Nothing Can Hurt You

Ooh, I loved this. The different perspectives building up to a pitch was really engrossing and it was great,

Great book. Really enjoyed this one. Just wish it hadn’t been a true story. It made it so much more poignant. It was well written. Full of body, once you start you just want to not put it down.

I don't know how to begin to describe this literary deconstruction of a psychological thriller. Told from twelve different points of view, all of whom link in some way to the victim at the centre of this story, this book looks at what it means to experience gender-based violence, class and privilege in many different and unique ways. Each point of view is a story in itself but also ties to the others.
The writing itself is fluid and sparse but utterly engrossing, i really couldn't put this novel down and it'll stay with me for a long time.

A stunning debut (technically? Goldberg's Other Women, a novella with Sad Spell Press, is also wonderful but I think functionally impossible to find now, although well worth it if you can) that weaves together disparate voices to show how the aftershocks of a college student's murder by her boyfriend ripple, disperse, and refract. The prose is clear and luminous, which is an overused word but accurate here, I think - it has a pellucid clarity and ease, and some striking, lovely images. A sad, quiet, beautiful novel.

This novel centres around the murder of Sara Morgan in 1997 by her boyfriend Blake Campbell during a schizophrenic episode. Although Blake is charged with her murder he is found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity. This book takes a different path from most books that surround a murder as it looks at a number of different characters affected to a greater or lesser degree. Thus it’s hard to categorise as it’s atypical and is more of a social commentary on the ripple effects of a terrible event rather than a thriller or crime novel which makes it very interesting. However, there are multiple points of view and it jumps from character to character so jotting down who is who is very helpful! I hasten to add that is not a negative comment as I think this is a clever book. It’s character driven and peers into the heart and soul of a crime. I really like how Sara is portrayed as a person rather than a victim and we really get to ‘see’ her. We can understand how a murder impacts on family members and friends who continue to ‘see’ her everywhere and she remains an constant in their lives. Taking this direction and slant allows us to see how lives are blighted and change irrevocably. This is a well written book and has a good pace.

Overall, this is a fascinating theme and a good read and it’s worth sticking with the multiple perspectives as it’s very illuminating.

With thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Press for the ARC

This book is in the thriller genre and if you're looking for a hard hitting thriller, I'd say keep looking. But that doesn't take away from how good this book is. I flew through it in 2 sittings, the flow of writing was conversational and so easy to just delve into and get lost in the writing. The book follows the. murder of a teenage girl, and through entwining stories we learn about the aftermath of the murder and. everyone affected. This book is clever, and leaves you thinking. It also makes you realise just how far and wide murder can affect those around the 'blast radius' and how it can truly. define. the rest of those involved, it makes you think, is the victim of the murder truly. the only victim?

Oh this book is BEAUTIFUL.

Disclaimer before going into it blind though -this is not psychological suspense, nor a thriller. It will leave more questions unanswered than it answers and it reads closer to literary fiction. It's sometimes confusing as it jumps between characters (there's a lot of them) and you'll get invested in one character only to never hear from them again. BUT if you can look past these flaws this is a beautiful, haunting book.

Nothing Can Hurt You is an exploration of how one tragic event (the murder of Sara by her boyfriend, Blake) affects a host of different people in different ways, even decades after the event.
I'd initially given this 4 or 4.5 stars, but after a few weeks of reflection I've jumped the gun and given it the coveted Sophia 5/5 stars because I cannot stop thinking about it. Nicola Maye Goldberg is an incredible, underrated writer and I look forward to reading everything she has ever written, ever.

This novel is based on a real crime, and is a truly haunting exploration of what the death of a young college student, Sara Morgan, has on everyone connected to the event. Sara is killed by her boyfriend, Blake. Blake later claims he can remember nothing of the events surrounding Sara’s death and, having been on drugs at the time, is found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity.

Although this is really a series of inter-connected characters, and events, it reads very much as a whole and complete novel, which is quite difficult to pull off. We read of the repercussions of the murder from those who were very close to either Sara or Blake – Sara’s mother, Blake’s sister. There are also those who recall very little, but feel the presence of both Sara, and what happened, as a huge presence in their life – such as Sara’s half-sister, just a toddler at the time, or the young girl that Sara babysit for. Other characters are really on the periphery of events – a town sheriff who knows Sara’s mother, the woman who finds Sara’s body – but whose lives intersect with the aftermath of the murder.

Alongside Sara’s storyline, is that of a serial killer, arrested at almost the same time of Blake. Logan is found guilty of the murder of six women, one whose name is dropped neatly into the first chapter, for us to shockingly discover as a victim later in the book. Indeed, one of the creepiest sections of this novel are a series of letters between a young girl, connected with Sara, who begins to correspond with Logan in prison.

