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Surrender by Sonya Hartnett
Dec. 19th, 2008 08:45 pmThe Blurb On The Back:
"I am dying: it's a beautiful word.
Like the long slow sigh of a cello: dying.
But the sound of it is the only beautiful thing about it."
As life slips away, Gabriel looks back over his brief twenty years, clouded by frustration and humiliation. A small town and cold repressed parents ensure that he is never allowed to forget the horrific mistake he made as a child. He has only two friends - his dog, Surrender, and the unruly wild boy Finnigan, with whom he made a boyhood pact.
When a series of arson attacks grips the town, Gabriel realises how unpredictable and dangerous Finnigan is. Events begin to spiral out of control, and it becomes clear that only the most extreme of measures will rid Gabriel of Finnigan for good.
Dark and delicate, Surrender is a brilliantly told suspense novel.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Despite some well executed tense moments, this book is overwritten in a prose that's sometimes a rich shade of indigo. Lacking the action and pace to be the thriller that it advertises itself as, the twist ending so cliche that I almost threw the book at the wall on reading it.
Like the long slow sigh of a cello: dying.
But the sound of it is the only beautiful thing about it."
As life slips away, Gabriel looks back over his brief twenty years, clouded by frustration and humiliation. A small town and cold repressed parents ensure that he is never allowed to forget the horrific mistake he made as a child. He has only two friends - his dog, Surrender, and the unruly wild boy Finnigan, with whom he made a boyhood pact.
When a series of arson attacks grips the town, Gabriel realises how unpredictable and dangerous Finnigan is. Events begin to spiral out of control, and it becomes clear that only the most extreme of measures will rid Gabriel of Finnigan for good.
Dark and delicate, Surrender is a brilliantly told suspense novel.
( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )
The Verdict:
Despite some well executed tense moments, this book is overwritten in a prose that's sometimes a rich shade of indigo. Lacking the action and pace to be the thriller that it advertises itself as, the twist ending so cliche that I almost threw the book at the wall on reading it.
