Untouchable Things

Follies are defined as a senseless act, doing something silly. Almost playful. So when Rebecca joins her friend's Friday Folly group of friends, you would expect that they will play hop-scotch and dominoes. Unfortunately sarcasm is also part of the group and soon Rebecca sees how wrong she interpreted it.... And while she sees that, she is being watched. By who? The book gripped me from the start and you can't wait to finish it, to see how it ends!! It was really an awesome book, and is highly recommended for anyone that enjoys crime fiction with a twist!

This book made me cry. I identified with the heroine so much that I felt her emotions grabbing me forcefully. This is what I call good writing, it's rare that an author has that wonderful power of making you live inside their book and struggle along the characters. It also made me think about my life and how things that may seem unimportant mean something that could change it forever.

An utterly Gripping Story which shows how much Secrets and lies can destroy even the strongest of friendships. Loved the many tense moments. Had me hooked from the beginning. Highly recommended!!

This debut novel was well written with a distinct literary edge and I can see why it has won the 2014 Luke Bitmead Bursary like one of my favourite authors Ruth Dugdall did a few years ago. A great platform for talented writers which has pushed this novel to the attention of readers and bloggers pre publication.
I found the book to be very slow and difficult to get into to begin with. This was possibly due to the unusual formatting style of Acts and Scenes interspersed with police interview style questioning of the characters.
Rebecca and others have been approached by the charismatic Seth who comes across as a cult leader figure with his group the Friday Follies. The group seem totally under the spell but then something happens and Seth disappears.
While this is a well written book, it moved too slowly for my personal tastes in thrillers although it was nice to read a book with lots of literary references which were relevant to the plot.
I received a copy of this book via netgalley in return for an unbiased review.

Untouchable Things is a novel filled with mystery, suspense and thrills and it is set up very differently from the usual format of a novel almost as if it is a script for a play. Seth holds meetings at his home with his artistic group of friends called Friday Follys where they gather to share their different talents but something happens that changes all their lives. The group starts to fall apart when Seth goes missing. It is full of secrets and betrayal with an unexpected twist.

This was a fantastic and unusual read. It is a suspense thriller, but most of the book you are not guessing who is the killer but what’s going to happen next.

Rebecca, a young actress meets the charismatic Seth. He asks her to join is group of young artists who meets on Fridays and do some art things. Rebecca is drawn to Seth. Seth is the center of this group, all others are all looking up to him, he has the ideas for their meetings, he makes things happen. Each of them brings a special skill to this group. What they all have in common is their admiration and love to Seth. He is generous, funny, really interested in everybody. But he has secrets. Not only about himself, he shares a secret with every person of this group to make this person feel special among the others. He fulfills their needs in some way and their almost worship him for that. Then one day Seth disappears and the group starts to fall apart.

The novel’s structure is very unique. There are normal chapters, the scenes are split with fragments of police interviews. Some chapters are written like plays. At the beginning it was a bit hard to get into it but soon I got used to it and especially the police interview pieces made the read even more gripping.

There are a lot of characters and I was impressed how the author gave each one of them a unique voice. You get to know each of them very well.

After Seth is gone, all of them have to come to terms with the loss. But they also realize how he manipulated them and maybe it was all part of a bigger plan. They must face the fact that Seth wasn’t their generous friend after all. There is a dark shadow of not knowing exactly what happened and why.

This book is very dark. It is very complex and not an easy read. There are also some loose ends and it is possible that maybe at least Rebecca is not safe. After I finished the book and had some more questions. Seth (and the authors) keeps even me guessing what happened and if it was all planed right from the beginning.

Oh Yikes.

I haven't read such an unusual way such as this in writing a psychological thriller. Its really interesting....
Once I got into the first couple of chapters.

It was a bit of a slow burning for me, but the fire was flickering all the time below the surface telling me that I should stick with this.....so I did, and boy oh boy I am so glad I did.

This has got narcissist in this most definitely. Self gratification with every measure. Lots of egotistical elements that just surround SETH he introduces actress Rebecca to the Friday Folly's.

They meet regular discussing their talents, life, drinking and getting quite leery.

Seth definitely likes endless praise, hence narcissist to the max.

Then among the Friday Folly's club one night things take a turn......
for the worse.....
and not all seems as it should be.

