Ronnie Turner

This is the story of three very different people, each of them loners, who have been drawn together by some strange and twisted turn of fate. Its presence in each of their lives unleashes something quite intense and often uncontrollable. It’s also a story of obsession and the overwhelming need for possession. Actually, the entire story will many times make your skin crawl. Teddy is a young man who moves to Rye hoping to make a new start. He begins work at a shop called Berry & Vincent...a strange place that is filled with all manner of antiques and curiosities. The local people rush by the shop, but for visitors to the town it holds a strange, eerie fascination. Something about the place, and it's strange, uncommunicative owner, Mr. Vincent attracts Teddy also. Some of the scenes between the two of them feel very uncomfortable but still, strangely compelling. The way they start to impact each other results in the steadily increasing sense of unease that runs through this novel. The third person who makes up this unusual and ultimately destructive trio, is a young mother, Ada, who, with her son, Albie, moves to Rye for a fresh start. Like Teddy and Mr. Vincent, Ada lives a rather solitary life, with no real friends or people looking out for her, other than her father, and that will be, in part, the root of all of their undoing. With these three characters, the author has created a story which will produce a whole host of emotions and feelings. I initially felt sympathy for Teddy who is running from his past. He tried to fit in and not draw attention to himself. However, there is far more to Teddy than first appears... and working along with Mr. Vincent soon changes his personality. Soon those little quirks come boiling up to the surface. Mr. Vincent has little to say, but his interactions with Teddy will speak volumes without a single word being uttered. There was something not quite right about him that comes across right from the start. A dark side...which is slowly uncovered...scenes and revelations which will cause anger and disgust, which adds a layer of tragedy to an already disturbing tale. Ada is a stark contrast to the pair and this, and Albie’s delightful innocence lend a small ray of light to the dark and consuming shadows of Berry & Vincent. The chapters are short and they alternate between Ada and Teddy’s points of view. The differences of the personalities bring into the question of whether a person is born bad or becomes bad through circumstance...the old nature verses nurture question is strong and perfectly explored. There is also that sense that environment is a key factor in the slow descent into a kind of madness that envelops one of the characters. Be prepared to be surprised and held captive by this book.… (mehr)

Set in the coastal town of Rye, a young man arrives and takes up a position in a peculiar shop. Along with her son, a single mother has also recently arrived in Rye, trying to escape from her past. When their worlds collide, secrets are revealed. This all leads to obsession.

I have to admit to not being sure whether I enjoyed this story or not. It has an unusual writing style - I’m not sure how to describe it, it has a sort of sparseness to it. The story itself is rather disturbing. It has a slow build up with a growing sense of foreboding to start with, which I liked. It‘s atmospheric and it drew me in. Then the action takes a different turn, becoming really quite dark and unsettling. I think I’m in the minority with how I feel about this book as there are plenty of four and five star reviews. I was attracted by the words ‘gothic thriller’ in the description as I usually enjoy gothic style stories. I’m ambivalent about it, betwixt and between!… (mehr)

Gothic fiction is not a genre I normally read, but this book offers much more than just macabre events and an atmosphere of fear.

The novel presents the perspective of two characters, Teddy and Ada, in short, alternating chapters. Wanting to leave his past behind, Teddy Colne arrives in the town of Rye in East Sussex. Despite warnings from several residents to avoid an antique/curio shop, he takes a job as an assistant to its odd proprietor. Ada, also fleeing an unhappy childhood, has lived in Rye for two years with her 4-year-old son Albie. She has not been accepted by the community so she’s lonely. She and Teddy meet at the shop and strike up a friendship. All goes well for a while until an obsession becomes too difficult to resist.

Teddy and Ada are similar in many ways. Both have dark family histories which have left them damaged and fragile. They have lived as outsiders, never being fully accepted, and are looking for a fresh start. Unfortunately, both live solitary existences. Ada is not welcomed by the townspeople: “they saw a single mother, a poor and lonely mother, and that’s all they saw.” She is desperate to find a friend. Likewise, Teddy is lonely and even imagines setting a table for two: “The food will go cold, but I can tell myself it goes cold because someone is running late and not because there is no one coming at all.” Both are also concerned about whether they have inherited or been infected by the traits of a parent.

Two more characters are Ye Olde Antiques and Curios Shoppe and its owner Mr. Vincent. The shop is dark and claustrophobic, crowded with shadows and gruesome objects. When Teddy first enters, he thinks, “The shop tastes of death, of something that has turned.” Mr. Vincent, who does not speak, is a skeletal figure who is described as having “’a rot in [him], like an infection that spreads from his body.’” Certainly, he seems to possess a malevolent aura.

