My Book Reviews for June 2025 (Part Two)
My Book Reviews for June 2025 (Part Two)
My Book Reviews for June 2025 (Part Two) comprise a suspenseful selection of thrillers, each with a distinctive premise, style and tone. I thank the authors, publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read early copies in exchange for independent reviews.
The Surfacing by Claire Ackroyd
Stephanie has lost two people in the past: Jennifer, who was her best and only friend at school; and Peter, a boy who disappeared at Loch Ness while Stephanie and her dysfunctional family were camping there. These loses led Stephanie to curtail her relationship with her alcoholic mother, unfaithful father and bullying sister.
Now, 12 years on, her sister is getting married, and Stephanie has been cajoled by her mother to attend. However, this summons is not intended to bring about a fond family reunion. Instead her now seriously ill mother needs Stephanie to be there to stop a truth about Peter surfacing. Stephanie agrees, but her own motive for attending is to find answers about Jennifer.
Stephanie was a compelling protagonist – abrupt, secretive and possibly neurodiverse. The writing, literary in tone, was tight and controlled, yet pacy. Layer upon layer of suspense had me hooked.
Isabella’s Not Dead by Beth Morrey
Gwen, married mum to three teenagers and struggling mosaic artist, attends the reunion of her school hockey team. She leaves the weekend early because she feels overwhelmed by her own lack of achievement in comparison to her school mates. Her mind is also whirring about Isabella, who didn’t attend the get-together. She was Gwen’s best friend who hasn’t been seen by any of the women for at least fifteen years. For a long time, Gwen put their lack of contact down to a gradual drifting apart, brought on by Gwen’s preoccupation with work and motherhood. But now she wonders if there was a catalyst to the split. Did Gwen do something that caused Isabella to disappear completely, not even retaining a presence on social media? Gwen decides to track Isabella down and ask her.
Gwen’s family are not enthusiastic about her plan. As she visits Isabella’s old haunts across the UK and abroad, her timid parents, outlandish mother-in-law, steady husband and preoccupied sons offer their words of wisdom, often intended to put her off. But Gwen is on a quest in spite of them. She reminisces about school days, university and early adulthood. As she is a similar vintage to me, I was right back there with her and the well-chosen cultural references.
Although the tone is light and humorous, there’s a good sense of suspense and I was keen to turn the pages to find out what had happened to Isabella. The story is also poignant. Gwen’s quest reminded me of Harold Fry. Both protagonists are in search of a former friend, but, on their travels, they discover much about themselves.
Dear Future Me by Deborah O’Connor
Despite a perhaps rather gentle-sounding title, Dear Future Me turned out to be a gripping mystery. The typical suspense genre cover goes a long way to setting out what to expect.
It’s a premise I’ve come across only once before, in an Australian TV drama called Black Snow. On that occasion, the digging up of a time capsule at a school revealed previously hidden crimes and became the catalyst to new ones.
In the case of Dear Future Me, a class of sixth formers in the early 2000s is asked by their English teacher to write letters to their future selves, outlining their hopes for career and adult life. He collects in the assignment and tells them he'll return the letters at a future date.
Some twenty years later, when the letters finally land on doormats, they set in motion a chain of events that leads one recipient, Miranda, to drive out of the home she shares with her husband and children, park on a cliffside and fall to her death on the rocks below.
The story is told from the viewpoint of Audrey, Miranda’s long-time best friend.
Audrey's own letter reminds her of how far short of her aspirations her life has turned out to be. She’s always put this down to the unexpected and tragic turn her life took when she was eighteen. However, she now wonders if a lack of resilience and a fear of rejection have prevented her reaching her potential. Audrey is a likeable, tenacious and hardworking protagonist. (Personally, I think holding down a twenty-year career as a cleaner to pay off a mortgage and raise a child is a fine achievement and I also think there are plenty of exciting and worthwhile educational options besides Oxbridge, but I guess Audrey and I will have to agree to differ.)
Miranda always believed in Audrey and wanted the best for her. As a tribute to this unwavering support, Audrey decides to find out what caused Miranda to end her life. After she reads Miranda’s Future Me letter, she wonders if Miranda’s suicide could be linked to the death of another classmate years earlier on a school trip. Audrey sets about tracking down everyone who was on the trip to see whether something sinister happened to cause the accident and how that involved Miranda.
I liked the way the story was structured: we see the Future Me letter of each former student before we meet them. We then see how their lives have turned out.
I had an inkling which character was going to be the most significant and I spotted the clues the author set, although I didn’t know at the time what that person was guilty of and I was delighted by the unexpected thunderclap at the midpoint.
Weather plays an important part in the novel. The setting is a coastal town in the northeast of England, so there is plenty of atmospheric wind and rain coming off the sea. The author does a great job of describing the sights and smells of the seaside: the locals going about their daily business, the sightseeing tourists, the neglect of some buildings and the gentrification of others.
I really enjoyed this mystery and will seek out other books by the author.
Dead of Night by Lisa Gray
To help cure her writer’s block, Serena rents a remote clifftop house but soon discovers the house’s tragic history. The first owner fell to his death from a balcony and thirty years ago a couple renting the property vanished overnight with their young daughter.
Serena senses an idea for her next book and starts to research the missing family. But some locals are resentful of her investigation and one person wants to scare her out of town.
This was a light, well-plotted mystery/thriller with a rounded protagonist. Flashbacks to other characters and timelines add a sense of suspense.
It's the first book I've read by Lisa Gray and I look forward to trying another.
The Counting Game by Sinéad Nolan
Jack is a traumatised child who is being raised by his sister Kate following the death of his mentally ill mother. He and his other sister, 13-year-old Saoirse, play a dangerous counting game in the forest to keep The Creature at bay. One evening Saoirse disappears during the game. Next morning a full-scale police hunt is launched.
Freya, an expert at supporting traumatised children, is brought in to gain Jack's confidence and find out what he isn't telling police. Freya soon realises big sister Kate and aunt Bronagh may also be concealing information.
Jack is a main viewpoint character. He's nine but appears much younger as he observes the case going on around him and he also has flashbacks to games in the forest.
Freya is the first-person narrator, warm and competent but with her own tragic backstory.
We also have chapters from Saoirse’s viewpoint dating back to difficult times with their mother.
There is a strong sense of place in the Irish coastal village setting with a good cast of secondary characters.
This is written in a literary style and is as much a study of trauma, grief and dysfunction as it is a mystery.
Henshaw Press Short Story Competitions
I'm honoured to be one of a team of judges and critique writers for the Henshaw Press Short Story Competitions. I came second in a Henshaw Competition back in 2016. I stayed in touch with the organisers, cheerleading about subsequent competitions and prize-winners and reviewing their anthology on my blog. Eventually I was invited to join the judging team. The quarterly competitions are open to anyone over 16 years of age. Stories can be up to 2,000 words on any subject. The entry fee is £6. 1st Prize £200, 2nd Prize £100, 3rd Prize £50. For a separate fee of £14, entrants can receive a critique of their story. The current competition is open to entries. It closes on 30 June 2025. https://www.henshawpress.co.uk/ The competition for the next quarter will open in July.
As the title My Book Reviews for June 2025 (Part Two) suggests, this is my second round of reviews this month. The first batch is at: My Book Reviews for June 2025 (Part One).