Tampa - Alissa Nutting

I rated this book 8/10
First published September 2013

Celeste Price is an eighth-grade English teacher in suburban Tampa. She is attractive. She drives a red Corvette. Her husband, Ford, is rich, square-jawed and devoted to her. But Celeste has a secret. She has a singular sexual obsession - fourteen-year-old boys. It is a craving she pursues with sociopathic meticulousness and forethought.

Within weeks of her first term at a new school, Celeste has lured the charmingly modest Jack Patrick into her web - car rides after dark, rendezvous at Jack's house while his single father works the late shift, and body-slamming encounters in Celeste's empty classroom between periods. It is bliss.

With crackling, stampeding, rampantly sexualized prose, Tampa is a grand, satirical, serio-comic examination of desire and a scorching literary debut.

Horrific, vulgar and completely fascinating...

An absolute horror of a read that is all the more effective because it is written in first person perspective through the eyes of the most cold and calculated woman I've ever stumbled across in a novel. Celeste is a complete sociopath and has no understanding of the effects that her behaviour has on other people - it doesn't even enter her thoughts at any point in the book. Celeste exists only to satisfy her own desires - and the book spares no graphic detail in how she goes about this.

A lot more shocking than expected, Tampa is often compared to Lolita. Except for the subject matter being about an adult attracted to minors, there are no other sticking points. Tampa wrecks your head entirely, leaves you no room to sympathise with Celeste at all, and leads you into a car crash of a tale. There's no subtlety and this won't be a timeless classic on everybody's 'must read' list.

Absorbing and repulsive at once, Alissa Nutting's style is big and bold and doesn't hold back.

Available in Waterstones

Burnt Tongues - Chuck Palahniuk

I rated this book 8/10
First published in July 2014

Burnt Tongues is a collection of transgressive stories selected by a rigorous nomination and vetting process and hand-selected by Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club, as the best of The Cult workshop, his official fan website.

These stories run the gamut from horrific and fantastic to humorous and touching, but each leaves a lasting impression.

Some may say even a scar.

Quick, sick and addictive tales...

A collection of twisted short stories, collated and edited by Chuck Palahniuk. As expected, anything that Palahniuk puts his name to is going to be dark, disturbing and should be approached with caution!

This book is nowhere near as disgusting as 'Haunted' by the man himself, but the stories all have the ability to make you recoil in horror. At one point (somewhere near the middle) I had to put the book down for a few hours and collect myself (I think it involved a chicken satay stick...). There were one or two more tame additions that allowed time to breathe - and one story near the end I skipped altogether because it just wasn't interesting. The last tale is as good as the first, and will definitely leave a lasting impression!

Chuck Palahniuk's introduction was very interesting, in particular the quote "Young people want mirrors. Older people want art." The more I think about his comments on reading and re-reading, and growing to love the impression of a book that you didn't enjoy when you actually read it; the more I believe his comments to be true.

If you like the bizarre fiction that Palahniuk throws at us, then you're going to like the short works that he's pulled together for us here too.

Available at Waterstones

The Narrow Road to the Deep North - Richard Flanagan

I rated this book 10/10...

Taking its title from 17th-century haiku poet Basho's travel journal, The Narrow Road To The Deep North is about the impossibility of love. At its heart is one day in a Japanese slave labour camp in August 1943. As the day builds to its horrific climax, Dorrigo Evans battles and fails in his quest to save the lives of his fellow POWs, a man is killed for no reason, and a love story unfolds. 

Richard Flanagan, weaving together the personal and professional life of Australian surgeon Dorrigo Evans, brings us a dark and touching insight into the horrors of the Burma Death Railway.

Written in the style of a war hero reminiscing about his past, Dorrigo finds himself in the midst of the second world war, caught up in a forbidden affair with his uncle’s headstrong wife. He visits her rather than his own fiancee whenever he has leave, and begins to become absorbed in his love for Amy above most other things. The novel takes a dramatic turn when two years later Dorrigo is captured by the Japanese as a Prisoner of War working on the Burma Death Railway. He is expected to lead a large group of fellow prisoners as they work on building the railway to impossible deadlines and in impossible conditions. Dorrigo is forced to get ever more work out of his fellow captives, even as they are dying around him of exhaustion, starvation and cholera; and he finds himself setting up and running a makeshift hospital for the camp alongside his other duties to his men.

