A hostage situation, but it’s not just the gunman who has secrets. We join the Blog Tour for The Secrets of Strangers.
The Secrets of Strangers – the blurb
A regular weekday morning veers drastically off-course for a group of strangers whose paths cross in a London café – their lives never to be the same again when an apparently crazed gunman holds them hostage. But there is more to the situation than first meets the eye and as the captives grapple with their own inner demons, the line between right and wrong starts to blur. Will the secrets they keep stop them from escaping with their lives?
No shock jocks here
I thought originally that The Secrets of Strangers was going to be an American thriller, twisty-turny sort of book. It isn’t, it’s more literary than that. The book flits between a gunman and three hostages, showing their lives outside the cafe they are held in. Each character has their own struggles and come from very different walks of life. As the book settles you realize you are in for more of a slow burn and I found I really liked the way it mirrored the hostage situation – frantic at the beginning then slower as the hostage situation becomes more of a waiting game.
Rooting for the gunman?
For me the most fascinating character was the gunman. The way Norman wrote his side of the story provoked a level of sympathy I wasn’t expecting to feel. I loved how my anger grew for the victim as it evaporated for the gunman.
The ending could have been a bit twee but Norman just about veered away from it and I ended up feeling slightly emotional. Yet another example of the numerous ways the book changed my opinions/presumptions as I read it. It’s one thing to write a good page turner, filling it with secrets and shocks. It’s another thing entirely to fill it with well drawn out characters and fill me with simmering rage for a ‘victim’. Bravo.
Thanks
My thanks go to Allen and Unwin via the Random Things Tours for a copy of the book in exchange of an honest review. I thoroughly enjoyed it and you can too as it’s out in paperback now.
