Scan barcode
A review by kba76
The Poison Tree by Erin Kelly
3.0
I wanted to really like this, and it got off to an intriguing start. Sadly, I felt like it fizzled out and had all become very obvious by the end.
Karen, our narrator, is a first-class student, languages expert and generally not someone who gets into trouble. Then she meets Biba Capel, aspiring actress, and starts what can only be described as a kind of love affair (though the physical relationship comes with Biba's brother, Rex).
Our story begins with Karen going to pick up her husband Rex after he gets out of prison for committing double murder. Then we shift back to the summer when Karen first met the Capels and follow the story of what happened.
There's no doubting the shifting narrative keeps our interest, and the opening part of the novel sets up quite an interesting dynamic.
Unfortunately, I never really saw the appeal of either of the characters for Karen so her behaviour doesn't really make sense. The dynamic between Rex and Biba is so off-kilter that it felt like more detail was needed to justify how they got there. The other characters that the story involves didn't really move beyond plot devices for me.
The signs as to what happened were pretty obvious from early on. What I was more interested in was why things happened as they did, and I just don't feel that Kelly really resolved this satisfactorily for us. The 'big shock' at the end wasn't actually much of a shock...I wish there'd been something more inventive.
I keep being told to read The Secret History (to which this is being likened), but I think I'll leave a gap as I don't want to unfairly judge Donna Tartt after someone else hasn't quite succeeded.
Karen, our narrator, is a first-class student, languages expert and generally not someone who gets into trouble. Then she meets Biba Capel, aspiring actress, and starts what can only be described as a kind of love affair (though the physical relationship comes with Biba's brother, Rex).
Our story begins with Karen going to pick up her husband Rex after he gets out of prison for committing double murder. Then we shift back to the summer when Karen first met the Capels and follow the story of what happened.
There's no doubting the shifting narrative keeps our interest, and the opening part of the novel sets up quite an interesting dynamic.
Unfortunately, I never really saw the appeal of either of the characters for Karen so her behaviour doesn't really make sense. The dynamic between Rex and Biba is so off-kilter that it felt like more detail was needed to justify how they got there. The other characters that the story involves didn't really move beyond plot devices for me.
The signs as to what happened were pretty obvious from early on. What I was more interested in was why things happened as they did, and I just don't feel that Kelly really resolved this satisfactorily for us. The 'big shock' at the end wasn't actually much of a shock...I wish there'd been something more inventive.
I keep being told to read The Secret History (to which this is being likened), but I think I'll leave a gap as I don't want to unfairly judge Donna Tartt after someone else hasn't quite succeeded.