Wissenswertes

Rechtmäßiger Name: Thomson, Donna
Andere Namen: Baker, Donna
West, Nicola
Harry, Lilian
Geschlecht: female
Nationalität: UK
Geburtsort: Gosport, Hampshire, England, UK
Wohnorte: Gosport, Hampshire, England, UK
Devon, England, UK
Midlands, England, UK
Dartmoor, Devon, England, UK
Kurzbiographie: Donna Thomson was born in Gosport, near Portsmouth Harbour, England, UK. Growing up during the terrifying years of the Blitz in a two-up, two-down terraced house, the youngest of four, she aspired to be a writer from an early age.

As a young woman she worked in the Civil Service and moved to Devon to be near her sailor husband. They had a son and a daughter. When the marriage ended, she and her two children moved to the Midlands, where she happily married again to her second husband. After living in the Lake District for twelve years, she finally moved back to Devon, and now lives in a village on the edge of Dartmoor. She lost her son Philip in 2008, and has two grandchildren. A keen walker and animal-lover, she now has a dog and three ginger cats to keep her busy, along with a wide range of hobbies she enjoys.

She started signing her romance novels as Donna Baker and Nicola West, now she also writes as Lilian Harry (inspired by the first names of her grandparents). Among her works are historical novels, romances and even two books giving advice on how to write short stories and novels.
Hinweis zur Identitätsklärung: Donna Thomson writes as Donna Baker, Nicola West, and Lilian Harry.

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Catch Us the Foxes von Nicola West

Before starting out, this review is going to contain possible SPOILERS. I'm finding it almost impossible to talk about CATCH US THE FOXES without them.

Flagged as Twin Peaks meets The Dry, this is also described as a deliciously dark and twisted tale that unravels a small town.

Voiced in the main by the central character - Marlowe 'Lo' Robertson, the novel starts out with her being introduced to a Sydney Opera House audience, about to speak about her best selling true crime book 'The Showgirl's Secret', the account of the tragic death of her friend in their small NSW town, around seven years before.

Lo was a 22 year old journalist intern at the local paper when she found Lily's body in the stables at the showground, on the night of the local show. The place is teeming with locals, and carnival workers, and Lily was the winner of that year's Showgirl contest. Lo was there to photograph her and write a special story for the newspaper, or so she thought. But Lily ran, obviously scared by something to do with the Ghost Train, captured for a fleeting moment by Lo's camera, not long before she was found dead. Strangely, in a sinister way, as opposed to a keeping vital evidence quiet way, Lo's father, the local police chief, is particularly concerned to make sure that Lo doesn't mention some symbols carved into Lily's back. But that's nothing compared to the shock she gets when, after being given Lily's journals, it appears that there were reasons some of the towns most prominent citizens, including her own father, might have wanted Lily dead.

Long story short, we're talking a very bizarre and nasty cult operating in this small town. Despite the fact that one of the local carnival workers is charged with Lily's murder, there's something threatening and very disturbing about the cult behaviour and Lo's determined to get to the bottom. Or is she?

Lo's voice is everything in this novel. It's well drawn too - starting out with her being funny, slightly odd, brave, and seemingly sure of her path. She was raised by her dad after the death of her mother, and there are lots of references back to that death, and the story around it. As with everything here though, nothing is really as it seems, and there's heaps of ambiguity, odd behaviour and slowly eroded trust, something that seems to matter more because of the smallness of the town. There's also a past history of bullying behaviour and homophobia and everything that you'd sadly expect from that timeframe and that sort of location. But there's also something edgy about Lo herself. There are suggestions she's suffering from PTSD, she muses she's some sort of psychopath, inwardly contemplates suicide at one point, she's never been quite right after the death of her mother. There are lots of hints that her narration may not be trustworthy, that she's not as "nice" or as "perfect" as she appears, it's subtle, clever at points, the author handles these aspects reasonably well.

