My Five Word TL:DR Review : Liked not Loved This One

To be fair to this book it is a good read, it captured my attention, the pacing was good and I enjoyed the writing.  But, having just read another couple of dark academia style novels very recently I think my timing could have been better – which is absolutely on me of course, and, this story very much relies on a trope that I’ve become very tired of – memory loss.

Charlie Colbert has worked hard to achieve success.  She is the editor-in-chief of a glossy magazine and is also engaged to the darling of the publishing world.  On the face of it she leads an almost charmed life.  Rich, powerful, beautiful.  But Charlie has a bloody past.  Nine years ago, whilst a student at an elite journalism school a brutal and shocking event that shook the country and became a media sensation took place.  Scarlet Christmas, as it became known, captured the public’s attention, probably more so because the true facts remain hidden, even to this date.  In fact, the only witness to that terrible event was Charlie  but to this day she has not been able to relive the experience and is still in fact undertaking therapy to help her cope.

The story is told in dual timelines.  We flip back and forth between the ‘then’ and ‘now’ and a picture gradually unfolds of friendship, excess, rivalry and obsession. That being said though, the author keeps a tight lid on events, she’s very careful in the way the story unfolds successfully keeping quite a few revelations firmly under wraps.

I thought the author did a very good job in ramping up the tension.  She fashioned Charlie into this incredible success story but then slowly but surely started to dismantle the walls that she has put up.  Unfortunately, the public’s desire to know more about Scarlet Christmas has never truly waned, the fires were stoked when a former pupil released a book about the killings and more fuel is being added to the fire when another former friend decides to adapt the film onto the big screen.  Everything Charlie has worked for sits on the precipice of disaster.

Okay, to cut to the chase with this one, I enjoyed it.  But, for me, the ending just didn’t make sense – I can’t really say too much because obviously I don’t want to give away spoilers but clearly the one thing that the author toys with a little (or a lot) is that you never know what happened that night – you don’t know because Charlie doesn’t know, but at the back of your mind is the seed of doubt ‘does Charlie know more than she’s saying and if she does – then why is she so afraid?’  Her mounting panic about the release of the film seems to point in the direction that she’s truly scared about what will eventually be revealed.

I will just hold up my hands and say that I’m a little bit tired of the ‘memory loss’ trope.  There it is and there’s no denying it.  However, I think the author did a very good job of maintaining tension and teasing you with little tidbits here and there.  And, to be fair, I don’t think the whole memory loss was really a big issue for me as I was very intrigued regardless.  I felt Charlie’s relationship was a little surplus to requirements.  Like it was thrown in just to add to the fear factor – one more thing that she was going to lose.  It didn’t come across as a real relationship at all to me, more like a distraction.

My main niggle was the ending.  It’s actually a good ending in that the author comes up with twists, and even though we’re in Charlie’s head, and can feel her ever increasing stress, she doesn’t spoil the big reveal.  And, the reveal, well I didn’t second guess it, which I applaud, but, on the back of that, it made me go back and question other events that had led up to this point.  The animosity and secrecy of Charlie’s former friend who is now making the film and the reasons why she’s making it.  This jarred for me.

All that being said, I did enjoy this one, my little niggles didn’t spoil that so much as just left me a little irritated.  I just wanted to ask questions but the chance was lost and so I came away with certain things unanswered.

In spite of my little issues, I would recommend this.  It’s an impressive debut and I will definitely look out for more by this author.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks.  The above is my own opinion.

My rating 3.5 of 5 stars