Flanagan writes with a beauty that brings the horrors of the POW camp and the characters that suffer there to life. There are many symbolic gestures laced throughout the narrative - handwritten letters, red camellias and pencil sketches that resonate long after the book has finished, and the link to poetry from the start brings endless depth to the prose. The grit and gore of the Prisoner of War camp is followed by severe emptiness as Flanagan explores the emotions of both the prisoners and the Japanese soldiers after the war is over. Here he expertly sets out the contrast between the two lives - when the men begin to realise that nothing they ever experience will be as intense or meaningful again.

Flanagan’s novel becomes all the more poignant when we find out that it was written in tribute to his father, an Australian prisoner of war who survived his experiences on the Burma Death Railway. His father sadly passed away on the day that Flanagan finished writing his book.

'The Narrow Road to the Deep North’ was well deserving of the Man Booker Prize last year and is now out in paperback, although there is something quite pleasing about the hardback edition.

Catholic Guilt - Irvine Welsh

I rated this book 3/10

A short story, and the first one that I finished in audio book format. It's a typically shocking tale from Irvine Welsh, full of bad language and x-rated themes. I think that he build up was pretty good; nothing special, but the ending lacked any real power or twist (which I personally look for in a short story).

If, like me, you're into bizarre books that are very dark and vulgar then go for it, it's not Irvine Welsh's greatest piece, but it might be worth a read. If you're not fond of foul language, graphic sex and gore - then stay away!

Diary - Chuck Palahniuk

I rated this 7/10

Misty Wilmot has had it. Once a promising young artist, she’s now stuck on an island ruined by tourism, drinking too much and working as a waitress in a hotel. Her husband, a contractor, is in a coma after a suicide attempt, but that doesn’t stop his clients from threatening Misty with lawsuits over a series of vile messages they’ve found on the walls of houses he remodeled.

Suddenly, though, Misty finds her artistic talent returning as she begins a period of compulsive painting. Inspired but confused by this burst of creativity, she soon finds herself a pawn in a larger conspiracy that threatens to cost hundreds of lives. 

What a read!

I liked the tension and the build up and the absurdity of this book. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the overly gruesome 'Haunted' but I was hypnotised by it and it was keeping me glued to the pages.

Thinner - Richard Bachman

I rated this 8/10

Thinner; a supernatural thriller by Richard Bachman (AKA Stephen King). This provided me with some really addictive reading, the build up of suspense throughout is pretty special. We are introduced to Billy, who we quickly discover has been momentarily distracted from driving by his frisky wife. During this lapse of concentration, Billy manages to run over a gypsy's wife (or his daughter, as we find out later) who steps out into the road from between two parked cars. Billy leaves the courtroom later on after getting away with the accident scott free, and the old gypsy man curses him, simply with the word 'Thinner'.

"But I'm telling you Billy, you can't lose almost twenty pounds in two weeks just by exercising." - p31

And this is where the tale cranks up - Billy finds himself battling against time and enlisting a friend (Ginelli, my favourite character) to find the old gypsy before he dies a slow and painful death from seemingly inexplicable malnutrition. Along the way he questions his own life, his morals and the people that he loves before the book cuts off with a mind boggling ending!

Ginelli aside, 'Thinner' hasn't got a single likeable protagonist in it, and yet it kept me gripped right through to the last sentence. The characters are cold, aloof, self involved - but written with a depth and understanding that makes them wholly believable and well rounded. The book is easy to read, quick and engrossing - certainly one to pick up if you like bizarre plotlines and want something that isn't going to be a challenging read.  This is the perfect escape for the daily commute.

The Running Man - Richard Bachman

I rated this 9/10

It's not just a game when you're running for your life.
     Every night they tuned in to the nation's favorite prime-time TV game show.
     They all watched, from the sprawling polluted slums to the security-obsessed enclaves of the rich. They all watched the ultimate live death game as the contestants tried to beat not the clock, but annihilation at the hands of the Hunters. Survive thirty days and win a billion dollar jackpot—that was the promise. But the odds were brutal and the game rigged. Best score so far was eight days.

     And now there was a new contestant, the latest Running Man, staking his life while a nation watched.

The Running Man is the first book I have ever picked up written by Stephen King. I have always been under the impression that King's novels are massively far-fetched and have random paranormal twists to them that make no sense at all. I don't know where I got this feeling from, but how wrong I have been! At least in this case anyway!

