rumour – missmesmerized

Exton Cross is the perfect small town to go unnoticed. At least that was what Kelly hoped for when she and her son Joe moved there. But when little Mia, a friend of Joe, vanishes from the playground, her past is threatened to be revealed. While Kelly is still worried about what might have happened, Aleema, Mia’s mother, fears for the worst. She never wanted to leave Manchester in the first place, but with her mother-in-law ill, they thought it was the best. And now her daughter is missing. Naomi on the contrast, has always lived there, she knows everything about everybody – at least she thinks so. Even though she is worried about the girl, she is also eager to protect her neighbourhood from foreigners and her lifelong friend who recently moved back will help her.

Bryony Pearce’s psychological thriller incorporates everything I hate about rural or small town life: your neighbours not only eye every step you take and nothing remains private. Gossip is part of everyday life and everybody knows everything about each other. As a newcomer, you will never fit in, the ranks are closed and the locals will speculate and spread rumours without hesitation, especially if you differ. The story is told alternatingly from the three women’s point of view thus illustrating how their “Little Rumours” come to life, are spread and what they do to those they affect.

I totally adored the thriller. First of all, the mystery about the vanished girl is not easy to solve, even though at some point, characters tend to become suspicious, there are several leads all likewise probable. Second, I love to hate those small town characters like Naomi, limited in their world-view they spring at anything unknown and believe themselves right in any respect not perceiving what harm they cause. Third, the female characters could hardly differ more. They are well portrayed, each unique in their struggles and fears and thus, it is easy to follow their line of thoughts. You quickly come to form an opinion about the characters and then, while reading, you have to modify your views since they are more complex than you gave them credit for in the first place.

A suspenseful thriller with some unexpected twists and a modern day witch hunt of the evilest type.

kate reed petty true story — Kate Reed Petty – True Story

Nick, Max and Richard are the members of the promising lacrosse team of their college. Apart from doing sports, partying is what they like most, getting drunk and making out with girls. After one especially wild party, rumours spread, but the versions of what happened vary. Richard and Max claim their innocence while Alice cannot really remember, but she is sure that her best friend Haley tells the truth when she asserts that immediately after the deed, the boys boasted about what they had done to her. Years go by, Richard turns into a rich businessman, also Haley made a career in the film industry. Things didn’t turn out that well for the others, Nick is closer to death by drinking or simply being stupid and Alice struggles forever with psychological problems stemming from the assumed assault. It will take years until the four of them confront again and the truth about what happened comes to the light.

One thing is absolutely sure: this novel was different from what I have read before. Normally, it is quite easy to put a plot into a genre or at the maximum having two combined, but here, it is a genre mix in which you never know where it will lead you and what the end might be. There is quite some suspense since the whole plot is moving towards the final confrontation – even though this is not really obvious for quite some time – but it is also really tragic when Alice’s part is told. It did not have that much sympathy for Nick admittedly, a character I more or less despised from the beginning. You make assumptions about what happened but you have to correct them repeatedly, which I liked a lot since this cleverly shows you based how a limited point of view one’s verdict quite often is.

There are several novels, apart from all the psychological books, which give some insight in how much impact an assault can have on a victim’s life. Here, too, Alice is completely thrown off the track after that night, the lively and joyful girl turns into a nervous and easy to exploit, insecure young woman. Richard, on the other hand, seems unaffected by the accusations, he goes to Princeton and makes a career to become the hottest bachelor of the country. Nick is not immediately affected, he is a friend confronted with the question if he should or could believe the boys’, whom he has known forever, version. Yet, he is an example of someone who was gifted and had a promising future but threw it all away with being lazy and preferring partying over working hard for his success. In the end, you might even see him as a tragic character, but I wouldn’t say so, he had his chances but didn’t take them.

A novel I simply rushed through as I couldn’t put it down anymore once I had started. Quite an interesting approach and a very cleverly crafted plot made it a great read.