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abbie_'s review
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This book draws inspiration from the disappearance of three lighthouse-keepers in the Hebrides in 1900, but this is set in Cornwall in 1972. Three keepers vanish into thin air, leaving their wives and girlfriends wondering over their fate. Those left behind have been paid well in compensation by Trident House, the lighthouse-keepers’ employers, to make sure they don’t go digging. But when a thriller writer starts writing a new book trying to solve the mystery, old ghosts are resurrected.
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It flits back and forth between the keepers’ POVs in 1972 and the women left behind in 1992, and while I enjoyed both narratives, it was that of the present-day(ish) women that had me truly gripped. How do you move on with your life with the question of your partner’s fate constantly looming over you? How could you go on living a normal life without knowing what happened to your loved one, without any closure? Emma Stonex explores this, and the answer is - not easily!
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I’m not sure how satisfied I was by the ending. It wasn’t bad by any means, I just didn’t have that feeling of a story wrapped up - maybe I’d even have preferred it if it weren’t wrapped up!! I do like an ambiguous ending.
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But the writing, atmosphere and characters - I can’t fault those!
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Infidelity, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape
nialiversuch's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
nodogsonthemoon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Grief, and Murder
beajeffie's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Child death and Murder
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Child abuse
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
rosh's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, and Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury
mybookishhedgemaze's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Aside from the contrived metaphors and similes...some so painfully forced I had to pause and laugh over them in disbelief or embarrassment, which destroyed any immersion the writer may have been trying to achieve...the over-used or ill-suited onomatopoeia, and the vague insinuations of supernatural influence or encounters, the gratuitous swearing was a literary turn-off. Using the infamous f-bomb as a noun, adjective, and verb isn't clever or original, it's actually the complete opposite and gives the distinct impression that the character or, more accurately, the *writer* is shockingly illiterate and at a loss for intelligent narrative.
Add to that the vast panoply of locker-room slang and insults, random and poorly executed stream-of-consciousness (or perhaps very well *executed* in an entirely different sense), senseless red herrings, bland, predictable plot twists, and the ever-changing character perspectives and metronomic swinging from decade to decade...all of this made for an impressively tiresome book. My Mum and I are thrilled to be done with it!
I *will* say that Arthur's poem was hauntingly lovely, but that's all I really can say.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Toxic friendship
hilarylouise's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Minor: Child death, Death, and Murder