The Survival of Molly Southbourne

On discovering that there was a sequel to _The Murders of Molly Southbourne_ I had instant and conflicting responses of 'how' and 'gimme'. This story has answered the former in exquisite (but rarely complete) detail, and rewarded me for the latter. Thompson has done an incredible job of taking complex and self-contained story, and expanded it out to provide context.

I found it fascinating that what I had read as present day doom and gloom was in fact Thatcherite Britain doom and gloom, and to some extent the way that the bits of news bounced off my personal memories of the news items (as a youngling in another country) coloured my reading of those sections,

I'd like to say I read this in one sitting. The truth is that it is so very show more intense, so visceral in places, that I needed regular breaks to take a deep breath and reflect on what was written -- and even then I finished it in an afternoon. This is an amazingly powerful story of self, self-acceptance, and living with constant threat, and what it does to you. show less

The first book in the series, The Murders of Molly Southbourne, was a bloody, violent surprise of a story, a horror tale steeped in mystery where the reader is in the dark about what’s going on for quite a while. To catch unfamiliar readers up to speed, our protagonist Molly is a young girl who has a unique but terrible condition: every time she bleeds, she creates a new “molly” who immediately tries to kill her. Molly has been trained by her mother and father from a young age to kill these clones, or “duplicates” as she calls them, as soon as they appear, so Molly’s life has been filled with murder and plenty of strict rules to follow. Don’t bleed. Kill the mollys. Burn the evidence.

The sequel opens right after the show more events at the end of the last book. Molly has just escaped a burning house and has called a phone number tattooed on her arm. The phone number is a help line, where a team will come out and obliterate all traces of the fire and the blood. But something is wrong. Molly isn’t actually Molly, but a molly, a duplicate. The real Molly, or Molly Prime, died in the fire. Now molly must navigate a dangerous and unfamiliar world, armed only with Molly’s memories and the story she told her right before the fire.

One day molly runs into another of her kind, a woman named Tamara who also creates duplicates when she bleeds, and harbors secrets that will unlock Molly's past and completely change the rules she lives by.

Thompson's prose, as always, is tight, effective, and atmospheric. I didn't love it the way I loved Murders. The plot is sadly a bit of a tangled mess but the story is still quick and compelling enough to warrant a read, especially if you were a fan of the first novella.

This book and series does pose interesting questions about mental health and what it means to be human in today's society. No one is bothered by violence; Molly desires human connection but fails to connect with others due to viewing herself as subhuman-a duplicate. Our society is one of isolation and violence and Thompson does a good job reflecting on the current state of affairs and making it all horrifically familiar.

The ending circles back to the beginning of the first book, and even hints at a somewhat "happy" ending for Molly. I’m not sure whether Thompson has another book planned for this series, and the series feels finished but if he wants to continue the story, I'm game. show less

There’s more to life than murder. After a lifetime of killing to survive, Molly must come to terms with what it really means to be Molly Southbourne…

The Survival of Molly Southbourne delivers an intense if low-key psychological study of a woman struggling to forge an identity and a purpose whilst having all her beliefs challenged. Set against a backdrop of London in the early 90s, this feels like a more grounded novella than Molly’s first blood-drenched outing in spite of the increased emphasis on Russian spies and government hitmen. While I don’t think it’s as successful as The Murders of Molly Southbourne on first reading – or more accurately, while I don’t subjectively like it as much – it has given me plenty to chew show more over and is well worth a read.

Full review show less

This is an odd series. This book, as with the first one, straddles the line between sci-fi and horror. (Given the lack of detailed science explanation, I think I would lean on the horror side, but there are definitely sci-fi elements.) However, more than book one, this sequel seems to go more into the psychological horror direction. There is less death, less killing, less gore than in book one. There's still a chunk of body horror, though. (And "less" doesn't mean "none" by a long shot.)

I'm not sure what I think of this series. I'm glad I read it, because the concept is neat. But I didn't like the characters much, and—even though I don't think you're really supposed to like them—that hindered my enjoyment of the story. When I show more started book one, though, I had expected more sci-fi, and so the lack of explanation wasn't what I had hoped for. In that, it does very well as a horror story; the element of not knowing exactly why these things are happening works much better for the psychological horror.

Is this a book worth reading? Yes, especially for fans of dark sci-fi or psychological horror. However, it is the conclusion to a 2-book series, and really shouldn't be read until after you have read The Murders of Molly Southbourne. On the other hand, they're both really short, so it would be easy to read both in an afternoon. show less

*NOTE: this review contains spoilers for book 1 of the series.*

Pros: interesting concept, explores mental trauma

Cons: some gross descriptions

Picking up immediately where The Murders of Molly Southbourne left off, the molly who survives the fire tries to find out who she is, and how she can live, a copy of the original. The memories and ghosts of Molly Prime and all the doppelgangers the prime killed, bring the surviving molly to the brink of madness. When a new enemy points to more answers about her origins she discovers there may be a better way of surviving.

A lot of time is spent in molly’s head, reliving her traumas and trying to overcome what her prime did. This causes her several psychotic breaks, which involve time in a mental show more hospital. I appreciated that molly realized her condition would probably require anti-psychotic medication for her to manage it properly. Some of the scenes involved may be disturbing to certain readers though.

Whenever I started to get annoyed with how molly was acting the story shifted gears and something new forced her to change. I liked seeing her develop over time, learning as she went and becoming an individual rather than an extension of Molly Prime.

Having said that, this is a horror novella, and there are several scenes of violence and descriptions of bodily fluids.

It touches on more of the mystery surrounding Molly’s origins, which was great. It was very interesting meeting another person with the same ‘condition’.

It’s a quick, interesting read. show less

The world of Molly Southbourne has been torn apart. The farmhouse has burned to the ground and she is trying to start over. But her mind cannot handle reality anymore and imaginary mollies are following her every step. But the mollies aren't her only problem this time. The agency that once kept her safe is now trying to kill her and a woman named Tamara has taken an interest in Molly. Tamara swears she only wants to help Molly, but how much does she know? Can she be trusted? Molly must use everything she has learned to stay alive and try to piece together what is real and what is fantasy.

The novella had a strong start. Molly's memories and insecurities wage a war in her mind causing a psychotic break. The first book was the perfect show more build up to the explosion Molly must deal with in part two. Dealing with the years of guilt and constant anxiety takes its toll on Molly and she now has imaginary mollies to worry about on top of everything else.

Things start to go astray as Tamara is introduced. Molly ends up getting involved with a group of people who, to some degree, understand what makes her different. But instead of holding onto the macabre that made the first book so brilliant, it becomes more of a typical fantasy novel with big action scenes and fewer mind games. The story strays away from focusing on Molly and tries to do more of a big picture look at people who have the same ability. There just wasn't enough page time for this to affect.

By the end of this book, there was no closure on major events. It felt like the book suddenly stopped, leaving too much behind without an explanation. I think this one was a bit too overreaching and had too many subplots for the page count. show less

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3366809.html

I very much enjoyed the first of this series, The Murders of Molly Southbourne. The sequel felt a bit less surefooted to me, with the rules of the world not being as coherent and the means and motivation of the protagonist less clear. Still, I liked the crackling prose.