My Five Word TL:DR Review: Very Chaotic but Seriously Gripping

The Bodies is a book that actually grips you from the get go and from that point is totally relentless.  It’s a book that is insane, it makes you question yourself, I mean, what would you do.  It’s a book that makes you hold your head in your hands saying ‘no, no, no’.  But you won’t want to put it down.  It’s fast paced and each chapter goes from bad to worse.  You think you have a grip of what’s going on – but you really don’t.

I don’t want to give away a lot about the plot, but, at the same time, and given the blurb, I don’t think I’m giving anything away when I say Joseph Carver makes some shocking decisions to help his son.  He wakes up in the dead of night, noises are coming from downstairs, this is basically Joseph’s nightmare scenario given his past – which will soon become crystal clear – but he creeps downstairs, dreading what he will find – only to find his son in the kitchen covered in blood.

Now, what did I love about this book.

Well, this is an author I’ve read before and enjoyed very much.  The writing was really good.  It’s one of those books that you can simply fall into.  I mean, this is a contemporary setting so it’s easy to imagine but the prose is really good and Lloyd is excellent at building tension.

The characters.  Goddamn I wanted to bang some heads together and I’m not a violent person.  Joseph isn’t some kick ass dude.  He’s about as scared of everything as I would be but at the same time he’s really ‘real’.  We’re not all heros but Joseph loves his son, he feels like he’s failed him and he’s simply desperate.  Then we have the rest of the family.  Max, Joseph’s son from his previous marriage, is the one in trouble.  He’s studied for years, he wants to become a doctor and now, his future is on the line.  Joseph has a new wife and step daughter.  Erin and Tilly.

This story almost has a breakneck pace and is one of those stories with short sharp chapters and plenty of tension.  I was literally on the edge of my seat and the beauty of the pacing and tension is that you have little time, not only to take a breath but also to try and second guess what’s really going on.

Then there’s the twists.  The twists are real. I was like ‘what just happened?’.

Anyway, I had a nail biting blast with this book.  I expected to love this, I did go in with high expectations and this book delivered.  An absolutely compelling read.

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

My rating 4.5 of 5 stars