There's also a very clever manipulation of place going on here as well - the use of a small town, externally pretty, a holiday location, that's controlling, dark, possibly corrupt. It's a town where insiders have plenty of things that they would prefer were kept private, covered-up.

Whilst many of the twists and turns in CATCH US THE FOXES really worked, some of them were considerably less convincing. There were so many stereotypes and cliches that it felt like checklist material. The creepy psychologist; the flamboyant gay man; the pushy journalist; the decidedly Stepford wives feel about many of the women, including Lily's own mother; the over-reaching reasons for the symbols engraved on Lily's back; aspects of the cult and their very weird rituals. It all sort of got a bit... over the top ...

Culminating in an ending to the novel that threw everything you could possibly have thought was coming out an unopened window, and you can see how it will create a bit of "will work for some readers / will drive others utterly bats" controversy. I'm really struggling with this ending - a while after finishing the novel, the more I think about it, the more conflicted I'm getting. I've got no problem at all with the idea that twists and turns can happen right up until the last minute when unreliable becomes downright nasty and everything comes down to something very base and venal but... I'm still not sure if it just didn't ring true, feasible, possible, or even vaguely likely; or did it feel less psychopath, more after-thought? Having said that, we're talking a plot that's all about a weird cult in a country town, dreadful things happening to young girls and people behaving badly, ridiculously, horribly everywhere you turn, so under those circumstances, why not a thumping great weird turn of events at the end.

CATCH US THE FOXES is one of those novels that I can't help thinking is going to have a very big, wide your mileage variation factor about it, and one I can't help thinking is going to make it onto bookclub lists in the not too distant future.

https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/catch-us-foxes-nicola-west… (mehr)

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austcrimefiction | Aug 18, 2021 |

Catch Us the Foxes von Nicola West

Catch Us the Foxes is a dark, enthralling thriller from debut Australian novelist, Nicola West.

The novel opens with a prologue where Marlowe ‘Lo’ Robertson, is being introduced to an audience at the Sydney Opera House. She is to speak about her best selling true crime book, ‘The Showgirl’s Secret’, an account of the tragic death of a young woman, Lily Williams, seven years previously.

Marlowe was a 22 year old intern at the local paper when she found Lily’s body in the stables of the town showground. When her father, the town police chief, asked Lo to lie about some of the details of the crime, including the symbols carved into the young woman’s flesh, she reluctantly agreed, but then she is given Lily’s journals which suggest Lo’s father, and other prominent citizens, may have a reason to have wanted Lily dead.

West presents a compelling, intricate mystery where the truth is shockingly elusive to the very last page. Lily’s diaries suggest a frightening cult is operating in their small coastal town, and while the allegations seem absurd, Lo is prompted to dig further when a carnival worker is arrested for Lily’s murder on threadbare evidence. If what Lily has written is true, there are plenty of possible suspects among the townsfolk, and West cleverly portrays them with an interesting ambiguity. Suspense builds as trust is eroded, and Lo attempts to ascertain the truth.

Lo presents as smart, resourceful and ambitious but there is an edge to her character that is disquieting. Doubt is thrown on the validity of her investigation when other characters suggest Lo is suffering from PTSD, and the possibility is a nag as she continues to piece information together, so that her reliability as a narrator is in question. It’s a clever conceit that West manages well.

The plot makes good use of the setting, small towns seem capable of hiding secrets behind their bucolic facades. I’ve been to Kiama (on NSW’s south coast) where Catch Us the Foxes takes place, and it’s a pretty coastal town, not so different from the one I live in now, but West successfully paints it as a claustrophobic, corrupt community.

With its clever structure and twisting, gripping plot, Catch Us the Foxes is an impressive read. The stunning final reveal seems to divide readers, but I thought it was terrific.… (mehr)

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shelleyraec | Jul 15, 2021 |

Three Little Ships von Lilian Harry

Follows three small ships through the Dunkirk evacuation. Enjoyed it. Very informative with many ships names recorded including Royal Daffodil and Ben-my-Chree but some ends left untied frustratingly.

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E-Bookworm | Jul 3, 2021 |