Stephen King writes as Richard Bachman in this gritty, dystopian, reality-tv themed thriller and it was entirely down my street. Richards was a brilliant character and I liked him instantly. He has his head screwed on in an ever more chaotic world, and has his morals and values in all the right places as society becomes ever more corrupt around him...

"Spare me the cheap snatch," Richards said. "I'm married." - pg 40

The Running Man is very fast and very furious, keeping me engrossed on a hot, packed train even whilst I had other commuters coughing down my ear and standing on my toes. I couldn't tear my eyes from it.

Despite the extreme poverty, the brutal massacres and bloodshed that is rife in this Big Brother nation, King lets us glimpse the hope, warmth and loyalty that is present in all walks of humanity. He tackles class and race issues, builds towering skyscrapers and advanced weaponry; and sets us down running with "...MINUS 100 AND COUNTING..."

"We've been on for six years. To date, we have no survivals. To be brutally honest, we expect to have none."
"Then you're running a crooked table," Richards said flatly.
Killian seemed more amused than horrified. "But we're not... Mr Richards. People won't be at the bars and hotels or gathering in the cold in front of appliance stores rooting for you to get away. Goodness! no. They want to see you wiped out, and they'll help if they can..." - pg 39

I will be highly recommending The Running Man. I haven't seen the film starring Arnie, but the book has quickly become one of my all time favourites. I have the rest of Bachman (AKA King)'s titles, and I will be working my way through them.

Being A Boy - James Dawson

It's harder to be a girl because
they have to push enormous babies
out of a very small hole and also
because we live in a pretty sexist
world run almost exclusively
by rich men.

Rated 10/10

Being a boy is hard. How can you possibly act cool and even think about pulling potential partners when your face is sprouting spots and you're hairy in places you didn't even know could be hairy? Luckily, 'Being a Boy' provides an uncensored look at puberty, from the social food chain to sex, being a boyfriend and everything guys need to know to survive - brutal honesty included.

My thoughts: A really quick and easy read that speaks to teen boys on their own level. I was sent this as a proof and read it in a day, it's very difficult to put down!

James Dawson writes with wit and understanding - almost like having an older brother/friend on call to answer those questions that are difficult to ask. As a 26 year old woman, I still found it highly entertaining and would recommend that anyone could read and be amused and informed in some way.

I particularly loved Dawson's stance on sexuality - refraining completely from labels and recognising that sexual preference is never as black & white as people suggest. Similarly, the ideas put forward on sexism and gender are equally as valid, and I would trust in putting this book in any boy's hands without worrying that they might be baffled or overwhelmed by the differences between men and women. There is none of that here...

Which puts forth another major positive that I got from this book - it doesn't bombard the lads with all of the biological physical explanations that they will have heard in sex ed classes. Ie: it's nothing at all like sitting down in a Science Biology lesson and being bored senseless for an hour. None of that. Just the stuff that is relevant, and written in a way that is easily digested.

There was only one little sentence that I personally completely disagreed with.

Other than that, an absolute winner!

Kitchen Confidential - Anthony Bourdain

'My first indication that food was
something other than a substance
one stuffed in one's face when hungry
- like filling up at a gas station - came
after fourth-grade elementary school.

Rated 10/10

After twenty-five years of 'sex, drugs, bad behaviour and haute cuisine', chef and novelist Anthony Bourdain decides to tell all.

My thoughts: I found myself strangely inspired by Bourdain's full on account of his own culinary successes and (mostly) failures. I admire his attitude towards his business, the way that he prizes character and drive over skill, and the way that he admits to his own mistakes and makes no apologies over his completely obsessive behaviour.

This book was interesting throughout every word, and I found myself wanting to read more,  hungrily devouring the pages (pun intended) and wondering whether I could get myself a decent kitchen knife on my way home from work (I couldn't), and whether anyone would actually try my spur-of-the-moment masterchef creations (they won't).

The fact that Bourdain's journey drew me in and moved me in such a way is testament to the fact that Kitchen Confidential is a brilliant book and should be read by anybody who has an interest in food. I know that he has a bit of a reputation, but between these pages we see a more rounded view of this notorious tv chef.

The 5th Wave - Rick Yancey

There will be no awakening.

Rated 10/10

After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.

