The Home by Sarah Stovell

The Home is the story of three young girls in care. Hope, Lara, and Annie find themselves in a remote care home that is facing closure and they are the three sole residents.  All three have incredibly traumatic backgrounds and suffered abuse - physical, sexual and emotional. One is pregnant, one doesn’t speak - so scarred is she by her past, and two are engaged in a passionate relationship which tips into something darker.

The death of pregnant Hope starts the story off and this is one part psychological thriller/murder mystery. But to describe this book just as that would not do it justice. This is really an exploration of the abuse that far too many children suffer, something that is compounded by the underfunding of the state’s care and the harm heaped on the most vulnerable as a result of these failings. 

While The Home is fiction, it reminded me of all too many stories I came across in real life as a journalist for Channel 4 Dispatches. Years ago, I also read a nonfiction book by the award-winning Guardian journalist, Nick Davies. Dark Heart: The Shocking Truth About Hidden Britain was a groundbreaking exposé of the failings of the care system and the impact of poverty and deprivation on young minds, and Sarah Stovell’s novel fictionalises the same territory. The point is that she’s clearly done her research and not everyone reads, or likes, such heavy nonfiction as Nick Davies’ book or the films I made for Dispatches, and so novels that bring such situations to light are extremely important.

This isn’t to say that The Home is a heavy read, however. Stovell’s novel is heartrendingly, beautifully written, the author’s prose bringing to life the characters so that the reader really feels for them and connects with their experiences. But there’s no getting away from the fact that the themes of this novel make it a difficult and harrowing read.

If there’s one thing I did not like about this novel it is that the narrative changes from character to character, without any indication of who’s perspective we are viewing events from. You have to work it out yourself. While eventually, you get the knack of doing so, this style does take some getting used to and I struggled at the start. I understand why the author chose to do this: all three characters are damaged protagonists and so are unreliable to an extent. And once I was used to it, the technique worked. But I did find it confusing at the beginning.

That said, The Home is an engaging and important novel. It’s difficult to say that I enjoyed a novel like this, dealing with the themes and issues that it does, but I’m glad I read it, won’t forget it in a hurry, and certainly will read more from the author.

4 out of 5 stars

A User’s Guide To Make-Believe by Jane Alexander

Imagen, a new British tech startup has come up with a sure-fire winner and path to riches: a fully immersive virtual reality system. Gone are the goggles and vertigo of old, instead biomolecules are absorbed via nasal spray and these interact with an adaptor worn on the ear. Using this, those who subscribe to the system can enjoy a dream world, better than the real one, the only limit their imagination. But there’s a dark side. Some people indulge in their worst fantasies and perversions; people can get addicted, preferring the dream world to reality; and there’s something else that the company is determined to suppress from the public eye.

Cassie McAllister is a former employee of the company. She’s been sacked and blacklisted, forced to sign a punitive gagging clause after she was found immersing herself for far longer than the regulated hours and completely dependent. Determined to find her way back in, she discovers the company’s secret by accident, and this has profound implications for her.

A User’s Guide to Make Believe is a techno-thriller, set in the near future, and in a world that’s all too possible to imagine. It touches on numerous issues that we grapple with today: the power of big tech, how these companies promise much, and how while they might deliver on what they promise, there's always an inherent quid pro quo; the sheer amount of data these companies amass on us and what they do with it is also tackled; as is the intertwining of government with their corporate power and the implications this has for transparency and holding them to account, in other words, the corruption this can lead to.

Cassie is an engaging character, deeply flawed but likable in her own way. The plot is intriguing and the story is of the moment. This is a dystopian vision of the dark side of our increasing reliance on technology and the corporate behemoths that supply us with it. This is a novel that is well worth a read.

3 out of 5 stars 

Rule Britannia by Alec Marsh

I first heard about this book completely by accident. While at a writing festival, Capital Crime, I bumped into the author, Alec Marsh, who so happens to have been my boss in a previous life. Years ago, we both worked for YouGov (now purely a pollster, but at the time with a small news operation). I was one of the journalists, while Alec was the editor. Speaking with him after all this time, I discovered he had published his first novel and as a writer and book reviewer myself, I was keen to read it.

