Mandasue Heller

Save Me – Proper Manc Psychological Thriller

Mandasue Heller over recent years has become one of the leading authors in Manc Noir and in specific she knows how to write a Psychological thriller. Once again, Save Me, proves why she is one of Britain’s best authors, as she will always keep the reader on their toes, and leave you wondering how the story will end. Even then it comes as surprise, or does it?

Ellie is late home from work, and her husband Matt will not be happy as he will have to show more entertain her sister Holly and her new fella. While waiting for the train to arrive, she sees a man climbing of the to the wrong side of a bridge about the railway. She manages to talk the guy down, so he doesn’t kill himself, she then goes home to her husband sulking at her.

At lunch time at work, the guy she stopped from killing herself, has the uncanny act of appearing where she eats. When he appears on Christmas day with her sister, things start taking a turn from strange to weird. Matt becomes more jealous, seemingly accusing her of sleeping around and Ellie really cannot take it.

When Matt calls time on Ellie and goes to stay with a friend, Gareth (suicidal guy) seems to appear and always ready to help her out. When Matt then stabs her step father, he gets even close to Ellie, but she cannot see how obsessive he has become. How that obsession will end, even though Ellie does seem blind to it, things do not look good.

Ellie is a character at times just makes you want to scream, you want her to open her eyes to what is happening around her. But she is not willing to do that, is it love? Or just away of avoiding an argument? But, she is a reminder of many people who get trapped in relationships and while everyone else can see something wrong, they are too close to see.

Save Me is a gritty crime thriller, with plenty of psychological twists that just shows what a confident writer Mandasue Heller really is. Fantastic read! show less

I was really looking forward to reading this novel by Mandasue Heller as I'd read one of her previous books and thoroughly enjoyed it. I had concerns that this one might not live up to my expectations, but I needn't have worried as Respect is just as impressive.

Sixteen year old protagonist Chantelle lives with younger brother, Leon, and their erstwhile mum, who thinks nothing of swanning off for weeks at a time, leaving her children to fend for themselves. Chantelle does her best to look show more after Leon, but the situation rapidly spirals out of control when Chantelle bites off more than she can chew.

Chantelle is a magnificent lead, believable and wonderfully written; her situation described impeccably and supporting characters both colourful and engaging. The world that Chantelle lives in is brought to life with Heller's clever use of language and descriptive prose.

I found this novel so hard to put down that I read it in just one sitting! The story gripped me from the outset and played havoc with my emotions. I'm so glad I got to devour Respect, and would like to thank the great team at bookbridgr for enabling this. 5/5. show less

This review contains minor spoilers....On first blush Save Me reads like a soap opera examining the lives of many characters, focusing on emotional relationships to the point of melodrama...Ellie loves Matt but falls for inept and deranged Gareth. Holly, sister to Ellie, not only has an affair with Matt but also with socially unbalanced Gareth. Ellie's stepfather Billy made advances towards Ellie in her youth but has much more serious issues to confront as the story develops. Matt is show more hyper-sensitive, suffers from depression and is unable to acquire or hold down a job. And so the soap continues but having said all that I really enjoyed reading "Save Me" it's not a book of any real literary intent or a story that examines in any dept the characters but it doesn't purport to be this. It's simple light reading, a book that you can happily return to at any point without having lost the main thread, a book for the summer vacation, or reading as you journey by train or bus.
I think the author creates a very evil and controlling Gareth because it is his story that is the centre of all the events as they unfold...."See what you've made me do now? he hissed when her body went limp and her eyes rolled to the back of their sockets. That was your fault, not mine! All I'm trying to do is help you, so why did you have to start fighting with me?" Many thanks to the good people at netgalley for a gratis copy in return for an honest review. It surprised me I usually prefer to be educated in my choice of reading but sometimes it is best to just enjoy without being over critical. show less

Lisa Noone is twelve years old and lives with her mother Pat. Pat is one tough cookie and makes ends meet by the only profession she knows, the old one. They live on a tough estate in Manchester where there is a killer on the lose known as the ‘Forget me Knot killer’. One night at the youthy disco Lisa meets Benny who will make an big impression on her.

My Thoughts:

On the front cover of the book Martina Cole says that Mandasue has played a blinder with a fantastic novel. Well it is fair show more to say that if you like Martina Cole then the reader should enjoy Mandasue Heller as they are the same genre. I have to say that I enjoy Martina Cole and I did to a certain extent enjoy this book.

I don’t think that MH is as gritty as MC but she is getting there. I found this book a lot milder than MC and there wasn’t an over use of the very bad language that MC is known to use in her books.

The story I quite enjoyed which focused on Lisa and her mom and the lives that they live. I did feel because a lot of the story was about Lisa that I felt at times I was watching an episode of ‘Grange Hill’. There was quite a few chunks in the book that were about Lisa and her mates down the youthy and fighting over fellas.

Minor Spoiler

The book is a thriller with a killer on the lose and I did find that if the police in this book were real then I don’t know how any perp would ever get caught. One instance is when Pat is attacked and left for the dead the police breaking down the door didn’t check on her condition and it was the quick thinking of the detective Seddon who thought to check for a pulse and guess what….Pat has a pulse.

I did find that all the characters did have their own ending so the book finished all nice and neat rather than the reader being left wondering what could have happened.

Apart from the many flaws and some of the book being very unrealistic at times the story wasn’t bad at all. There was enough for me to keep going. I do have another couple of books by MH on my shelf that are quite destined for the charity shop just yet. show less