My Thoughts: This book was powerful from the very first sentence. It's a dark and gritty teen read (though it has a maturity in style that adults will enjoy too). Relentless and full of action throughout, I actually couldn't put it down. 

The characters are strong, very strong; and as they are children from the age of 5 upwards, they are battling with self-discovery alongside the inconvenience of a full on alien invasion. But not the cheesy, big-eyed, hairless, green life forms you might see in an old film or tv programme - we're talking something a lot more sinister than that. Something that could really make your skin crawl...

What struck me the hardest about this novel was Yancey's style. It's no holds barred, grown up writing; short, sharp, shocking. 

Packed full of violence, death and the urge for survival; this is a book for those not too faint at heart. If you love grit and grime then this could be for you - might be best not to read in the dark...

Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh

"The sweat wis lashing oafay
Sick Boy; he wis trembling."

Rated 10/10

Irvine Welsh's controversial first novel, set on the heroin-addicted fringe of working-class youth in Edinburgh, is yet another exploration of the dark side of Scottishness. The main character, Mark Renton, is at the center of a clique of nihilistic slacker junkies with no hopes and no possibilities, and only "mind-numbing and spirit-crushing" alternatives in the straight world they despise. This particular slice of humanity has nothing left but the blackest of humor and a sharpness of wit.

My Thoughts:  Trainspotting is essentially a gritty collection of experiences through the eyes of various different people - laced with drugs and booze and sex and the blackest of wit throughout. I found myself alternatively repulsed and smiling right the way through to the last page.

And the characters are just brilliant, I don’t think that my descriptions could do them any kind of justice; they are violent and dirty and obsessive and I found them to be likeable and shocking at once. Each of them struggles with addiction, their own moral conflict and with each other; some manage to clean up and others don’t. I know that other readers felt differently, but they are relatable. I love that each of the characters in this book has a saving grace no matter how brutal they are.

The honesty with which Welsh writes is simply stunning (quite literally: some of it I couldn’t believe he would put on to paper) he’s obviously a talented observationalist with a lot of life experience under his belt and the power to make us stop and think about our own actions and thoughts towards society, class, gender and addiction.

This is a book that can be read on so many levels and has a lot of depth to it. No doubt I could read it again and again and get something completely different from it each time. It is definitely worthy of the endless amount of positive reviews that have been compiled by readers over the years and one to add to the reading list.

The Bunker Diary - Kevin Brooks

Rated 10/10

Room meets Lord of the Flies, The Bunker Diary is award-winning, young adult writer Kevin Brooks's pulse-pounding exploration of what happens when your worst nightmare comes true - and how will you survive?

My Thoughts: This book hit me right in the face. It's a dark and disturbed piece of Big Brother fiction that I actually couldn't prise from my own hands. The writing style is addictive - short, sharp and hard hitting. 

The setting is bleak and well described; the characters are bold and vivid and flawed at once. I couldn't stop reading and I know that others that haven't been able to put it down either. It's tragic and captivating and the ending is ... well... 

Very simple. Very effective.

Don't read this if you're after something light and cheery, you have been warned!

Haunted - Chuck Palahniuk

"This was supposed to be
a writers' retreat, it was
supposed to be safe."

Rated 9/10

Haunted is a novel made up of stories: twenty-three of the most horrifying, hilarious, mind-blowing, stomach-churning tales you'll ever encounter. 

My Thoughts: Wow! I'm fairly insensitive to any kind of blood, guts and bodily fluids, but I still found myself wanting to read this from between my fingers at times...

I asked my fellow bookseller to recommend me something that would make me think "What kind of sick person could think up something like this!?!" (think Halfhead/Stuart MacBride, Genesis/Karin Slaughter, Perfume/Patrick Suskind) - and she told me that this one fitted my brief exactly. She was spot on.

Some of the stories within the book were fantastic and left me wanting more of it - they're stuck in my head now and I can't get them out - some were so bizarre that I couldn't follow them (hence no 10th star). The characters were a mixed bag, mostly disconnected and unrelateable, but I did find myself rooting for one or two of them, which was a little disturbing in itself. I really did like the penultimate tale 'Obsolete' - it was one of the chapters that is now ingrained into my head.

I already read 'Snuff' by Palahnuik a while back, but now I think Choke and Fight Club are going onto my ever expanding Book(et) list.

Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

"Lolita,light of my life,
fire of my loins."

Rated 10/10

The book chronicles the life of its narrator and protagonist, Humbert Humbert, a middle-aged, fastidious college professor, focusing on his disastrous love affair with a young girl (he happens to like little girls), named Lolita, whom he'll do anything to possess. 

My Thoughts: Such a brilliantly written novel about a subject so terrible, and told through the eyes of a manipulative, destructive man. He tries to coerce the reader into sympathising with him, whilst all the time ruining the life of a young girl. He plays games with Lolita as he plays games with the reader. Isolates her, abuses her, blackmails her. Attempts to make us understand him. And it seems that some readers have actually been swayed by his immature obsessive ways.

An absolutely stunning read that I could not put down despite being horrified by it. Very well written, gripping and captivating and I can't help but hope that the writer had no life experience in the matter; he writes with such vivid style. Definitely one to read.

I have no idea why anyone could describe this novel as 'comic'. I don't quite know where the comedy lies. It is NEVER a child's fault, and (dear reader) it should NEVER be interpreted that way. The relationship in this book shouldn't be glamorised or romanticised. Adults hold a responsibility for protecting the health and well being of children, for teaching them morals and values and attempting to lead by example so that children can grow up forming their own happy and healthy relationships. This is one subject matter that I will always get on my soapbox for.

Halfhead - Stuart B. MacBride

"There's blood everywhere."

Rated 9.2/10 (Awesome!)

There are worse things than the death penalty...

My Thoughts: The first sentence had me hooked and pretty much set the theme up for the whole novel in an instant. A really dark and gritty sci-fi read with plenty of shocking gore and a racing plotline. I couldn't tear my eyes from the pages.

I had the privilege of a quick exchange of Tweets with Mr MacBride as I was reading this on the train to work:



                 Me ‏@Gemininski

Reading Halfhead by @stuartmacbride and wondering why I've never picked this up before. It's ace!

Expand

27 NovStuart MacBride ‏@StuartMacBride

@Gemininski Phew! That was a worry. Some people absolutely loathe it. Glad you're not one of them.

Expand

28 NovMe ‏@Gemininski

@StuartMacBride not at all! Though I do worry in parts that someone is looking over my shoulder at what I'm reading and backing away slowly.

And I did indeed find myself shielding the odd page from commuters who found themselves within reading distance. There are some pretty sickening scenes in there, and one particularly that I had to stop reading for a moment to take a deep breath and continue on. The strong dystopia element satisfied me, and I only wish that the book could have delved a little further into it, and into the whole concept behind the halfhead.

I love to be kept in suspense when reading. I love to be shocked. I love vivid characters that I actually care for and plenty of action... This book covered all bases. I want more!

An epic sci-fi/crime thriller that is something that little bit different. 

Theme: 5/5
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 5/5
Setting: 5/5
Style: 4/5

Overall: 9.2/10

Perfume: Patrick Suskind

"In eighteenth-century France
there lived a man who was one
of the most gifted and abominable
personages in an era that knew
no lack of gifted and abominable
personages."

Rated 8.4/10  (brilliant)

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, the protagonist of Patrick Suskind’s début novel is arguably one of the most extraordinary characters in contemporary fiction. This extraordinariness, which lies in his unprecedented and enviable power of smell, is an evident manifestation of the author’s creative genius and is responsible for the immense readability of this novel. 

My Thoughts: Wow! Well, I'd heard that this was a brilliant read by quite a few people and it sounded gruesome and horrific; something that would interest me, so I picked it up. 

In short, this is one of the strangest books I've ever read.

It's actually written really well, and I love that it kept me hooked right to the end simply because the concept was inspiring - the settings were vivid, and the characters were horrible! I loved that Suskind opens us up to the idea of scent and how important and under-rated it is to us. There wasn't as much action in it as I expected to come across, but it was interesting all the same. It captured settings through scent in a way that I've never found myself thinking about before. 

I love the power that Grenouille possesses and I love the way that Suskind writes him. I sympathised with Grenouille despite everything, and yet I couldn't like him in any way. He's a cold character but we know the reasoning behind it and we accept it. He has no endearing qualities for the reader to grasp, and he has no endearing qualities for other characters to grasp either. Brilliant!