Earnest Drabble is a Cambridge historian and mountaineer, while his childhood friend, Percival Harris, is a fleet street journalist. It’s 1936 and Britain is being wracked by the abdication crisis of Kind Edward VIII. The King has fallen in love with an American socialite and divorcée, Wallis Simpson, and wishes to marry. This is anathema to many, not least the Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, and rumours are in the air that the King is going to stand down. 

Seemingly unconnected to all this drama, Drabble has learnt of a provincial doctor who has in his possession the long lost head of Oliver Cromwell. After the restoration of the British monarchy, Cromwell’s body was dug up from its resting place by supporters of the new king (Charles II) and beheaded.  The head was then placed on a spike. Years later, the head blew off in a storm and was stolen as a keepsake by a guard. It then passed into private hands where it was eventually lost. Now it has reappeared, and Drabble, an authority on the period, is keen to see it. He tells only Harris of this, but the journalist is a bit of a blabbermouth and soon they are both in a heap of trouble. Why anyone wants the head of Oliver Cromwell so badly, neither Drabble or Harris know, but they are pursued by fascists and a cast of deeply unsavoury characters, all of whom are intent on getting the head.

Historical fiction is not my preferred genre. My preference is for the darkest of treacly noir. James Elroy and Don Winslow are my writing heroes. Rule Britannia is none of those but has been accurately described by other reviewers as a charming and entertaining romp. So, I admit to being a little hesitant when embarking on the novel. That said, I was soon thoroughly enjoying it. Drabble and Harris are well drawn and delightful characters, and the supporting cast are also strong, not least the villains.

Rule Britannia is a well plotted story and moves along at a good pace. It is also very well researched and the events of the book, while fictionalised, are grounded in reality. Cromwell really was dug up, decapitated, his head stuck on a spike only to disappear into private hands; while the fascists in the book might be made up, but Oswald Moseley’s British Union of Fascists really were almost as powerful. While the novel is lighter in tone than my usual preferred reads, and I generally prefer contemporary tales, I did really enjoy the basis for this story. I have a great interest in the far right (no sympathy for them I should quickly point out, just an interest) and the power they wielded at one point, which this story uses as a plot device, is frightening to contemplate.

Rule Brittania is a fun and irreverent tale. Apparently, it’s the start of a series and Alec has laid the foundations well here.  It’s billed as a “Drabble and Harris thriller” but Drabble has the lion’s share of the narrative and Harris is very much in his shadow. I wonder if in future outings we’ll see more of the later. There’s certainly scope in both characters. If you’re after a light-hearted historical read, then this could well be the book for you.

5 out of 5 stars

Russ Thomas Q&A

Russ Thomas is a debut author who has shot out of nowhere with his impressive and brilliant novel, Firewatching. His is a name to watch and I predict big things for this Sheffield based author. As well as reviewing his debut for my blog (see here: https://bit.ly/2TmoO8R) he kindly agreed to answer some questions on the writing process and how he makes the magic happen.

Firewatching is your debut novel. Some writers get published with their first attempt at a novel (even if it takes years of changes) others have aborted previous attempts. Was Firewatching the first novel you tried to write? Do you have unpublished novels which have never seen the light of day?

No, it certainly wasn’t the first. I first started writing a book when I was about twelve – an epic SF romp across time and space with a cast of thousands. Up until fairly recently I had convinced myself I might even revisit it someday. Then I dug it out and read it and realised it was Star Wars. I have a more recent attempt at a fantasy novel set in the 1930s though, which I hope to do something with, eventually. But for now, Adam Tyler has my attention.

How many drafts did Firewatching go through? How long did it take you to write the book?

Erm… literally dozens. I changed the tense the story was told in from present to past and then back again. I changed the point of view characters more than once. I restructured it so many times I doubt you would recognise the original novel from the one published. Overall, it took about 10 years. I know that sounds like a long time but for much of that it was put away in a drawer, “lying fallow” as my University lecturer used to say. It took a long time for me to realise what I was trying to say and even longer to learn the skills needed to say it. I’ve always been a slow learner.

What was the inspiration, the first spark, for the plot of Firewatching? 

It started as a short story about an elderly woman suffering from some form of dementia who relives the past as though it’s happening seamlessly with the present. The way I wrote it originally was very confusing unless you were paying very close attention but the conceit of that stayed with me. Then I started an MA in Writing at Sheffield Hallam University and my tutor at the time, the fantastic novelist Lesley Glaister, told me that she liked my writing and characters but that she couldn’t see any plot. That’s because I didn’t really have one. So I threw a body in, and a crime novel was born.

