Blood Wedding by Pierre LemaitreMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Time taken to read - 4 days (on and off)
Pages - 320
Publisher - MacLehose Press
Blurb from back cover
Sophie is haunted by the things she can't remember - and visions from the past she will never forget.
One morning, she wakes to find that the little boy in her care is dead. She has no memory of what happened. And her side of the story is no match for the evidence piled against her.
Her only hiding place is in a new identity. A new life, with a man she has met online.
But Sophie is not the only one keeping secrets...
My Review
The story opens with Sophie, Sophie is tired, reflecting on her losses and now her job with little Leo, the six year old child in her care. Sophie looses time, when she looses time bad things happen and this time little Leo is dead. Sophie has to run, make a new life, get a new identity and hopefully a new man she meets online will be her salvation.
The story is split, Sophie's story then Frantz story, the timeline between the two jumps a bit to tell eachs story. Sophies takes a bit to get into, she is an unreliable narrator purely because she isn't always sure what has transpired, the reader is discovering happenings as Sophie does. Frantz part of the story is clear from the very beginning, it is dark and draws you in immediately. I felt more in the loop once I got half way through, things started to become clear. It is a dark and twisted tale that will freak the reader out and pull you down into Sophies darkness.
It isn't for the faint hearted, there are themes of abuse, sexual deviancy, murder, violence, drugs, relationships, brutality and much more. It is haunting because of how clever Lemaitre builds up the suspense and leaves the reader reeling to who is guilty, who is the bad guy and at times just what is actually happening. My first time reading this author, I would read him again, 3/5 for me, thanks so much to RealReaders for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.
Whilst I can stand some of these themes by themselves, the combination of all seven and more would probably prove a bit too much.
ReplyDeleteGreat review though, thanks.