Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
Tense, dark and beautifully written. I fell in love with the characters and couldn't wait to pick this up every night. A fantastic debut.
I was a little bit confused at the start of this book if I'm honest, told over multiple timelines it took me a little while to get the hang of this book. We're told the story by two characters, Catherine and Lucian and it's told in the present, 4 months ago and 15 years ago and it took a little bit of getting used to but once I got into it, I was totally hooked.
Catherine has suffered a great trauma, what that trauma is, we don't find out until the end but it has caused selective mutism. Part of her recovery is to go back in time, to start at the beginning and this is where she tells us her story starting 15 years ago.
HIM is a very complex story, it's ultimately a love story, a dark love story and it's a story that totally and utterly absorbs you. I knew something terrible must have happened to cause Catherine to retreat into herself, she has a husband, a family that need her yet she is unable to communicate with them and this I found to be quite shocking yet fascinating.
Catherine is married to Sam, dependable Sam, he loves Catherine deeply and Catherine loves him but not as much as her first true love Lucian. And it's over the course of the book we find out why Catherine and Lucian aren't together, why Catherine and Sam are married and what caused things to go the way they did.
I'll give you a word of warning before you pick up this book, make sure you have time to read it. This isn't a book you can easily pick up and put down again, it totally absorbed me and I couldn't put it down.
It's shocking and sad, it's complex and cleverly written. It's a story about obsessive love, guilt, secrets, lies and regrets. It's twisty, suspenseful and utterly compelling and I was shocked to realise after I'd read it that it's a debut novel. It's left me quite excited to see what the author comes up with next.
HIM is a story I'll definitely be recommending, a first class read.
Him by Clare Empson is an emotional story of love, obsession, and the weight of shame. Just as Catherine and Lucian were obsessed with each other so was I with Clare Empson’s writing. Imagine a rose bush creeping out of the pages, entwining itself around your fingers, your wrist, your arms, pricking you and looking ever so beautiful. That is what Clare Empson did with this book. Her writing kept me hooked to the pages as I read the story from different perspectives and timelines.
Catherine suffers from elective mutism owing to a trauma she recently experienced which acted as a tipping point to her mental health. Reading Catherine’s present day perspective made me feel claustrophobic and on edge. I couldn’t help getting entangled with Catherine’s emotions; this feeling of dread creeping over me as the story progressed. Catherine and Lucian’s obsession with each other reminded me a little of Cathy and Heathcliff from Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights.
While I do pity the characters, I can’t say that I liked them. Lucian is a rich heir, and painter who is one of the top elites. He and his four friends live a life of privileged luxury; however, their friend group is really nothing to admire. This is a group of people who never grew up; it’s not that they turn a blind eye to their faults but they actually enable the worst in each other. It took Lucian to find out about Catherine, and Alexa for him to actually see how Jack treats his wife? The careless nature of their lifestyle abetted in the loss of so many, and yet they never considered the consequences. Catherine, on the other hand, was a character I couldn’t help pity for her unhealthy obsession with Lucian. It was damaging to herself and her family.
I love how the author used this story as a means to examine guilt and its growth. It is shown as something that manifests in parasitic ways, unawares even to the victim themselves. This book is like an answer to the question, “Why didn’t they come out about it sooner?” Elective mutism is something new for me to read; Catherine’s thoughts during that time was incredibly sad and it really showed how shame burrows into one’s, and feeds on the person’s thoughts until it begins to affect one’s everyday.
I liked how it delved into Catherine’s case of mutism and recognized her trauma for what it was. Him is a character driven book which explores the parallels of desire, and obsession, and the pervasiveness of shame. Although marketed as crime fiction, I felt the book was leaning more towards literary or contemporary fiction, and so I would recommend this book for readers who are looking for an emotionally dark and heartbreaking read.
Thank you to Orion Books for the free e-copy via NetGalley in exchange for a review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Camillea Reads || Twitter || Instagram
Catherine suffers from elective mutism owing to a trauma she recently experienced which acted as a tipping point to her mental health. Reading Catherine’s present day perspective made me feel claustrophobic and on edge. I couldn’t help getting entangled with Catherine’s emotions; this feeling of dread creeping over me as the story progressed. Catherine and Lucian’s obsession with each other reminded me a little of Cathy and Heathcliff from Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights.
While I do pity the characters, I can’t say that I liked them. Lucian is a rich heir, and painter who is one of the top elites. He and his four friends live a life of privileged luxury; however, their friend group is really nothing to admire. This is a group of people who never grew up; it’s not that they turn a blind eye to their faults but they actually enable the worst in each other. It took Lucian to find out about Catherine, and Alexa for him to actually see how Jack treats his wife? The careless nature of their lifestyle abetted in the loss of so many, and yet they never considered the consequences. Catherine, on the other hand, was a character I couldn’t help pity for her unhealthy obsession with Lucian. It was damaging to herself and her family.
I love how the author used this story as a means to examine guilt and its growth. It is shown as something that manifests in parasitic ways, unawares even to the victim themselves. This book is like an answer to the question, “Why didn’t they come out about it sooner?” Elective mutism is something new for me to read; Catherine’s thoughts during that time was incredibly sad and it really showed how shame burrows into one’s, and feeds on the person’s thoughts until it begins to affect one’s everyday.
I liked how it delved into Catherine’s case of mutism and recognized her trauma for what it was. Him is a character driven book which explores the parallels of desire, and obsession, and the pervasiveness of shame. Although marketed as crime fiction, I felt the book was leaning more towards literary or contemporary fiction, and so I would recommend this book for readers who are looking for an emotionally dark and heartbreaking read.
Thank you to Orion Books for the free e-copy via NetGalley in exchange for a review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Camillea Reads || Twitter || Instagram