Firewatching is set in Sheffield. How important to you is the city as a setting for the novel?

I actually find it quite hard to write about the place I’m living in, because it’s almost too familiar. It’s like the way you never really look at a picture hanging on your wall – it’s just there. So originally the story was set elsewhere. I tried a few anonymous places, the place where I grew up in Berkshire, and even Brighton at one point. But I kept coming back to Sheffield, as I always do. It’s such an important place for me that I felt I wanted to do my bit to put it back on the map. It always gets left off the weather map? Have you noticed that? They label every other major city in the country but never Sheffield! Well I’ve labelled it now, although perhaps not for the right reasons.

Have you always been attracted to the crime thriller genre? 

Yes, I grew up reading the Golden Age classics and I’ve usually got a crime novel on the go (although not exclusively, I read quite widely). I also watch a lot of crime dramas and thrillers. There’s something about death, I suppose. The ultimate question of life. 

What’s your process and how do you go from vague inspiration to fully fleshed out notion?

Good question. I wish I had a good answer. I guess just through trial and error. The inspiration usually comes from character, for me anyway, rather than the plot hook. I get an idea for a character, usually in a particular situation, and then I start writing that character, exploring who they are. Then I try to stitch that character into the idea I’ve got. 

When do you know if an idea isn’t working? Have you ever had to abort a story because it just isn’t “doing it”?

Oh yes, tons of times. But nothing is ever wasted. I keep everything and sometimes make it work in a different way, like Lily’s story which was the starting point for Firewatching. When do you know if it isn’t working? Is it the crippling angst you feel? The heart-rending self-doubt? When that all gets too much I put it down for a bit and walk away. The trick is to make that horrible little voice inside you think it’s won and go and do something else. Just keep going back. I guess I’m just a bit stubborn. Maybe I haven’t ever aborted a story, maybe they’re just all on hold. I guess I won’t know until I’m dead. And then I won’t know.

Tell me about the research that goes into your writing?

All hail the Internet! How the hell writers managed back in the day, I’ll never know. You can pretty much guarantee that if you need the answer to a question, someone will already have asked it online. I’ve spoken to a few experts as well, mainly to try to get the police procedural stuff right. I end up taking a lot of the research out though. Less is more. I’m not very heavily into police procedure, most of it’s boring paperwork and painstaking examination of evidence. That doesn’t always make for an interesting read. No one wants to see PC Rabbani scrolling through twenty-seven hours of CCTV footage. But we do need to know she’s done it. Then we want to see her just after that process, tired and irritable, and about to say the worst possible thing at the worst possible time.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?

A bit of both. Probably more pantser than plotter, if I’m honest, although I’ve had to plan a lot more on the second one as I haven’t had 10 years to write it this time.


When plotting, how do you go about plotting your stories? 

I don’t spend a lot of time on this at first because it always changes as I go along. A few days, a few weeks if I’m busy. I write a fairly detailed synopsis if I can, and revisit this again and again as I go along to check if I’m still on track (I’m usually not). Then I start writing.


With the pantsing, how do you make sure you don’t go off on wild tangents? 

I don’t. I go wildly off tangent all the time but that’s often when I discover what I’m really writing about. Then I go back to the drawing board and start plotting again.

Tell me about your writing, do you write full time?

I do now, or at least I have been for the past year or so. I also teach a little in Sheffield and do mentoring. I appreciate how lucky I am though. Most writers don’t have that luxury, nor did I for many years and may not do in the future depending how well Firewatching does! I’m taking full advantage and enjoying it while it lasts.

When is your most productive period of the day?

Always first thing in the morning. Usually the earlier the better but I’m not very good at getting up very early. In the afternoon, if I’m feeling decadent, I’ll go watch a film at the cinema. But usually I’m reading. Reading is so important. If you want to be a writer, you really need to read a lot. It’s part of the job. A very nice part. If I’m writing in the afternoon, it’s usually in coffee-shops and various places around the city. The one problem with writing full time (yes, there is one!) is that you have to find ways of interacting with the world. You need to observe people to write about them. I’ve been a bookseller for most of my life, and there is no better job in retail for interacting with people. But now I no longer have snarky customers to show me the uglier side of humanity. I miss them.

