The Book of You - Claire Kendal

'It is you. Of course it is you. Always it is you.'

Clarissa is being stalked by Rafe. He appears all the time, wherever she is, at her home, when she is out, in the park, everywhere, his menacing, unwanted presence is there. No matter how clearly she tells him to leave her alone, to go away, or even when she tries to just ignore him completely, to not give him the satisfaction of any response, he does not stop, he is determined she will give in to him, and that he can control her. She avoids him as much as she possibly can, but they share the same workplace, and they shared one night together, once. Then Clarissa is called for jury duty, and feels relieved because she'll be in the courtroom away from Rafe for most of the day for several weeks at least. There she gets to know some of the other jurors, including one who is kind and friendly, who she chats with and this takes her mind off events with Rafe, at least for brief periods. As she listens to the evidence in what is a violent case, things start to compare to the situation she is in. She realises what she needs to do, and she collects together the evidence of what Rafe has done. She's got her notebook, detailing all the times he has threatened, stalked, intimidated her, she keeps things he has left in her mailbox and so on, stockpiling the evidence, hoping that one day there'll be enough for it to be considered seriously by the police.

The main narrative sees Clarissa's experiences as recorded in her notebook, using the second-person. The style isn't all that common in popular fiction to my knowledge, but it is used really effectively here, like it was in Rosamund Lupton's Afterwards. It conveys with immediacy the fear she feels, the threats she endures, and the total, unwavering obsession Rafe has with her. Rafe is genuinely frightening and manipulative, utterly determined to have his way and be in control. Clarissa is an increasingly frightened victim and despite her best efforts can't seem to outmanoeuvre him. This all culminates in a dramatic finish. The other part of the narrative is in the third-person, recounting the events in the court.

It's an utterly compelling story, a brilliant, haunting read, that made my heart beat a bit faster and my pulse race. I read it on holiday and it was absolutely perfect for fast-paced, tense reading when you're in the mood to get totally lost in an absorbing story and gulp it down. The fear and anxiety felt by Clarissa is palpable, as well as her seeming very alone with this problem for the most part. 

The Book of You is a strong debut novel, a really cracking page-turner, a tense, excellent psychological suspense tale; Claire Kendal does a good job of getting you emotionally invested in what happens to Clarissa; I almost didn't dare read on at times and yet of course the story had me hooked and I didn't want to put it down until I'd finished.

Thank you to the publisher for kindly sending me a copy of this novel for an honest review.

Thank you also for sending me a beautiful notebook! 

Published by HarperCollins

Defending Jacob - William Landay

‘In the end, every child leads his own life, largely out of his parents’ sight.’

This is a stunning, well-written and compelling read. Andrew Barber is the assistant district attorney investigating the murder of fourteen-year-old Ben Rifkin in Newton, a relatively nice community with low crime. When his own son Jacob becomes the prime suspect, Andy is taken off the case, and experiences the legal system from the other side with his son as the defendant; he is torn between wanting to know the truth and needing to protect his son.

‘Suspicion, once it started to corkscrew itself into my thoughts, made me experience everything twice: as questing prosecutor and as anxious father, one after the truth, the other terrified of it.’

Recounted by Andy in the first person throughout, and including excerpts from Grand Jury testimony, it’s a cleverly structured narrative in four parts, incorporating modern day social media by including facebook conversations. Threaded throughout the story there is also an intriguing ongoing encounter between Andy and his former colleague at the DA’s office, Neal Logiudice, who takes over the role of prosecutor.

It is Andy’s perspective we see throughout. His thoughts and opinions colour the view of events that we are reading. The story is both a tense thriller and also a family drama, bringing into play the murky past of Andy’s father and the two generations of males before him, leading to the discussion of a potential ‘murder gene’ being present.

I really enjoyed this cracking thriller; it kept me guessing, it has an excellent pace to the story all the way through, and a surprising and unexpected ending. It makes you think about how much any parent can really know their child, and about the limitations of the legal system. Recommended.

5/5

Originally reviewed for lovereading.co.uk - thanks to them and to the publisher for a copy of this novel to read and review.

Published by Orion