Sarah Naughton (1)

Mags, a very successful lawyer, living in Las Vegas, receives a phone call telling her that her brother Abe, with whom she hasn’t been in contact for many years, is in a London hospital. He is in a coma following a fall down a stairwell; it is believed that he was depressed and tried to commit suicide. Mags immediately gets a flight to London and, when she arrives at the hospital meets Jody, his fiancée, who is keeping vigil by his bed and is full of guilt that she hadn’t recognised how show more desperate he must have been feeling. It isn’t long before Mags, in attempting to make sense of what led up to the fall, begins to believe that nothing is quite what it seems, the story she is being told doesn’t quite hang together. As the police appear convinced that it was a suicide attempt and are not inclined to waste any resources on further investigation, she becomes determined to get to the truth.
This story is told through three main voices, Mags’, Jody’s and that of Mira, an Albanian asylum seeker who lives in the flat next door to Abe’s. It very soon becomes clear that each of the characters is struggling with unresolved problems from the past, and that none is a reliable narrator. The pace of the story-telling is rather slow to begin with but very quickly the tension develops as more details of their respective backgrounds emerge. At times I found the graphic descriptions of childhood physical and sexual abuse extremely disturbing. However, they did reveal the degree of emotional damage suffered by some of the characters, thereby explaining the motivations behind the decisions they made. It is hard to go into much detail without spoiling the insidious development of the story-line and its resolution, but it becomes all too easy to see what leads people to acts of violence and revenge.
This is an extremely dark psychological thriller which, until close to the end, feels totally convincing. The labyrinthine twists and turns, which run throughout the developing story, had the effect of making me change my sympathies on numerous occasions! There are layers and layers of deception and the author managed to ratchet up the tension in an, at times, shocking but absorbing way – I was so keen to know what really happened that I was reluctant to put the book down, finishing it in one day! I did struggle with the final dénouement, which felt less psychologically convincing than the central story, and this made me decide to give the book three stars, rather than the four I might otherwise have given it. However, I think that it deserves four as a reading group choice because it raises so many interesting discussion points, not only about the plot and character development, but also about issues surrounding abuse and how the victims of abuse are treated by social services, the police etc. show less

If you happen to find yourself feeling slightly confused and muddled in the early chapters of TATTLETALE - hang in there. It takes a while for everyone and everything in this novel to fall into place, but once they do - hang on for the rest of the ride.

Using an unusual structure, and some really complicated character back-stories, TATTLETALE starts out with Mags receiving an unexpected phone call. Her estranged brother Abe is in hospital back in their native UK, and no-one seems to know what show more was behind his fall from the 4th floor of the converted church that he, Jody his fiancé and an array of neighbours all have flats within.

Megs feels compelled to head back to the UK, after many years working as a lawyer in the US, for reasons which are complicated and very emotional. It's obvious right from the start that the story of Mags and Abe's childhood is going to be fraught, but it seems that everybody here has similar baggage that they are lumping around. The woman by Abe's bedside - his fiancé Jody has her own troubled past, and she and Mags not only have to find a way to come to terms with Abe's condition, but with each other.

TATTLETALE has an intriguing plot, as Mags tries to find out more about the brother she hardly knows, and the truth behind the fall - was it suicide, an accident or an attempt on his life. All the while the crime may or may not be what happened to Abe. It could be part of the harrowing child sexual abuse and rape stories that are revealed as the narrative continues. It could really be a lot of other possibilities as things progress. One thing that TATTLETALE does particularly well is confuse and bewilder. An emotion the reader is quite free to assume that Mags is experiencing as well.

The character's portrayed are also complex and extremely believable. Mags is prickly, moody and wildly unpredictable at points. She's unsympathetic and yet she's there - at the side of a brother she's not seen for many years. There is much in her background that is revealed as the novel proceeds - and readers are left to decide if those revelations are enough to excuse the difficult persona. Jody is different, almost passive, and obviously profoundly troubled. Her concern and affection for Abe could be touching, or it could be uncomfortably cloying - it's left up to the reader to decide. Even the snippets of Abe's life, prior to the coma, are left open to reader interpretation. It seems he might possibly be hiding something - but whether or not you'll guess what that is before it's revealed is a combination of a keen eye for obscure details and a willingness to extrapolate.

In a novel that's likely to polarise opinions, there are a lot of twists and turns, and a lot of opportunities for the reader to like, dislike, feel sorry for and want to throttle so many of the characters that it becomes quite the roller-coaster ride. For this reader, nothing in TATTLETALE was quite what it seemed, nobody quite who they were supposed to be and everything just slightly worse than you could have hoped it would turn out to be. It was therefore, compelling and frequently discomforting reading.

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-tattletale-sarah-j-naughton show less

Tattletale starts with a teasing two-part introduction titled 'Before' and 'After' where there's a lot of screaming going on, so I knew that this was going to be a pacey read. Indeed it was, as I rocketed through the pages filled with several amazing eyebrow raising and jaw-dropping moments.

Abe is in a coma after falling over the banister in his apartment block and the prognosis looks bleak. Did he jump or was he pushed? This is what his estranged sister, Mags, wants to find out as she show more returns from America where she now lives. Mags meets Abe's heartbroken girlfriend, Jody, who found him when he fell but Jody can't help Mags to piece together the events of that night. Is that can't or won't? Jody appears to be hiding something and Mags starts to get some anonymous notes so she starts to think that everything is not what it seems. Mags does a bit of digging and speaks to Abe's neighbour, Mira. Mira seems to only understand English when it suits her, so clams up when Mags asks too many questions. So now we want to know Mira is hiding and why we don't see much of her mysterious husband. Even though my brain went into overdrive, I could never have imagined the direction this book would take.

Tattletale is very dark and disturbing at times, with some very uncomfortable scenes. It twists and turns down such dark alleyways that I needed a torch to find my way back to safety. The characters each have so many facets to them that you are never sure what they are thinking or what they will do next. Although it is quite disturbing, I loved the direction the book went in as it was so very unexpected. Such a clever, absorbing story and definitely one I'd recommend but be prepared for some uncomfortable reading. As uncomfortable as it is at times, it is impossible to tear your eyes away from the page - I was completely riveted.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion. show less

No one believes a liar, even when they're telling the truth. That's the tagline of Tattletale. Mags is a lawyer in Las Vegas, although originally from Scotland. When her estranged brother, Abe, has an accident she, as his named next of kin, comes home to deal with the aftermath and meets Jody, his fiancée. Jody is a damaged person and as Mags discovers more about her brother's relationship she starts to think things don't quite ring true.

This is a fast-paced psychological thriller, told by show more Jody, Mags and Mira, who is Jody and Abe's neighbour at St Jerome's, a block of flats in a former church. The flats themselves form a sinister backdrop to the story and provide an atmospheric setting for the events to play out against. Mags is a strong woman and for the most part I liked her. Jody took quite a bit of warming to for me. I have to say that none of the characters are particularly endearing but I was compelled by their stories.

There are some truly shocking parts to the story and some very graphic scenes. I did find it disturbing and unsettling but they're integral to the plot and certainly make it a hard-hitting book.

There's some very clever and tight plotting going on here, and a lot of twists and turns that I didn't manage to second guess. Tattletale is a superb title as there is lie upon lie being told. Perhaps the really clever part is the element of doubt the author creates in not telling us sometimes who is narrating and leaving it open for the reader to try and come to their own conclusions.

I know that Sarah J Naughton is already an established thriller writer for children and Costa nominated too, but with Tattletale she is setting herself up nicely as an writer for adults too. It sits well amongst others in the genre. show less