Araminta Hall

Thank you Araminta Hall for cleansing my palate from shoddy books! I had been having a bad reading streak and this book has redeemed me, so thank you for that.
Told in multiple points of view and through different media, this one kept me turning the pages and feeling like I was listening in on the neighbours’ car crash life whilst making me seriously reconsider and think through different conceptions.
After several years of a “happy marriage”, Mel finally leaves Cole, who seems to be THE show more perfect guy. He then moves to the country side where he meets Lennie. A relationship starts to build; but is everything and everyone as they seem? Then, two young women go missing near Cole’s location whilst doing a hike for violence against women, so things start to rapidly unravel. The twist at the end is just brilliant, so do pick this one up.
This is definitely a “book club” book with much to discuss about modern feminism and the innate condition the opposite sex have concerning violence towards women.
A 10 out of 10 for me. show less

Mike Hayes grew up in a brutal household with an alcoholic mother who could not take care of him. He was often forced to hide from his mother’s abusive lovers and eat moldy food to stay alive. Despite living the later portion of his childhood in a safe and loving foster home, Mike never could shake his quiet, lonely exterior; his inability to trust those around him. That all changed when he met Verity Metcalf. V bumped into him at a party and soon he was swept away in her charm. She opened show more his eyes to a life he never knew. To a love he had never felt. Mike would stop at nothing to make V happy. He has gotten the perfect job, designed and redesigned the perfect house, and morphed his body in to one any woman would lust after.

In recent months something has changed between the couple and V is no longer returning Mike’s emails. When she finally responds to him, she informs Mike that she’s marrying a man named Angus. To anyone else on the planet this might seem like strange news, but Mike knows it’s the next level in their secret game. Mike and V have always played a game called The Crave, where V lures a man to her at a bar and after sending her secret signal, Mike swoops in and saves her from this stranger. A wedding is just the next level in Mike’s mind and all he has to do is watch for her clues and signal and soon they’ll be back together, happier than ever. As the days tick by, Mike is growing impatient for the game to end. Just how far will he go to claim V as his?

OUR KIND OF CRUELTY is a character study straight into the brain of Mike Hayes in the form of a slow burning thriller. From the very beginning you know where Mike is going to end up and Hall takes you methodically through the events that led him there. Mike knows that Verity loves him just as much as he does and due to an incident several months earlier she is simply testing his love by arranging this false marriage to Angus. So then why can’t those around Mike see how close they are? Clearly these people just don’t understand. As tensions build higher, Hall does not let the reader down and they are able to fully see each gear turning inside Mike’s mind, pushing him forward with what he must do next to beat this ultimate version of the game he plays with V. I was spellbound by the levels of Mike’s thought processes and his ability to turn each of V’s actions into a positive, even when very clearly the reader cannot agree with his determination. I desperately wanted just one small section from Verity’s perspective, which in a way was touched on in part three, but would have pushed this book over in to 5 star territory for me. In a genre dominated by female narrators, Hall provides a unique take inside the mind of a man that will leave you wanting more.

A special thank you to MCD Books, FSG Books, and Araminta Hall for sending me a copy of OUR KIND OF CRUELTY in exchange for my honest review. show less

This one kept me turning pages despite its flaws. I think it was because I couldn’t believe the totality of Mike’s delusions. They were so absolute. It was astounding (and sickening) how he could turn everything opposite of what it was to suit himself and his agenda. And of course he’s an unreliable narrator, so there’s always doubt in the back of your mind as you read. How much of this is real?

I felt compelled to keep reading, but didn’t find what I was looking for. A more show more concrete answer to the Verity conundrum. She handles Mike with velvet gloves and so it’s hard to determine if she really does want their relationship over. She never gets angry. Never tells him to fuck off in no uncertain terms. Everything is done gently and if I’m honest, I can see where Mike gets fuel for his delusions. I’m not saying she’s the architect of her own fate, but it’s an interesting choice given that the author says the book is a product of her own anger at how women are treated in the media and in the courts. Not believed. Blamed for their victimization. Made to give explicit details of their sex lives when the men on trial aren’t. All the stuff we’re unfortunately used to from men. If I’d written it, I’d have made Verity angrier. I’d have made her more decisive in her communication with Mike. I’d have had her include her so beloved husband in her plight. But she does none of this and while it does make us suspect her of complicity in hubby’s killing, it doesn't ring right with the author’s stated intentions.

In the end I had to tag the book ‘gaslighting’ because that’s what it is. Mike goes out of his way to set her up and make her feel crazy; she doesn’t control her life or her fate. I tore through it, but I wasn’t satisfied by it. Even if the ending stayed the same, I wanted more fight out of Verity. As it is, she goes down in a pool of mascara and doubt. show less

When I read Araminta Hall’s first book, Everything and Nothing, back in 2011, I commented that I hoped the author would write more great reads like that one in the future. She certainly did, perhaps most notably her most recent book, One of the Good Guys, which I thought was brilliant. Now she’s done it again with Unreliable Narrator which drew me right into the world of Hope Jenkins and didn’t let me go until the end.

Hope takes a job as assistant to author, Ambrose Glencourt. As an show more aspiring writer herself it sounds ideal and she is soon fully assimiliated into the glamorous and dazzling life at Shadowlands with Ambrose and his wife. Hope tells her story in the form of a journal, but is she an unreliable narrator?

Hall’s skilled writing enables the reader to view events from an independent standpoint, less blinkered by the Glencourts’ allure or by Hope’s naivity. I still didn’t know the truth of the matter (although I had a good idea) but I loved every minute I spent finding it out. The second half of the book has a different style to it, leading to an ending which was poignant, ingenious and feministic, and which rounded off the story perfectly.

I thought Unreliable Narrator was extremely well-written, a first-rate story of subtle manipulation through one intense summer and its rippling effect over the following ten years. show less