Is any part of your writing biographical or are any of the characters inspired by real people? 

Yes, Lily and Edna are very much inspired by two elderly Aunts I had as a child. The set-up, I should say, their mannerisms and idiosyncracies and so on, not their actions! But there are little bits of real people in all the characters I write. That’s why I spend so much time in coffee shops.

What writing projects are you working on now? 

Nighthawking is the second in the Adam Tyler series and is pretty much in the bag. And I’ll be starting work on book 3 very shortly.

Tell me a little about your journey to success, how did you secure that all important agent and first publishing deal? 

I starting submitting my work to agents a few years ago and I got the usual mix of polite, encouraging refusals and no response whatsoever. It was after that I put my book away for the longest period and moved onto something else. It was well over a year when I realised it wasn’t going to leave me alone and I had to go back for one last try. Two or three rewrites after that I started sending it out again and the difference was astonishing. I heard back immediately from two agents and, after a bit of a nudge, from a third as well. I ended up choosing my current agent, Sarah Hornsley of the Bent Agency. She was the first to express interest and by far the most passionate. I just felt like she really got the book and her editorial input made it so much better than it was. I rewrote it again and a few months later Sarah sent it out to fifteen editors. We heard back from two of them the very next day. In the end, the book went to auction and we had four offers to choose from. It was literally a dream come true and it all felt like it was happening overnight at that point. Of course, that was a year and a half ago, so it’s been a long night.

Finally, I’m going to shamelessly poach two questions the author Mark Hill (author of His First Lie and It Was Her) used to put to writers on his blog. Like me, Mark was a book blogger before he became a successful author and I like to think that the answers to these questions helped him glean valuable help for his own writing. Certainly, reading them on his blog is helping me. So here goes:

What’s the hardest lesson you ever had to learn about writing?

That it really isn’t as easy as it looks. We all put pen to paper at some point, we all have the ability to write. What’s that saying about everyone having a book in them? I think that’s true. But the hard bit is learning your craft, practicing and getting better. Just like a musician or a sculptor or anyone else who gets good at something over a long period of time. You just have to keep persevering long after any sane person would give up. It’s really, really hard at times and because you spend a lot of time in your own head, overthinking, it can become pretty overwhelming. But don’t worry, if it feels like that – you’re doing it right!

Give me some advice about writing?

Don’t listen to the voice in your head. Sit down and do it!

Firewatching by Russ Thomas

A body is found bricked up in a basement. He’s died a quite horrific death, for he was alive when he was entombed. While he had received a head injury to incapacitate him which likely also sped up his death, he was aware enough to try to claw his way through the bricks. He is only discovered years later. The building his body was found in was devastated by a fire and has since lain derelict. Now the new owner has decided to renovate it and it is only when the builders are working in the cellar that he is discovered.

DS Adam Tyler is the sole member of the South Yorkshire Police cold case team. He is on the unit both because he’s good at what he does and due to an incident years earlier which nearly destroyed his career (so he’s kept safely out of the way). He’s attached to the murder squad, despite the reservations of some, because this is a cold case, and thus, his specialty. When the identity of the dead man is confirmed, there’s little regret, for he was rich, powerful, and engulfed in scandal.

The plot of Firewatching takes place in a rural village on the outskirts of Sheffield (though some of the narrative also occurs in Sheffield itself). It revolves around a cast of characters, members of the police, and members of the local village community,  and it’s both a modern police procedural and a whodunnit. Tyler and the team he is attached to have a number of likely suspects, people of interest with intriguing and suspicious pasts. 

There are more than a few compelling supporting characters in this novel, both on the police side and in the village itself. The villagers, in particular, are an eccentric and (some of them) sinister lot. In many ways, they reminded me of the characters that populate the small Swedish town of Gavrik in Will Dean’s Tuva Moodyson books. Both authors create a community where everyone knows each other's business and on the surface, everyone gets on, but where hidden tensions, grudges, and rivalries simmer.

Firewatching is Russ Thomas’s debut and it really is an impressive one at that. Another reviewer has mentioned how he really does seem to have come out of nowhere and that’s very true. Many debut novelists take a while to become established, their first novel doing ok, their second building on that, etc. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with such a path, and many a fine novelist has built a brand like this, going on to become a bestseller. Occasionally though, an author makes a splash with their debut and I’d be surprised if this is not how it is for Thomas. His is a name to watch.