It is difficult to say that you enjoyed a book, written about such a troubling subject, but I thought this was thought provoking and well written. Goldberg shows how easily those who purport to love, can hurt. How being touched by tragedy leads people to question themselves, or the behaviour of those around them. How it is a constant presence, or a troubling empty space – unresolved and tragic. I think this would be an excellent choice for book groups, with much to discuss. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.

‘Nothing can hurt you’ is not your traditional psychological thriller and it’s story is not linear but that is why I really loved this novel. The central event is the murder of college student, Sara Morgan, who is killed by her boyfriend Blake in 1997. From the beginning we see the ripple effect of her death on her loved ones and even those who never knew her; Nicola Maye Goldberg is a master at layering up different narratives from different points of view to capture the full impact of Sara’s murder. I have not enjoyed a book structured in this way since David Mitchell’s ‘Bone clocks’ but like Mitchell by the end I was captivated by the way the story is built up at a gradual pace and we see the connectivity between all of the characters.
I loved the range of voices that are included from Sara’s half sister who was just two when she died, to the later life of Blake after the trial, to the little girl Sara used to babysit who begins writing to a murderer in prison. There is a wonderful aspect of obsession that underlies all of the characters, tying them all to one another. I loved the unusual construction of this book and I am so happy to have found this incredible author!

Inspired by a true story, this compelling novel pulls together a multitude of voices to explore the aftermath of a young girls death. Sara was murdered by her college boyfriend, Blake, in New York in 1997. Acquitted, his plea of temporary insanity raises more questions than it can answer.

Reminiscent of Jon McGregor’s ‘Reservoir 13’, Nicola Maye Goldberg creates a vivid community surrounding Sara and Blake. I love how this is told through little snapshots of so many different lives; from people on the periphery such as the woman that discovered Sara’s body, to those closest to them like Blakes’ college room mate and Sara’s half sister.

I thought this was intoxicating, practically reading it in one sitting. The subject matter is brutal and haunting, exploring themes of gender based violence, justice, mercy and morality yet the writing is tender and beautiful too.

“Everyone knows bad things happen to good people - that’s just life. Good people doing bad things, that’s what’s really scary.”

Thanks Netgalley and Raven Books for my copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) for the arc of Nothing can hurt you by Nicola Maye Goldberg.

This is based upon a true story, winter 1997, Sara Morgan was murdered in the woods. which was around her liberal arts college. Blake her boyfriend confessed to this and his plea of insanity is having questions come up than it orignally answered. In around the time of his accquital this case actually ends up haunting a network of the community, from the reporters whom senses it could be linked to a serial killer whom is named John Logan to the lady who actually found Sara's body. The half sister of Sara is still very suffocated by her family's silence about Blake. She ends up in which she poses as a babysitter and she tried to seeks out her own form of justice in the way she wants whereas the teenager Sara used to babysit for starts writing to the serial killer in prison.....

This was a thrilling and enthralling ride, it was told in many POV'S it is such a beautifully written story of love, loss, murder and redemption!

Definitely recommend
5 Stars⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This was a great book. I don't read crime/thrillers, partly because I dislike the way the victims (nearly always a gruesomely murdered young woman) have no backstory of their own. This feels like literary fiction that happens to have a crime theme. Sara Morgan has been murdered by her boyfriend, but the book explores the web of people tangentially involved in her life, from her much younger half sister, the boyfriend who had suffered from mental illness, to the journalist who writes about an unrelated serial killer, to a naive young girl writing letters to a prisoner. There was a huge array of characters that were so well described, all with this linking thread. I really enjoyed finding out about them all. A very unusual, dark but enjoyable book.

What an unassuming little book.

I tentatively started it at lunchtime yesterday, thinking it was only okay and I'd slowly pick my way through it this week. I ended up reading the whole thing in one sitting.

Multiple narratives can be confusing and tricky, with one narrative being more preferable to the other but I think it was managed very well here. The oscillating narrative voices, some directly connected to Sara, others indirectly, all were well-written and interesting.

What I found interesting about this book is how it plays with not only the conventional reflections we expect from the circumstances, but how it dredges up the bizarre: Blake's college friend sees a woman on a flight who reminds him of Sara, and he reflects on how he might have seen signs of what was to come. He is angry at Blake for tainting what should have been golden college memories, but in every memory there is the indelible stain of what Blake did - but this is not what I took away from his narrative. It's that the woman on the flight and his own girlfriend, in the same segment, challenge him on his belief that he is a "nice guy" and how self-centered he is, unable to engage with women beyond what he wants.

