Simon Kernick says of this novel ‘it is right up there with the best.’ So is it?
I have become a picky reader. I become impatient at any hint of sloppiness by an author, my attention is on the whole, increasingly hard to hold. So is Simon right?
Yep, I couldn’t put Spare me the Truth down. I read until too late at night, which made me grumpy, but I picked it up again as soon as I could.
Spare me the Truth is clever. As an author myself I could imagine the intricacies of the plotting as Dan Forrester is approached in a supermarket by a woman to tells him everything he remembers about his life – and his son – is a lie. We are in Dan’s point of view, his body, and are rocked as he is by this news. We know nothing more than Dan. Is this a lunatic? Or is there something nudging at his memory.
We are led into the point of view of Stella Reavey who has so unsettled Dan, and begin to see that there is indeed something strange about Dan, some other life. What on earth has he done? Is he good or bad? And what about his wife? Is she who she seems?
We are as lost as Dan, but such is the writing that rather than feel confused and irritated, the reader totally buys into the mystery.
Then enter another character enters – stage left. , Grace Reavey who is Stella’s daughter, a doctor who has plans for her life, plans which are superseded by this tangled web that wraps itself around her, when her mother dies. Who is good, who is bad we ask again, and the what hell is going on?
A policewoman becomes involved, Lucy Davies – such a fascinating and complex character who shoves the book along.
This is a confident thriller, one that is written by an author who has a unique voice, a magical plotting ability, and a clarity of presentation that keeps us fully on track. I felt there was room for a series here. I do hope that is planned.
Brilliant. Read it, and lose yourself, and be glad you live in a simpler world.
Spare me the Truth Published by Zaffre, established in 2014 by Quercus founder Mark Smith. Available in paperback £7.99
