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Carolyn Huizinga Mills

Autor von The Little Boy Who Lived Down the Drain

3 Werke 18 Mitglieder 1 Rezension

Werke von Carolyn Huizinga Mills

The Good Son (2021) 3 Exemplare
Sins of the Daughter (2022) 1 Exemplar

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Witnesses are often victims, even if they aren’t aware of it at the time. For 9 year old Zoe, seeing her 6 year old neighbour, Amy, get into a blue car on their street doesn’t mean much at the time. But later Amy turns up dead and Zoe is plunged into a nightmare wondering who was in that car, and more important, was her older brother, Ricky, involved. It is festering suspicion that poisons an already dysfunctional sibling relationship. Thirty years later, Zoe is still traumatized by events of those childhood days, though she has hidden that fact from everyone, friends and family both. Her suspicions, and her fear about what they reveal about the kind of person her brother is, have mangled the trajectory of her life.

The story is told in a series of flashback. In the present, Zoe is working at a water treatment plant in her home town of Dunnsford. She is in a relationship but clearly has commitment issues (all of Zoe’s issues, whatever they might be seem to stem from her early trauma). She finds herself looking back on her life in some detail, both the traumatic event of Amy’s disappearance, but also numerous occasions both before and after that lend credence to her suspicion that her brother is at best a creep and at worst, well, much worse. Further complications arise but with so much labour spent on painting the brother in a particular light, it would hardly be a surprise to discover that things aren’t exactly as Zoe thinks they are, or were.

This is a reasonably solid first novel. It has enough tension to hold the reader’s attention. There are weaknesses as well, such as the number of the times that Zoe has to tell us that her life is a mess or falling apart. The twist, when it comes, is expected but also unconnected to the story we’ve read. So it feels delivered. And the conclusion, especially in regard to the sibling relationship going forward is, at best, doubtful.

Still, I think I will gently recommend this novel and look for even better from the author on her next outing.
… (mehr)
 
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RandyMetcalfe | Oct 8, 2021 |

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Werke
3
Mitglieder
18
Beliebtheit
#630,789
Bewertung
3.0
Rezensionen
1
ISBNs
7