Tuesday 31 January 2012

Thrill to the intrigue

I've got the buzz that a fabulous reading experience gives you; I've just finished reading The Poison Tree by Erin Kelly. If you like psychological thrillers with wonderful characterisation and breathtaking pace, you might enjoy this!

It does exactly what we're always advising our customers to do at Fiction Feedback. It creates intrigue right from the first. (In this case with a prologue which are sometimes sneered at these days, but they have their place and this novel illustrates why.) Then it sucks you in, with hints of horrors to come, and gradually feeds answers while asking more and more questions. Yet the plot and the characters are so involving; I was reminded of Barbara Trapido's work more than once and I'm a real fan of hers.

Two storylines set at different times in the heroine's life, written alternately, could be confusing, but they work perfectly. The prose is lyrical, evoking images and atmosphere. Not at all inaccessible, but using language and constructions that help to put the reader right there. And it's written in the first person. This is a challenge, and one the author rises to magnificently.

Future Fiction Feedback customers will no doubt be recommended to read this book!