What’s it all about?:
The chilling new thriller by the author of SORRY
Take a man who travels through Germany and shows no mercy. Wherever he goes, no one is left alive. Call him The Traveller. Make him a legend. Fear him.
Take five girlfriends. They open the door to Chaos. Then they take flight. They’re in way over their heads. Avoid them.
Take a father, haunted by his past, who will stop at nothing to achieve his goal. Now imagine his new goal is to stop the five young women. At any cost. Call him The Logician. Shun him.
As they move towards one another, they are seeking vengeance. They have no idea they are watching one person.
What did I think?:
I read this book on a beautiful, sunny holiday with my sister, Chrissi Reads and in hindsight, this novel was quite the contrast to the setting I was in! It begins in 1995 in a snowstorm in Germany (see what I mean?) with a number of cars stuck on a motorway. Before the snowploughs manage to get to the people trapped, unable to go any further, another man does. He is a serial killer, known ominously as The Traveller and that night he will leave just over twenty people dead as he stalks car to car showing no mercy. Quite a beginning right?
The novel only gets more interesting from there. First of all, it employs a variety of different characters and perspectives but mainly focuses on five sixteen year old girls who are mixed up and way over their heads with gangsters and drug dealing. Secondly, it is written in the second person perspective. This means for every chapter, the reader becomes the character that is being focused on. So, you were walking down the street, you were having dinner… etc. And each chapter and each “you” is a different character, forcing the reader into a different mindset. Make sense? Sounds complicated and it was a bit difficult to get my head round which character I was at any given time although it helps that the title of the chapter tells us which character will be focused on. I absolutely love when novels do things a bit differently and although it took me a while to adjust to that style of writing, I felt more involved in the story as a result and felt I got a larger insight into the minds of each of the characters in turn.
Advance warning before you read this book. It is not one for the squeamish or easily disturbed. It is incredibly dark, uncomfortable and unsettling. I didn’t find the violence particularly gratuitous compared to some other things I’ve read but I know it would probably put many people off. However, if you can get past that and are happy to read a story that you have to put a bit of work in to enjoy, you are in for such a treat. It’s not all about The Traveller – in fact, he’s quite a minor character compared to others in the novel and that was my only criticism. He was such a fascinating (and terrifying) individual that I’d have really liked to learn more of his story. Of course, there’s twists and turns as with any good psychological thriller and the twists in this sit perfectly with the disturbing content that is present throughout the novel. Finally, I’d also like to thank Fiction Fan, one of my favorite bloggers, for her review of this novel as without her bringing it to my attention, I might never have picked it up. I’m now eager to read the author’s other works, especially Sorry, which I’ve also heard great things about!
Would I recommend it?:
But of course!
Star rating (out of 5):