We are also on a journey with a murderer, and there are very few authors that can write successfully on that basis. The fact that it is set in the 1700's is a huge bonus, as I love stepping back in time and surrounding myself with a way of life that differs so much to my own. I felt the urge to visit Baldini's store in particular. 

The ending of this book is completely bizarre and was probably the element that threw me off a little bit, and also the fact that it offered less action than I expected. I wanted this to be full on gore and horror - but it wasn't and it did drag in places. However, it was dark and gritty and beautifully written.

Theme: 5/5
I loved the concept of this novel and the originality of it.

Plot: 3/5
I needed more action and felt that the ending wasn't quite fitting.

Characters: 4/5
The characters were brilliantly written - especially Grenouille.

Setting: 5/5
A perfect setting.

Style: 4/5
I loved Suskind's style.

Overall: 8.4/10

The Virgin Cure - Ami McKay

Date Finished: 23rd April 2012

The summer Moth turns twelve, her mother puts a halt to her explorations by selling her boots to a local vendor, convinced that Moth was planning to run away. Wanting to make the most of her every asset, she also sells Moth to a wealthy woman as a servant, with no intention of ever seeing her again.

My Thoughts: Read as uncorrected proof. This was a fairly quick easy to read historic novel with a dark and dangerous plotline and some pretty good characters. I enjoyed reading it, it satisfied the (well-hidden) typical girl in me and I loved the little descriptions of stunning dresses, jewellery and luxurious houses. I found it very visually appealing.

The book builds up to a really quite shocking scene towards the end, and because I felt for the characters, it disturbed me a bit. A sign that this book had me hooked!

I RATED IT 8/10

Trafficked - Sophie Hayes

Date Finished: 9th March 2012

When Sophie Hayes met Bledi she knew he'd change her life – but she had no idea how much. At first, it was a typical whirlwind romance. But one day Bledi told her that love always comes at a price ...

My Thoughts: I very rarely pick up a 'Painful Lives' book, but there wasn't much choice in the train station and so I ended up running this one through the self-serve check out before jumping on the train.

I couldn't put it down.

The events that she speaks of are horrific, but Sophie glosses over the really gritty detail and as a result, it's a book that more readers can pick up and learn from. A really addictive read that is easy to blitz your way through. Sophie Hayes' story is a tragic one, but it hammers home an immensely important message, and it's one that we can all learn from.

I RATED IT 6/10

Blindsighted - Karin Slaughter

Date Finished: 18th October 2011

The sleepy town of Heartsdale, Georgia, is jolted into panic when Sara Linton, the town’s pediatrician and coroner, finds Sibyl Adams, a young college professor, dead in the local diner. As well as being viciously raped, Sibyl has been cut: two deep knife wounds form a lethal cross over her stomach. But it’s only once Sara starts to perform the postmortem that the full extent of the killer’s brutality starts to become clear.

My Thoughts: This truly was a brutally addictive read - the story had me hooked. I love the way that Karin Slaughter draws you right in to the lives of her characters and makes you want the best for them. I should never have read Genesis first, there's a MASSIVE spoiler in that one! Read this series from book 1 'Blindsighted'.

Slaughter has quickly become one of my favourite authors and I will be getting book 2 in as soon as I can. Not one for the faint hearted, you need to have a strong stomach for Slaughter - her crimes are absolutely shocking.

I RATED IT 10/10

Genesis - Karin Slaughter

Date Read: September 2011

Karin Slaughter weaves together moving, powerful human stories of characters as real as they are complex and unforgettable. At the same time she has crafted a work of dazzling storytelling and spine-tingling mystery; as three people, with their own wounds and their own secrets, are all that stand between a madman and his next crime...

My Thoughts: It really does make me wonder as to how Karin Slaughter comes up with the shocking and sickening acts of violence that laced her book. It made my skin crawl!

'Genesis' was tightly written, with some well-rounded characters (I loved Will) that are completely human with all of their flaws and qualities. I am a bit of a sucker for character-driven novels and that really helped me to devour the pages on my lunch breaks, often finding myself strolling back to work a little late.

Her horrific descriptions of torture were shocking, but only really used where necessary (she didn't just chuck it all in for the hell of it). It made me cringe - but didn't keep hounding on about it. However, definitely not a read for someone of a nervous disposition.

I honestly couldn't put the book down and I will definitely be reading more from her, probably starting from the very beginning.

I RATED THIS 10/10