I appreciated the complexity of the characterization. Because characters are fully developed, readers will feel different emotions towards them. For instance, it is impossible not to feel sympathy for Teddy. His difficult childhood was followed by a lonely life “hounded by fanatics and lunatics.” I hoped he’d find the normal life he so desperately wants. At other times, the reader will be repulsed by his choices, though an understanding of his motivations tempered my negative reaction.

I also liked the abundant foreshadowing which means that though there is some shocking behaviour, it is not entirely shocking. There are many hints so what happens is more expected than unbelievable. A character seems to change, but it happens gradually and only after behaviour clearly indicates that all is not well.

The novel explores gossip and its impact. Ada says, “’rumours are like rot here, they spread. And then you can’t tell what’s rumour and what isn’t.’” Both Teddy and Ada are subjects of malicious gossip. Because Albie has a deformed ear, people speculate that Ada might have dropped him as a baby or hit him. When Ada and Albie have not been seen for a few days, one person who doesn’t even know her says, “’Swanned off somewhere sunny, I bet. No thought given to the boy’s stability and welfare. The young don’t take responsibility these days. Especially not Ada Belling.’” And Teddy, more than once, hears his “name called out, rumours, accusations thrown into the air.”

The novel also addresses the nature versus nurture debate: is our behaviour dictated more by our genetics or by our environment and lived experience? Teddy and his mother certainly worried about whether evil could be inherited. Physical appearance and mannerisms are influenced by genetics, so how about character traits and mental disorders? Are Teddy’s actions predetermined and so unavoidable because of his genetic makeup? Were his upbringing and his mother’s oft-expressed concerns about Teddy being like his father influencing factors? It cannot be doubted that the harassment he and his mother faced affected him. Does Teddy’s time in the creepy shop with its peculiar owner influence his behaviour?

The book doesn’t conclusively answer the nature/nurture question, but it definitely illustrates generational trauma: “’Some people shouldn’t be parents. They are broken, then they break their children. . . . Troubled parents make troubled children.’” Ada has been affected by her mother’s childhood trauma, though she wasn’t aware of the nature of that trauma, and she worries about being a good mother to Albie. Teddy’s mother suffered a breakdown because of her husband’s actions and society’s reaction. Despite his mother’s best efforts, Teddy’s childhood was filled with severe stress because of the actions of his father and others, so he has been left feeling lonely and powerless. This situation he is desperate to change so he resorts to using Mr. Vincent’s past against him, though that is exactly what he wants to avoid for himself. Who knows what caused Mr. Vincent to take the action he did as a child. Is he just “a frightened man who hides because hiding is all that is safe to him?” Certainly, the chilling ending suggests that childhood experiences have a lasting impact.

Despite its lyrical prose with some delightful turns of phrase, this book is not always a comfortable read because of its constant sense of foreboding. What impressed me, however, are the book’s nuanced characterization and its deft exploration of serious issues. I would classify this book as literary fiction with some gothic elements.

Note: Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).… (mehr)

Well, this is a twisty old tale! We hear from Miller, Maisie and John and the question throughout it all is #WhereIsBonnie?

Bonnie is John's daughter and she's been kidnapped by somebody who is determined to taunt John with it. Maisie is a trauma nurse who has suffered her own share of trauma. She's now looking after a man who is in a vegetative state. And finally, Miller takes us back to the 80s and 90s when he was a child. These seem like three very distinct and separate storylines for much of the book until those threads start to be pulled together.

Gosh, this is a hard book to write about. I don't want to give anything away and spoil Ronnie Turner's really careful plotting that keeps the reader guessing throughout. I did start to get an inkling of the way the characters were linked part way through but that's all it was, and so the ending was still quite unexpected. Certain things are obvious in hindsight but they weren't signposted in the story and I think this level of plotting was incredibly well executed.

One thing that really stood out for me was Turner's writing. It's quite literary in style and quite beautiful. She has a lovely way with words that I marvelled at and I can see her being able to turn her hand to more than one genre.

Lies Between Us is a dark and disturbing story, one which makes me think I'm glad I don't know any characters like the ones in the book (well, I hope I don't!). Some quite unpleasant events take place and it's unsettling to read at times. Ronnie Turner has a dark place in her mind!

I must admit that I'm still confused about one aspect of the story and, if I didn't have an e-book version I would be flicking back through the pages to try and work it out. But that doesn't detract from the fact that this is a complex, clever and intense debut novel and I feel sure that Ronnie Turner will bring us more great stories in the future.… (mehr)