first seems odd given the copious introductions and namedropping that occurs in the novel but ultimately I think works very effectively to reinforce the novel’s themes) narrator is also of British-Jamaican heritage, also grew up near Manchester and also a student at Newcastle University but from a more working class, single parent background (having grown up largely with their grandmother after the loss of his mother who suffered from mental health struggles and with his father absent apart from one brief visit). At University one of his closest friends is Jazz/Jasmine – fiercely proud and protecting of her Nigerian roots and Blackness and who affectionately calls the narrator “WhiteBoy” due to his inability to follow her Black cultural references.

But he is also friends with Lily Blake – a white girl and wanabee phorographer from a very rich family – and the first part of the novel is in his post University Summer where she persuades him to join her family at their chateaux in France. There he meets Lily’s father, her mother Annie (who turns out to be a jazz singer that the narrator and his Grandma loved and via whose records he taught himself music), Lily’s rather troubled younger sister Dot (who later identifies as non-binary) and her charismatically attractive brother Felix a promising actor.

This first 40% or so of the novel takes place over some days of that Summer and features a series of family traditions around Lily’s birthday, excessive privilege and an ostentatious Summer party which includes as a guest a high profile Black Conservative MP, Lily’s University friends (who rather amusingly Jazz calls “Jack Wills Anonymous”) and various other rich people. Throughout the section the mutual attraction between the narrator and Felix grows and culminates in a romantic lakeside picnic and sex session.

There is no question that this section, written like the rest of a novel in a present tense which I rarely appreciate in literary fiction, does convey a sense of decadence and family tensions as well as Summer and sexual heat – but I have to say it was not to my tastes or interest and I felt that the author’s ideas of being a person of colour in white spaces was rather buried under the extreme privilege conveyed in which all but a very small percentage (if not quite the 0.001% the narrator says to Jazz) would feel rather lost.

The remainder of the novel is set back in the UK – Felix and the narrator have come out as an item (at least to Felix’s family – very specifically not to anyone else much to the narrator’s growing unease and frustration) and Felix’s acting career is about to take off (first via a play and then into film).

And the novel takes off at the same time.

There are still scenes of privilege – a country estate shooting at the estate of family friends (an estate which happens to be very close to where the narrator grew up) for example – but they are much more deliberately and cleverly now set against other, often deliberately contrasting scenes:

More detail on the narrator’s homelife and the harrowing health issues in his family’s background

A visit to the Notting Hill Carnival in which the narrator and his black friends, trying to protest a police killing in the US are caught up in a heavy handed police response and then the near fatal beating of one of their number – a protest which the Conservative MP turns to her own advantage

The resulting protests and actions that Jazz and her friends take – and to which the narrator is reluctant to be drawn

Increasing tensions within the Blake family even as they (as well as the publicists/PR handlers for Felix and to a lesser extent Lily) start closing ranks against the narrator and the shadow he might cast over their reaction

And the novel ends with two bravura scenes: a protest at an exhibit of Lily’s photos of the Carnival which brilliant re-purposes the Conservative politician’s speech; and a chilling final showdown between the narrator and Annie with a brilliant last line.

For me this was a fascinating journey from a novel I really did not rate – to one I thought was excellent and I think a real contender for literary prize recognition.

I really love stories that explore wealth and class in this big-house-dysfunctional-family type of way, and was immediately hooked here by the gorgeous French summer setting. The story then takes these themes so much further, with a commentary on race and sexuality too that are all seamlessly woven into the plot, with a very likeable main character, and very believable characters more generally (though you definitely don't like most of them!). The writing is absolutely brilliant and had me gripped until about 80% when I felt we were nearing the end but not quite getting there in a succinct way. For me that's why it's not quite 5* but I still came away from the novel having enjoyed it – for a debut this was a really impressive read and I'd definitely pick up something new from him.

Excellent debut from Hunter, placing a young, working class black man in an environment of (white) privilege - first on a sun drenched family holiday with a university friend, and subsequently as the lover of his friend’s brother. With the advantages that are opened up through being part of this milieu, albeit given grudgingly, I was reminded of The Line of Beauty (far more than Saltburn, which seems a rather shallow comparison). A toxic combination of class, race and sexuality means this never feels like a book with a happy ending but it’s immensely rewarding. Hunter’s use of language is evocatively descriptive - you can smell the expensive sun cream, or the dinginess of a flat after a sex and drugs binge. Fantastic debut, looking forward to seeing more from them.