tracyreads's review
4.0
“People collided, Alice knew. It was a messy affair, nothing clean about it. They came speeding along the blacktop, blind until impact. There was a birth of noise, a steely tangle of anatomy, and like that it was over. People collided and then they held on, the way cars held on after a crash, broken into one.”
This is the second book I’ve read by Barnett, and while this one predates MY HUNGRY FRIEND and is wildly different, the author’s skill with the written language is here. Mark and Alice are grieving, torn apart, and grasping at life. I guess I’d classify this as a horror drama if I had to; the relationships between husband and wife as well as twin and twin at the center. The horror is both reality and the madness that creeps in.
There are a few sections of the novel that seemed to drag a bit for me but for the most part, the journey flowed well. The revelations at the end are ones I didn’t see coming. While I’m still not sure exactly what happened in some parts, I still enjoyed the book.
I’ll be picking up more from Barnett for sure.
CW for child death and self harm. It’s pretty prevalent so I wanted to mention it here.
This is the second book I’ve read by Barnett, and while this one predates MY HUNGRY FRIEND and is wildly different, the author’s skill with the written language is here. Mark and Alice are grieving, torn apart, and grasping at life. I guess I’d classify this as a horror drama if I had to; the relationships between husband and wife as well as twin and twin at the center. The horror is both reality and the madness that creeps in.
There are a few sections of the novel that seemed to drag a bit for me but for the most part, the journey flowed well. The revelations at the end are ones I didn’t see coming. While I’m still not sure exactly what happened in some parts, I still enjoyed the book.
I’ll be picking up more from Barnett for sure.
CW for child death and self harm. It’s pretty prevalent so I wanted to mention it here.
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