5 out of 5 stars  

A Dark Matter by Doug Johnson

This opens with the funeral pyre (illegally done in the backyard) of undertaker Jim Skelf. Having spent a lifetime arranging the burial or cremation of others, Jim asked in his will for none of that, for instead to be burnt on a pyre in his garden and this the family does. Jim was the patriarch of the family. Or was he? For we are soon introduced to the protagonists of the story: Jim’s wife, Dorothy; his daughter, Jenny; his granddaughter, Hannah. As well as the family’s long-established undertakers, Jim had a fledgling private investigation business and the women now have to take the reigns of the familiar (undertaking) and the unfamiliar (PI work).

The three women each take on different cases for their own reasons. Dorothy has learnt something about Jim which has her doubting their relationship, she also takes on a job that Jim had accepted just before his death; Jenny is hired to investigate a woman’s husband while helping out at a funeral, the woman the daughter of the deceased; Hannah’s friend Mel has disappeared and she is increasingly worried about her. Alongside this PI work are the funerals, burials, and cremations that continue.

One thing I really liked about this book is that it dealt with death. Of course, many books feature death, especially genre titles - crime fiction, thriller, horror, etc - and broadly speaking A Dark Matter might be described as literary crime fiction. But most such titles don’t really consider death. Death is something that happens, a plot device - a character is killed, a body is discovered - that drives the narrative forward. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course. I read many genre titles. And certainly, A Dark Matter features death in that sense, too. But where it goes beyond, and its setting in an undertaker allows it do so, is to tackle society’s taboo of death. People don’t like to dwell on death, on what happens after, on what will become of their bodies, and A Dark Matter considers all of this, discusses it, and grapples with it. It does so sensitively, but profoundly, and while it can be uncomfortable reading (it is a taboo after all, and I have to admit to being as guilty of it as anyone) it is also very rewarding. After all, death is something that we all have to face at some point and there’s a good argument that we shouldn’t be so shy to do so.

A Dark Matter is an incredibly well-written book and I’m glad I discovered it. It has a multi-stranded plot that the author weaves with great skill, and each character travels their own arc, their inner and outer conflicts resolving satisfactorily. This is the first of the author’s books that I’ve read, but it certainly won’t be the last.

5 out of 5 stars 

Are You Watching? By Vincent Ralph

Jess is a young woman and star of a YouTube reality show. Ten years previously, her mother was the first victim of a serial killer dubbed the Magpie Man, and she uses her new popularity to flush the killer out. While the world is watching and thus her mother’s murder is getting the attention that she wants it to, so is the Magpie Man, and he decides to add Jess to his long line of victims.

I was in two minds about reading this book, the positives being that it was compared in the advertising copy to Black Mirror, a tv show that I love, and had an intriguing premise, the negatives that it was YA. I don’t have a problem with Young Adult fiction as such, but I do always wonder what it is that makes it YA. Is it that they don’t address difficult subjects as rigorously as adult fiction, or just that the protagonist is of that age group? I decided to give it a go despite my reservations and I am glad that I did as for the most part it does its storyline justice.

The Black Mirror comparisons are apt, the world created by the author being familiar and yet more than a little dystopian. The YouTube show is called The Eye and its premise is that young people are filmed for the viewers, their lives displayed for all the world’s voyeurism. In an age where many young people dream of being YouTube stars and social media influencers, where once upon a time they dreamt of being actors and sports stars (and before that doctors and fire fighters) this is not far from reality and yet slightly sinister. 

Jess is a strong protagonist and her two friends who help her throughout the book and give her emotional support are also good, well-rounded characters. This is a young woman who knows what she wants and refuses to be the victim or the damsel-in-distress. But she’s not a superhero kick-ass character, just an ordinary woman with a strong personality and a determination to see justice for her mother. This all makes for compelling characterisation that forces the narrative forwards.

Other reviewers have said that there are moments where the storyline stretches credulity, and this is certainly true. This to me was the weakest aspect of the novel and reading the book I felt like the author had a tendency to shoehorn in solutions to solve the knotty problems that his narrative had created for his characters. All in all, though, this did not stop me from enjoying this title and it’s certainly well worth a read.

4 out of 5 stars.