J J Bookworm

4 de enero de 2018

creey psych thriller, new stand alone by Alison Bruce

4.5 star rating reviewI was lucky enough to attend an event at Heffers Cambridge, where Alison's new book was on pre sale!Having followed Alison through the journey of the Goodhew series I was really excited to see how she would tackle a stand alone.The story is set in and around Cambridge and we get glimpses from a variety of different angles, how sinister places feel and how quickly you can be out on in the countryside, feeling abandoned, whether by design or choice.We are taken on a journey through Emily's eyes, she has been estranged from family and friends and making a new chapter of her life.Not all is as it seems and I loved that i wasn't quite sure what role she was playing - victim, liar, survivor, someone on the edge, or all of the above.I did it for us has a creepy, single white female theme to it and the relationships between the characters was all slightly off kilter. Making this a psychological thriller of an unreliable nature and you are trying to second guess agendas.Alison's books have an edge of darkness that are not predictable and this shows her talents in a new light, and I thoroughly enjoy this side of the author's work.This is an engrossing read that keeps you on your toes and is slightly voyeuristic and uncomfortable.Whether a new series, or a stand alone is on the horizon I shall be looking forward to what is next.Ver más

5 personas la encontraron útil

Wendy Ruth

13 de enero de 2018

Alison Bruce goes in a different direction.

Alison's clear crisp writing. But too much like the currently fashionable style of the Gone Girl genre which is not appealing to me but is to others.Love her Gary Goodhew books.

1 persona la encontró útil

D. Warfield

14 de noviembre de 2022

Could be infuriating

Before I explain the subject line, let me give some kudos to Alison Bruce as a writer - I quite enjoy her writing as it has a nice flow, her plots have some nice twists, and she separates her characters well.I will also give a shout out to her other book, The Moment Before Impact - VERY good book.I had a hard time with this one, despite her writing ability - the book starts with her dealing with the trial of someone she has accused of raping her and goes into the ramifications of that decision.OK..Then, many times, she has everyone else in her life lambasting her for being so selfish as to negatively impact their life with this, "Who says it's true?"I am not a rape victim, it wasn't a trigger, but it came off as unrealistic, and a bit heartless, to be honest.If she had one, ONE, character that stood up for this girl, I could've rated it 5 stars, but it was infuriating and affected my enjoyment of the book.Ver más

Shazzaped

15 de mayo de 2024

Fascinating

This was a great read. One minute you believe her the next you don't. It was a fascinating story. With a great twist

Lady Pinksy

29 de mayo de 2018

Good, easy reading psychological thriller, satisfyingly mysterious

Nice read - definitely enjoyed it a lot and read it within a couple of days. Nicely written, kept you guessing, and the only reason for 4 stars and not 5 is the ending, kind of felt a bit shortchanged by it, as if there should have been an extra chapter. But you might feel differently, definitely worth a go if you like the new genre of psychological thrillers.Ver más

Read and Reviewed

21 de diciembre de 2018

Long-winded & oddly structured character study/psych thriller with few conclusive revelations.

Readers drawn to the synopsis of I Did It For Us would be forgiven for opening the book and being rather nonplussed because the storyline that opens the novel is NOT the one referred to in the blurb, with the only similarity being the name of the protagonist, Emily. The character of Joanne who is mentioned doesn’t even make an appearance until over eighty pages of the way through the book. Instead, Alison Bruce gives readers what feels like two distinct stories, the first clearly intended as a character study of Emily and the second, a more straightforward psychological thriller.The novel opens with thirty-year-old and married Emily Stirling in the witness box following her accusation that her husband’s best friend, Andrew Tyler, raped her at a Halloween party. As she herself is effectively put in trial with her every choice scrutinised and sexual history dissected, her parents and best friend, Jess Foley, warn her of the fallout. Further complicated by the fact that Jess is now in a relationship with the accused, snippets of various conversation also seem to allude fo Emily being honest until she finds herself in a tight spot, When the verdict comes it forces Emily to start over and leaving the village of Foxton that she has resided in all her life to move into a rented apartment in the bleak and isolated fenland surroundings of Wicken. Lonely and with no idea how to begin again, the arrival of a downstairs neighbour, thirty-four-year-old Joanne Carter with seven-year-old Molly and five-year-old Luke and her own wish to start afresh seems fortuitous. But when the burgeoning friendship is threatened by the arrival of a man in Joanne’s life in the shape of landlord and property developer, Matt Edwards, Emily quickly senses something “off” about him. Emily’s antipathy towards him smacks of jealousy after her erstwhile efforts to inveigle herself into Joanne and her children’s lives. But just what is going on and, is Emily the only one with a chequered past?For all my criticism of the novel I found it compelling but I was frustrated by Emily’s rather rambling and drawn-out story of her downfall which seemed to go round in circles. I was eager to get to the real substance of the story and just what was going on in Emily’s mind. The second half of the novel is definitely more engrossing and for a slow-moving novel the sense of ease is palpable and consistently sustained. I suspect this is because Emily is such an unknown quantity and Bruce’s characterisation infuses the whole novel with a menacing tension.As a character study I found the novel wholly unsatisfying and was dismayed that the first half offered few conclusive revelations, with the reader none the wiser as to whether Emily had lied in accusing her husband’s best friend of rape. Certainly everyone around her, including her parents, husband and best friend, seem in serious doubt and with the veracity of Emily’s first-person narrative screaming unreliability it doesn’t inform the reader ahead of the second part as to Emily’s true nature. Is Emily a victim, liar or simply mentally disturbed? Knowing what the reader does from the first-half should, in theory, leave us better informed for the second part and allow the reader some insight into Emily’s rationale and thought processes. Sadly it doesn’t succeed and perhaps glimpses into Emily’s backstory as she conducted her new friendship with Joanne would have made for a more satisfying reading experience. As for the psychological thriller element, the denouement fell flat and left me disappointed with no comprehensive or convincing explanation for the behaviour of the main players.Tense but ultimately unsatisfying.