On the more "conventional" end of the spectrum, when Sara's now adult half-sister applies for a job as a babysitter for Blake's daughter, and is found out by Blake, their confrontation is hardly explosive or vengeful as you would expect in most thrillers. In fact, it challenges the standard pattern of how we categorize and think about victims:

"My father has never been angry with you. At least not as far as I know. I think it's..." I struggled for the right word and eventually settled on "perverse. He should want you dead. If it was me who was killed, I would want someone to avenge me. And if not my father, then who?"
"No, you wouldn't."
"What?"
"You wouldn't want someone to avenge you if you were killed. You wouldn't want anything because you'd be dead."
I didn't know what to say to that.
"That's the awful paradox of it. We're all left trying to figure out what the dead person would want, and you can never really figure it out, because they're dead. And even if you did somehow figure it out, you couldn't give it to them.'"

Nothing Can Hurt You plays around with our concepts of what is just and fair, if Blake was acquitted and he has shown remorse, what else can we expect? Is lifelong incarceration really justice (when he has grown-up in to a model citizen and lives with his actions every day) or is it just cold revenge? How can we know what Sara would want? As Lizzie notes, how can we say "Sara could have been" when she had no immediate direction, and all avenues closed to her the moment she died. Sara ceased as a possibility and the most likely truth is what insults our mob sensibilities: Sara would have married Blake.

This whole book is a tangled yarn of narratives and ideas, with no overall objective because we cannot revive Sara and Blake's verdict, while discomforting, might have been apt. Directionless books can often frustrate me but I was entranced, there's hardly any decorative language here, no fistful of adjectives or clever metaphors, it's just concentrated narrative and it works so well. The synopsis emphasizes gender based violence, but aside from a liberal college vigil, this isn't really explored. The other emphasis is on obsession and voyeurism and I think Goldberg really excels at this. She skillfully dissects how how we parade murder victims in the cultural spotlight, à la Twin Peak's Laura Palmer, condemning the perpetrator and braying for our own concept of "justice" with the same breath that we consume true crime as a product. I think this is a really interesting perspective in the True Crime obsessed landscape, where TV shows, books and podcasts on the destruction of others are marketed consumer products.

What an unexpected trip this book was. I will definitely be reviewing when it comes out in stores.

An unusual and haunting book, this explores the impact on multiple lives after a young woman is murdered by her boyfriend, who is found not guilty by reason of insanity. Each chapter is told from the perspective of a different person, with some link to the case - sometimes significant, sometimes fleeting - with real impact. One chapter comes from the perspective of the victim's sister - another from a teenage girl who barely knew her, but was babysat by her as a young child. In this way, the author explores the far-reaching effects of gendered violence, and while the woman at the centre of it all has been silenced, ensures her story is heard.

This was an interesting read and it felt more like an anthology story than just one continuous story. I enjoyed how it was told and thought the main premise was done really well. The writing was exciting and fresh and i couldn't put this down. The way it explored the violence was interesting and felt new in a way that other stories like this have not thought to.

Nothing Can Hurt You is a literary thriller seemingly based on a true story that throws the rule book out of the window and does things differently. It explores the impact of a killing on a large cast of characters, both those directly and indirectly affected and those both in the inner circle of friends and family, and those on the periphery. Highlighting the extent to which people are deeply affected by the brutal murder of a young woman in their community we are treated to multiple perspectives on the case. When the apparent murderer, the girl's boyfriend Blake Campbell, confesses to the crime stating that when he slit her throat he was high on LSD the community and family are thankful that justice will now be served, however, this feeling does not last long. The mood rapidly changes when he is acquitted due to a plea of temporary insanity linked to a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Blake comes from a prominent, affluent family who are well connected and can afford to pay for a top lawyer. The characters go through a gamut of emotions as their quest for justice continues.

This is a riveting and captivating read from the very beginning and with each chapter dedicated to a single character the clever construction helped build the atmosphere. It is haunting and moving with an inevitable focus on the issue of white privilege when it comes to the law and criminality. And so the intersectionality of topics such as race, class, power and wealth and how they combine to create modes of discrimination is touched upon. It is not a thriller in the traditional sense but more nuanced and philosophical in nature showing the deconstruction of a murder, its aftermath and the ripple effect a brutal crime can have on a close knit community. I thought the writing style and structure of the story was well thought through; you can tell it wasn't just simply thrown together. Quite often having a large cast and changing perspectives can be confusing but I didn't feel any confusion at all as I raced through this in one sitting. Many thanks to Raven Books for an ARC.