Published By: Doubleday
Pages: 176
Released On: 07/11/2024
On the face of it, Freya lives a gilded existence, dancing solely to her own tune. She has all the trappings of wealth and privilege, a responsible job as a surgeon specialising in skin grafts, a beautiful flat in a sought-after development, and a flash car. But it wasn’t always like this. Hers is a life founded on darkness.
Did what happened to Freya as a child one fateful summer influence the adult she would become – or was she always destined to be that person? Was she born with cruelty in her heart or did something force it into being?
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I own, or have read, every single on John’s books and so will always jump at the chance of a new one. Especially in this quartet. The two previous books have been really good. I preferred Water more than Earth, but they were both exceptional and I was excited to see which way this one went. It turned out to be really good, but very uncomfortable to read.
I always think John must be an expert at research, or he’s just a very learned man, as I know nothing about the topics he chooses to write about, but they sound so right, so natural and unrehearsed and I’m always very impressed by that.
The four books do exist in the same universe I think, so there are links. This does mean that whilst the books can be read independently and in any order, you may potentially read things in the later books that will spoil the reading of the previous, and so I would recommend reading them in this order: Water, Earth, Fire, Air.
What I love about this series, this book included, is his ability to create characters who are at the same time, villain and victim. It gives the reader such food for thought, even in such a short book. Having said that, in my opinion, whilst there were tragic circumstances in her youth, I thought she was a vile person. Yes she’s had her troubles and it’s showing, but she makes for such uncomfortable reading – which I suppose is kind of the point, but still, she made my skin crawl.
It’s not an uplifting story, I’ll be honest. But it’s so powerful and intense and thought-provoking. I’m not one for book clubs generally, but I agree with another review I saw that said this book deserves a wider book club discussion rather than a short review, as it’s hard to properly get into why it is so impactful.
It’s a short book and so easy and quick to read. No matter how exquisite John’s writing is, I’m still quite glad this was a short story because of the subject matter and the way certain scenes are written (I won’t spoil what), I’m not sure I’d have been comfortable enough to read a longer one.
But it’s still shown me how amazing his writing is and I’m now really excited to read the final installment, Air, sometime next year.
Books By Your Bedside 