Such Pretty Things by Lisa Heathfield

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Titan Books in exchange for an honest review.

This book is intense. Think Flowers in the Attic but with considerably more bite.

Such Pretty Things is the tale of Clara and Stephen, two children who get sent to live with their mysterious aunt after a horrifying incident has left their mother in a coma. With no children of her own, their aunt is overly invested in caring for the pair of them. Unfortunately she does not know how to cope when they don't fit into her ideal, and the children have a knack of being unknowingly cruel to her in return.

The atmosphere of this book was fantastic. This is the kind of horror rooted firmly in real life, in the awful ways relationships can crumble and obsessive thoughts can lead to tragedy. Very early in the book, you learn as a reader that the aunt has had several miscarriages hence her strong desire to bond with the children. The children however do not know this and the resulting social mishaps are full of tension and a building sense of doom. Additionally, Stephen and Clara's bond as siblings is put under increasing strain as they grow apart in their views of their aunt and their new situation. Almost all of the horror of this book comes from the familial relationships, and it is executed excellently.

Overall, if you enjoy horror built from human nature and a creeping sense of uncertain dread, this is the book for you. It is a deliciously slow burn and yet good enough that I read it almost entirely one sitting. I loved every minute of it

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People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Pan Macmillan in exchange for an honest review.

There is a bit of a trend towards social media thrillers and it's a trend I am all for. Something about these books draws me in and, for the moment at least, I find them generally new and interesting. Sadly People Like Her was a bit of a mixed bag.

The plot is focused around three characters: our influencer Emmy, her husband Dan and a mysterious third presence who is both stalking Emmy and hates her for some past transgression. This is a decent enough set up but somewhere, the plot just loses its momentum. It felt like it took me a long time to get through this book even though I was reading it relatively quickly. There just wasn't much happening for the thriller aspect, and I found Emmy and Dan's day-to-day problems not compelling enough to carry the story.

I will say, I did like how Emmy being an influencer was explored in this story. I felt she was both extremely mercenary and also still sympathetic to an extent, and it made for an interesting dissection of the darker side of being an influencer. She was an interesting character if not always a likeable one, and while there wasn't enough to carry the whole plot, I do think she was a good character to center a story around. It would have been nice to see how she dealt with more direct pressure if she had encountered her stalker or the idea of them earlier on.

Overall, People Like Her is a decent thriller but one that just falls a bit short for me. Ultimately the elements didn't quite come together and therefore the climax felt unearned and disjointed from the rest of the story. However, there was still a lot to like here and it does have some interesting points to make. If you like social media thrillers, it's worth giving a go.

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