[3.5] I wonder what people who read more thrillers will make of. You may not have expected this to be a psychological thriller set on farms, what with the author being one of the Granta Best Young British Novelists, who looks very cool and works in a London bookshop, and the book's pretty cover with twee wonky lettering. (A case of coverflip ? It's not something I see a lot of in my reading but this seems like one, and it suits the protagonist very poorly. The Australian co

[Lloyd says he is taking the ashes to the four corners of Britain and has already been to John O'Groats, Cornwall & Suffolk. The place is English, so it's not Anglesey or the Isle of Man. The community is much like a Scottish island, just English instead. (hide spoiler)

[ why the heck doesn't she try and get rid of Lloyd as soon as she can? She doesn't even appear to be suspicious of him or to think carefully about his explanations and motives, which someone like her would. (hide spoiler)

[People who live on their own and like their own space - I am one, and I know plenty of others - always find having visitors staying for more than a few days in a small house or flat to be pretty uncomfortable, and after a while you just need them to go away for a while. I've had plenty of conversations about this over the years and it's a sense and experience which is completely absent from this character whom I'd very much expect to have it. (hide spoiler)

[She had prolonged traumatic sexual experiences but in a first person narrative doesn't refer to any contrast between them and her relationship with Greg - even if she's lucky to have escaped more severe trauma symptoms. It could be because she's essentially an avoidant type who buries stuff but she doesn't say anything even once. (hide spoiler)

The Lady Vanishes - told in a way that seems like a single, off-key intrusion of magical realism. [And the validation-by-witness scene as per- told in a way that seems like a single, off-key intrusion of magical realism. (hide spoiler)

[3.5] I wonder what people who read more thrillers will make of. You may not have expected this to be a psychological thriller set on farms, what with the author being one of the Granta Best Young British Novelists, who looks very cool and works in a London bookshop, and the book's pretty cover with twee wonky lettering. (A case of coverflip ? It's not something I see a lot of in my reading but this seems like one, and it suits the protagonist very poorly. The Australian cover even features a woman with long hair and a dress - nothing like her. Without the Granta rec I wouldn't have picked up a book that looks like this, regardless of old proverbs.) The story is fairly grim, the grimmest book I've read since Sofie Oksanen's- a truly all-round excellent novel also about a woman on the run from her past, that I'd recommend over this one.Suspense is this book's greatest strength. Ever since I read the excerpt in the Granta collection I've wanted to know what happens. I read a longer excerpt on the publisher's website, and I still wanted to know more. This feeling lasted right until the end of the book. It's very neatly structured: chapters from the book's present, going forwards chronologically alternate with those from the past which run back chronologically. In typical literary fiction fashion, hints and allusions are made to a background which is only gradually and partially revealed to the reader. This usually gives the effect of getting to know an enigmatic person (like the protagonist, Jake); part of the fascination is waiting to find out the pattern of what they will and won't tell you, as well as the facts themselves; the chapter structure adds to that sense.There were times, especially when I'd taken a break from the book and returned to it, that I would think, "oh, yet more lyrical realism"...but nearly every time I was hypnotically drawn back in, and away from that cynicism. It's lyrical realism well done and the novelty of the characters and their environment kept me interested.In a way, it's a nature book, a rural book - set in Australia in the past and in its present on a fictional unnamed island off the west coast of England. [Why west? (view spoiler) ].It's visceral and raw and full of animals (and spiders) alive and dead. The TLS review conjures its natural environment well. Yet for all that Jake lives in these places, she doesn't feel at ease in them - she doesn't feel at ease anywhere, dogged by fear and her traumatic past.Her feelings about her current location are pretty much the opposite of what mine would be in such a place, yet it's well evoked so the disagreement is irrelevant.It's taken a few paragraphs to get round to discussing Jake because how to describe her raises questions. Her character and experiences made me realise how conventionally feminine a lot of modern literary female characters still are; she messes with commonly imposed dichotomies around masculine/feminine, weak/strong - and in a way that is more like the non-symbolic and complicated existence of a real person than a character who was drawn up to represent anything particular. It seems daft to call an adult a tomboy; what about a straight butch? Anyway, why do I have to label her for the purpose of this review?I liked a lot of things about her, and to some extent could relate: the ways she tries to be strong and almost compulsively independent even when it's a bit much, and the way she doesn't want to talk much except on her terms. Mostly, she's very well drawn but there were one or two points (below, as spoilers) which didn't quite ring true.The writing, the setting, and the central character are pretty good, so what's wrong with this book?It comes down to a few pedantic points; if they'd been ironed out with strict editing, this could have been a seriously great little book. This is also where I'd love to know what detail-orientated regular readers of thrillers think. For all its well-crafted suspense,is not original enoughand it lacks the greater significance and depth a "literary" work might have had to make up for that. I also thought that the narrator's register would have worked even better with some more humour as it's a natural bridge between bravado and fear.Further pedantry:- Whilst Jake has some money in the bank, it's not enough to buy a farm in the UK. The "present" setting is, if given any thought, an implausible romantic idea which is difficult to fit with the gritty elements of the story. Also, let's just assume she got her driving licence somewhere along the way and has unmentioned British-born relatives who'd make the whole immigration thing a lot easier. Cressida Connolly notes the unlikelihood of Jake owning a gun in Britain.- She is a loner who's slow to trust people, so (view spoiler) - Related: (view spoiler) - A few hackneyed devices including symbolic cryptozoological beastie (this is, coincidentally, the third book I've read this month featuring one ... they're like buses). Various found items. (view spoiler) But perhaps a few tropes like these are just necessary for a thriller?- There are a number of other things which raise potential quibbles, but they also leave room for assumptions that make the story flow. I like novels in which not everything is spelt out.This book could be one of those examples of literary writing with a genre plot, but which does the "genre" element less well than experienced genre writers - as a few commenters on this Millions article allege is common. But as I haven't read a thriller for years, I'm not really qualified to say.is an interesting book with some strengths but it may not have been as great as some of the hype makes out. I've seen at least two comparisons with: to a teenager in the 90's the Banks book already wasn't half as shocking as people had said it was on release - but Wyld's character and plot don't have its level of originality either. Butis a promising book, different and good enough for me to think it worth looking out for future works by Evie Wyld.June 2013; minor amendments to phrasing, Jan 2016.(Two and a half years after reading, it's the aspects of the book I liked, especially Jake as a character, that have stuck, whilst the nitpicked bits have faded.)