My book review of 'The Mirror World of Melody Black' by Gavin Extence

by Gavin Extence

We meet Abby as she knocks on a neighbour's door to see if he has a tin of tomatoes she can use. There's no answer but the door isn't locked. She goes in to discover the neighbour dead in his chair.

Abby's reactions to the discovery are a little odd, by her own admission, but there's not much time to ponder as life goes on. The next morning she has to interview a poet for a magazine article. Things go awry but the results are hilarious and we've all had days like that...

Gradually, though, Abby's reactions seem less and less typical and we realise that the author is telling us something completely different about Abby's life.

This becomes a book about mental illness and reminds me of 'The Shock of the Fall' by Nathan Flier. It is powerful and quite moving, and I couldn't stop reading. It was made even more thought-provoking by the author's epilogue where he reveals the inspiration for the book. It seems wrong to say I enjoyed the book, but I certainly enjoyed being completely taken over by reading it.

 

Date of this review: April 2015