THEN SETH GOES MISSING and things begin to change....

This is written in such a way that it could be enacted like a play, its very well crafted and I will certainly be wanting more from the author. Tara Guha is a name I won't forget in a hurry or this book!

Thank you to the author and to Legend Press via Net Galley for my copy

Again, I am completely blown away by another debut novel and taking into consideration the, to me anyway, totally unique way of delivery a pretty brave one at that!
I was drawn into the lives of the characters depicted right from the off. As the novel progressed I was catapulted along with the rest of the cast into Seth's world, he put me under his spell and at times I even considered myself as a reader to be one of his collection, as that is how I saw his "friends".
We first encounter Seth as he meets Rebecca and introduces her to his already established "Friday Folly" art group. They are a very eclectic mix of participants of various art forms that he has met and picked up along the way. We get to learn more about him and his group from police interviews that begin with questions and progress into each individuals' stories about how they "met" Seth and became part of his entourage. As time moves on, it becomes apparent that Seth is "missing" and we learn more about him and his psyche and find out the tangle web he has spun and begin to believe that all may not be as it first appeared. More blanks are filled in during more interviews and "scripts" as slowly the truth is uncovered. Who we, and his friends, think he is gets slowly chipped away and the motivations behind his actions are revealed piecemeal.
This is a very well written psychological/suspense thriller. I would describe it as a long fuse, slow burner but this is perfectly matched with the story. There are quite a few major players in the book but each and every one has their moment in the spotlight and all have their own individual story and spin on what happened prior to Seth's disappearance and indeed idea on what has actually happened to him. As already mentioned, they are an eclectic bunch, a hodgepodge of people from all walks of life that each add something individual to the group and we get to see why they would be drawn to a man like Seth and indeed why he himself is drawn to them..
It is a complex book, it jumps around in time and perspective, moving from one character to another but at no time did I find it confusing. The characters are all individual, consistent and easy to differentiate. It probably helps if, like me, the book is read for a decent length of time per sitting rather than a chapter here and there. But the way that I was drawn into the story and the lives of the characters, it was definitely hard to tear myself away from the book for long.
It is also very dark in tone, with lies and manipulation aplenty. At times it was almost like watching something like a car crash. You know what is going to happen, you are powerless to prevent it, you do not want to watch it but somehow you have to. Seth is a charmer, he knows exactly what buttons to press, exactly how to play people to get the reaction he requires, you know you shouldn't rise to it, shouldn't get sucked it, but you can't help it, you can't walk away, so strong his hold becomes. All very credible and sadly, for some people, all very real. That's what makes the book at times very scary but also very satisfying.
All in all, a very impressive debut novel and I am very interested in seeing what the author can deliver next.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

3.75

Whew, this book has left me exhausted!!

This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as I do like a book that can make me think and wonder. But that is a part of what held me back from giving it a higher rating--there were just too many questions left for speculation and after all that thinking, I wanted something a bit more concrete.

This is not your average psychological thriller; no set protag and an unclear antagonist. Over half of the book is the set up, written as scenes and acts in a play. This is fitting, as the book revolves around a group of strangers all brought together through the hand of one man, with the pretense of indulging in their inner artistic talents. As the book progresses, personalities become a focal point. There are chapters dedicated to each character of this group, revealing their insecurities, strengths, and most importantly-their personal demons.

How does this all tie up into a thriller? That's one of the elements that I found to be exceptional about this book...with a slow build in character study, the true meaning behind this group comes to light towards the end and it's absolutely brilliant!

If I could change anything, I wish there had been more words devoted to the antagonist's personal voice-the few pages that there were only fueled me wanting to know more. And I wasn't crazy about how long it took to get to the big reveal...but I'm not sure that there was anyway the author could have gotten there quicker without short changing some of the wonderful characters she created.

I realize this review might sound a big vague, but I hesitated going into further details as I don't want to give anything away. If you like a fast paced, in your face thriller, this probably isn't the book for you. This is a slow, meticulous, build up with interesting characters that you can identify with. You know something big is going yo happen, but you can't quite figure what. And when it's revealed, up pop all the questions that now have you wondering at the 'how' and the 'why' of it all.

ARC provided by NetGalley