Amanda Coe

Everyone is a caricature - personality traits taken to the extreme and they are just stand-ins for a type. Also the jacket copy says the abandoned children will learn about their mother after her death - well not so much. I don't know Sara/Sally any more at the end of the book than I did at the start. And just how anyone could be attracted to Patrick is beyond me. He's repulsive in every way imaginable. Sexist. Loud. Opinionated. Entitled. Arrogant. Suffering from delusions of grandeur. Ick.

Fifteen year old Hannah’s Auntie Mel discovers an apparently lifeless, naked young woman on a beach in North Yorkshire. In fact the young woman survived her ordeal but is unable to either speak or to remember who she is: the nurses call her Storm. Facing personal problems of their own, both Hannah and Mel welcome the distraction and become focused on trying to solve the mystery of who Storm is and where she came from. Mason, a rookie constable, is involved in investigating the case and, show more seeing Storm as a “damsel in distress”, goes out of his way to find out what happened to her. It quickly becomes clear that nothing about the case is straightforward and that all their respective, uncoordinated attempts to solve the mystery are bound to lead to clashes between the main characters.
The synopsis of this story sounded promising, as did the promise of “mordant wit and dazzling style”. However, whatever wit there was in the writing passed me by – and I certainly didn’t feel “dazzled” at any point in my reading. I thought there was a lack of focus in the writing, that there was little surprising in any of the plot twists and turns, and that none of the characters (perhaps with the exception of Hannah) felt convincing. There were times when I found the author’s syntax so strange that I was forced to re-read sentences in order to make sense of what I was reading. Apart from being frustrating, this certainly interrupted any tension which I might otherwise have been able to feel as the story developed. I also found myself becoming irritated by what I regarded as unnecessarily crude language which, in my opinion, I did nothing to enhance the story.
Sadly, this novel, my first of 2018, was a real disappointment and, as I write this brief review, I find myself wondering why on earth I wasted time waiting for it to get better! I have never been one to make New Year resolutions (they’re too easily broken!) but reading this book has made me resolve not to spend time on books which aren’t engaging my interest – there are too many good books out there! show less

This is the story of two girls. One, Pauline, is from a poor background, and suffers from neglect. The other, Gemma, is from a much better home, but when her mum becomes friendly with a man who isn't Gemma's dad, Gemma finds herself in a vulnerable situation. There is also a storyline of a child star named Lallie Paluza, and the film that she is making, part of which is filmed at the girls' school.

This is a strange and intriguing read. It got off to a great start, with reminders of life in show more the 70s, penny mixes and Tammy comic, but then took quite a sinister turn and led to a conclusion that was agonising to read.

I really liked Amanda Coe's writing style. She certainly doesn't hold back, or worry about writing things that might offend. I must admit that I didn't think the Lallie storyline added anything to the plot at all, except to offer another view of how a child can be vulnerable. I was far more interested in Gemma and Pauline, never friends, but who teamed up in the most unpleasant of ways.

I found this to be a good read, but it did leave a slightly bad taste in my mouth. It's disturbing in several places. Sometimes this is obvious, but other times it is implied. Just the general neglect of Pauline is horrible to read, and also the situation that Gemma finds herself in. I was always compelled to read on though and find out what would happen next, and I read the end with sickening dread. As the reader, I knew the story was always heading towards something unpleasant, but I didn't know what.

I'd certainly be interested in seeing what the author would come up with next as the writing is very good. Her scriptwriting past is evident in this book's narrative and dialogue. show less

The book takes place over the summer months of 1975. A child star, Lallie Paluza, is filming a movie about a young girl’s encounter with a pedophile, which has disastrous consequences. Concurrently, another story is playing out. Two ten or eleven year old schoolgirls, Pauline and Gemma, from two completely different walks of life, develop and odd relationship which barely resembles friendship. Most of the characters featured, in both narratives, seem severely dysfunctional in some way or show more to be the product of deviant backgrounds or lifestyles. They have little regard for the consequences of their actions and believe the means justifies the ends. Parental influence, when featured, is almost negligible or negative
Pauline is penniless; she lives in a state of open depravity in a home filled with an odd assortment of relatives and visitors. She is exposed to a lifestyle far beyond her years without the mental or emotional capacity to process it. Her mom is in and out of jail, as a lady of the night. Pauline can be cruel and completely ungovernable. She does as she pleases, when she pleases. She has no guidance and has no moral compass. She seems to have no conscience. She is streetwise and a bully.
Gemma lives with her mom and her mom’s boyfriend, in a good neighborhood with many advantages, but she misses her dad. On the outside, she appears to be living in a healthy, wholesome environment. She is obsessed with her adoration for the child star, Lallie. Under her goody two-shoes personality there lurks a subtle mean or angry core that shows itself with surprising vehemence. She is a seething combination of confused emotions.
This novel is very unsettling. The subject matter that is hinted at, as the story moves back and forth from the movie set to Pauline and Gemma, is often unnerving. Underneath the main storyline the reader may anxiously feel a suspicion that there is a more than a casual relationship between the storyline of Lallie Paluza and that of Gemma and Pauline. About halfway through the novel, the narratives actually intersect for awhile, as the movie crew comes to town to choose extras for the Lallie Paluza movie. As I read, I always had the feeling of an unknown dread, an unspoken violence that was lurking beneath the dialogue.
The storyline in the Gemma/Pauline chapters is very easy to follow and effortlessly holds the readers interest, but the switch to the story about Lallie sometimes feels disjointed and is not always a smooth enough transition to make the reader aware immediately that the venue has changed. Often it is hard to figure out which character is being featured and in what story the character plays the part. That was the weakest part of the novel since it was not as engaging.
I received this book from Goodreads. For a first novel, the author has done an excellent job of putting pen to paper. It is creative and well written. Most of the important characters are well defined and although the reader might not want to picture the scenes because of their nature, the author does a good job of painting them for the imagination. show less