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A review by aplace_inthesun
The Attack by Catherine Jinks
mysterious
slow-paced
3.0
I was drawn to this book about a group of teen misfits who we’re sent to a small island in Australia for a week with retired war veterans (like a boot camp). The caretaker of the camp is an ex-teacher who is limited in her opportunities due to scandal from when she was a teacher. As luck would have it one of her former students shows up as one of the teens but he’s using a different name.
The Attack details the sad history of trauma and abuse of one of the boys, and his dysfunctional relatives. One of the strongest and rich characters is the boy’s grandmother who I challenge any reader to like - truly one of the most vindictive and spiteful characters I can think of, largely because she is so real. The narrator (Robyn, the Ex-teacher) is less appealing and a little ‘beige’ IMO - her isolation is apparent and you sense there is more to her, but she is a bit two-dimensional. The plot is sound but the events don’t quite reach the heights of what I am accustomed to in thrillers. We don’t really know the boys well, and I found that they had it all over the vets (kept escaping, slipped the vets notice) which just wasn’t believable.
An Aussie thriller which was a plus, but not a memorable one.
The Attack details the sad history of trauma and abuse of one of the boys, and his dysfunctional relatives. One of the strongest and rich characters is the boy’s grandmother who I challenge any reader to like - truly one of the most vindictive and spiteful characters I can think of, largely because she is so real. The narrator (Robyn, the Ex-teacher) is less appealing and a little ‘beige’ IMO - her isolation is apparent and you sense there is more to her, but she is a bit two-dimensional. The plot is sound but the events don’t quite reach the heights of what I am accustomed to in thrillers. We don’t really know the boys well, and I found that they had it all over the vets (kept escaping, slipped the vets notice) which just wasn’t believable.
An Aussie thriller which was a plus, but not a memorable one.