Mother – S. E. Lynes, Bookouture, 2017
I haven’t come across writing that manages to combine the visceral and sophisticated so effortlessly since William Golding, and to come across it in a crime novel is a rare treat.
Every sentence is a gem, every detail has weight, not a word is wasted. The sense of time and place is perfectly evoked, the characters are fully realised and utterly believable, and the plot is woven with a finesse that almost defies description.
To read this book is to blindfold yourself, stretch out your hand and place yourself in the hands of a master, to trust that whatever mistakes you make, whatever certainties you have that are crushed under the weight of her tale, you will get there in the end. And this is a journey worth taking. Terrifyingly good.