I don’t know how I feel about this book. It was c9nfusing because one paragraph ran into the next. Would suddenly switch scenes/locations. One long chapter. No separation between paragraphs to indicate the setting of the book changed. It’s a short book and, in this case, that was a good thing. I didn’t know what to expect or how I wanted the book to end. This is not a thriller at all, in my opinion. And the book just ended and I was left just thinking….Huh ?

With thanks to the Author, Collective Ink Limited and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this eARC.

A novella offering the traumatic connection between a Dr and his two patients, was a quick and captivating read.

We meet the Dr, Patrick and Catherine quickly, realising that they are all connected through the shared grief of losing a loved one in a motor vehicle accident. Each character deals with this in a different way, and the comparisons, and contrasts between each of them demonstrates how different we all are as humans and how perhaps family and our own lived experiences play apart in our reconciliation of loss, grief and trauma.

There were many fascinating and disturbing unveilings in this short story, from the Dr and his unorthodox, shared treatment of Patrick and Catherine to the realisation of Patrick’s deeper traumas and monstrous nature through his apparent obsession on revenge and retribution from childhood bullying.

Three people connected by trauma, haunted by the past, healed together.
Dr Lanning, Catherine Stannard and Patrick Hawton are thrown together by a motorway tragedy.

This is a quiet novel(la?) about three interrelated characters trying to navigate a shared grief, and how they respond differently to the loss. Despite the brevity of the book, the characters are fleshed out and unique; each reacts differently and relies on the others differently.

Elements of the story were a bit confusing, and I found the characters growth (or changes, at least, because not all the growth was positive) to be rushed at times. This book may have been over-edited! I think it could have been twice as compelling at double the length.

What an intense book! It was disturbing in so many ways, but I couldn’t put it down. I read it in a single session. It is short at 168 pages but that somehow felt right.

The story is essentially a three-hander, with the doctor (Langan) attempting to treat the psychological trauma of Patrick and Catherine who are the only survivors of a massive pile-up which killed twenty-seven people, including Patrick’s wife and Catherine’s partner. He is eminently unqualified to take on such a task having lost his own wife in similar circumstances.

The character of Patrick is terrifyingly cold and provides the perfect counterpoint to the doctor. His concealments, apparent insensitivity and frigidity created a tremendous tension and the feeling that he was about to do something terrible. The un-putdown-ability of the book stemmed wholly from this tension. There was a growing sense of horror and that feeling you get when confronted with something monstrous. Do you need to cover your eyes and hide, or should you stand up tall and stare at the beast?

My only criticisms would be that there are a few typos which have sneaked through the editing process (for example scolding instead of scalding), and that some of the transitions between scenes and viewpoints are very abrupt and forced me to back up and reorient myself. There were some instances of where a scene transition happened within a paragraph which was really disconcerting. It might be better to insert some spaces in the text to indicate the change and there certainly needs to be another editorial run through before final publication. It might be better to insert some spaces in the text to indicate the change.

This is a first novel I believe. Great work and I hope it does well.

Thank you to NetGalley for making an advance copy of this book available for review. The opinions expressed above are entirely my own, following a full read of the novel.