The Very Pink Notebook is thrilled to showcase the new psychological thriller by Sarah Stovell
Exquisite
With thanks to Orenda Books for involving me in the tour and an early copy of the book.
Published by : Orenda Books
15 June 2017
Copy : Paperback Received from Publisher
The Blurb
Bo Luxton has it all—a loving family, a beautiful home in the Lake District, and a clutch of bestselling books to her name. Enter Alice Dark, an aspiring writer who is drifting through life, with a series of dead-end jobs and a freeloading boyfriend. When they meet at a writers’ retreat, the chemistry is instant, and a sinister relationship develops. Or does it?
The Very Pink Notebook Review
Meet Bo, writer - talented and successful. Meet Alice, writer - unpublished and unconfident. These are the two fascinating female leads in this well crafted, beautifully written psychological thriller, Exquisite, by Sarah Stovell.
A story with many rich themes; obsession, love, passion, revenge, betrayal, fear to name but a few, we follow the lives of these two damaged women who's paths cross with devastating consequences.
It is always difficult to review a good psychological thriller without committing the cardinal sin of letting out plot spoilers. This particular thriller isn't typical in the massive twists and turns sense. You know what is going on but you never sure just how far it is going to go. It doesn't have moments where it points the finger at every character that comes into contact with the protagonist leaving you thinking - what if? What it has is two fantastically unreliable narrators leaving you thinking what the hell is going to happen next...
Neither Bo nor Alice are massively likable, but I found that only added to heightening the tension as I wasn't quite sure who I wanted to root for, at least for two thirds of the book, then it became glaringly obvious. It is a very claustrophobic atmosphere that is created by Madeline, cleverly developed along with the intensity of the relationship between the two characters.
The author has used environment and setting to its absolute max in this novel. Bo is set in the vast, but isolating and quiet Lake District. A place that can have such beauty but also can hold grave danger. Bo, we gather, has experienced severe trauma in her lifetime and she longs for an ordinary life, a content life where she can keep everything in her hornet's nest buried deep. She loves being a mother but has vowed to never be like her own.
Vibrant and chaotic Brighton is the home of Alice. The girl who experienced a terrible childhood with her mother also but had the luck to be placed with a good foster family who encouraged her to go to University where she discovered her creative side, and is seeking an environment to flourish in. Being taken on my Bo, from her writing perspective is all she could wish for.
Of course for anyone who reads this who is also a writer at heart this book is doubly enthralling. It is interesting to see the story of the successful and the aspiring. With the two different view points I particularly liked the way this tied in in the last third of the novel.
This book has great pace, writing and structure. It is a real page-turner with dare I say it - exquisite - use of imagery regarding the Lake District. And the ending - just ... chilling...
Exquisite by Sarah Stovell receives a Very Pink Notebook review of :
About the Author
Sarah Stovell was born in 1977 and spent most of her life in the Home Counties before a season working in a remote North Yorkshire youth hostel made her realise she was a northerner at heart. She now lives in Northumberland with her partner and two children and is a lecturer in Creative Writing at Lincoln University. Her debut psychological thriller, Exquisite, is set in the Lake District.
Follow the Tour
No comments:
Post a Comment