The last thing she remembers is standing outside the empty house. One she was employed to pack, ready for removal. Her job is her life. It is her compulsion to take care of an owner’s precious possessions, to do whatever it takes to help them move on. Now she is cold, dirty, damp, trapped in its cellar with no chance of escape, miles from anywhere. His prisoner.
And then he returns.
Her captor believes she holds the answers to why a young girl was murdered a year ago. He refuses to let her go until she reveals her secrets. But he doesn’t know she has hidden depths, and an anger she works hard to control.
The battle lines are drawn. They are the only two people who can solve the mystery of the dead girl. But when the truth is revealed, whose life will shatter?
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Sharp Glass by Sarah Hilary is published on 11 July 2024 by Pan Macmillan. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review.
I adore Sarah Hilary's writing. I have read everything that she has written and enjoyed all of her novels to date. This is an author whose books I really look forward to. The reader never quite knows what they will get, and Sharp Glass is, quite possibly, her best book to date.
The female lead character opens the story thinking about her recent journey. She is a professional packer, employed by people to pack up their homes for moving. The job suits this woman. She's insular and also very structured, she likes things in their place. She's very good at her job. She travelled at night time, to an isolated house in the country, she hasn't met the person who hired her.
We become aware that the woman is being held in a cellar. Captured as soon as she arrived, she was put in the cellar by an unknown man. Her thoughts run wild, the man is not treating her badly, he brings food and water, he tries to make her as comfortable as possible, but she is trapped.
This is an extraordinary piece of writing. The structure of the novel is incredibly clever and the meandering thoughts of the woman raise so many questions. We hear her innermost thoughts. It is clear that she has led a fractured, difficult life. That small things that she has collected over the years and kept in a shoe box are very important to her. Is she reliable? We only hear her story, there must be a reason why this man has captured her.
It is filled with suspense and tension, there is a darkness that is so overwhelming and so powerful. The woman's internal narrative is full of clues to her character, but we still don't know why she is there.
It is a story of three parts, and in the second, we learn more about the man who holds her captive. He is another fractured soul. A man who tried his best to escape from his life of pain. An educated, intelligent man who has an important, useful job, but who suffers from the memory of his earlier life. As these two people gradually get to know each other, it becomes clear that they have more in common than we would imagine. They are bound together by the tragic death of a young girl a year ago. That story is central to the theme and the horrors that unfold are shocking.
Whilst we do not actually meet any other characters, we hear about many, especially in the third part. We hear about the cruelty, the sadness, the need for revenge. There are well hidden secrets, there are unexpected shocks in store.
This is an immersive, sharply written and quite devastating novel that features characters who are flawed and will often make the reader feel uncomfortable. However, those characters are magnificently portrayed, formed with an incredible insight into how the mind can work.
This is an absolute wonder of a novel that will challenge but will also take you so deeply into the minds of these characters that you will find it hard to leave them. Highly recommended by me.
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Award and was also a World Book Night selection, a Richard & Judy Book Club pick and a finalist for both the Silver Falchion and the Macavity Awards in the US. No Other Darkness, the second in her DI Marnie Rome series, was shortlisted for a Barry Award. The series continued with Tastes Like Fear, Quieter Than Killing, Come and Find Me and Never Be Broken.
Instagram @sarah_hilary999
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