Ana and Nan are twins whose Mother committed suicide some time before.
Elena was a renowned author who had been savaged by a group of male critics known as the smotherhood. The twins said the reason for her suicide was that Eben, one of these critics, had driven her to it.
The day we meet the twins they are plotting his demise. The plan involves letting him into their mothers archive in the national library where they work. He has said that he wants to write a biography of their mother and they have normally refused his requests, until now.
Their plan is well thought out, but as with anything there are variables and that's what can cause problems.
I took a little while to get into this, but it was an interesting read.

Initially, I thought that this book was not going to appeal to me at all and I very nearly gave up but it was worth the effort. Fflur Dafydd is definitely an author to watch.

The title was what drew me to this book, I found it intriguing.

However there were times in this novel when I had little inclination to continue reading.

Where I found the concept interesting, I felt the execution weak.

I didn’t hate this book I found it well written and with a good plot. But I felt at times that this became lost and could easily have been condensed.

I liked how this novel, although fiction was easy to relate to and compared to real life issues. And also bringing attention to the death of a printed book in exchange for an electronic one.

Thank you #NetGalley Hodder & Stoughton and the author Fflur Dafdydd to the e-arc copy of #TheLibrarySuicides in exchange for my honest review.

3 stars.

An unusual, part dystopian story of unlikeable twins out for revenge of their mother's suicide. I found this book a little difficult to get into. I didn't connect or understand the characters motives and found the writing overly descriptive for my taste. Also, some parts of the story were somewhat unbelievable. Not for me I'm afraid.

I’m sorry but I got 60% through and was dreading picking up this book each evening as there were no characters with whom I identified and the ‘drama’ was turgid and boring. I therefore decided that life is too short and there are so many other books to read so I gave up. I may revisit it if I run out of books (like that’s going to happen!).

This is the first novel that I have read by this author. I particularly did not read much about this book previous to reading it. I am not usually a lover of sci-fi however this had just a touch and had more of a realistic feel to it. The plotline was very original, and I enjoyed the development of the characters. The only negative point I would say is that the plot becomes a little dry at times, however the ending offered something more. I would recommend this to readers and would encourage them to give this a try, and would read more by this author.

Unfortunately I didn’t get on with this at all and quit around 10%, like other reviewers I found this confusing at the start and didn’t really like any of the characters.
I may give this another go at a later stage, maybe I’m just not in the right mind for it at this time which is a shame as the synopsis sounded great.

This is one of the most original plots I have read. Ana and Nan are grown-up twins, sisters who work and live together. Umblicially bound they mourn their mother, who took her own life. The sisters know who is responsible, a long-term literary critic, Eben. However much they intend to seek revenge – and make no mistake, this is what they want to do – Ana and Nan need proof. Eben, on the other hand, wants to clear his name and requests access to Elena’s diaries at the National Library. Cue an opportunity for malice. It’s not long before the twins are able to trap Eben (and, well, everyone else) inside the building. All is well until a rogue security guard begins freeing hostages. Well, that won’t do for Ana and Nan… It’s so beautifully written, that you’d almost forget the plot is quite grim and unsettling.

Whilst I'm sure others will love this book, unfortunately I just couldn't get into it. I tried a couple of times, but it wasn't for me.

This book was not exactly what I thought it would be. It was an OK read, but possibly not really for me.
set in a post-pandemic, sort of locked house action. I didn't unfortunately like any of the characters, but I think I'm not the right audience for the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this review copy

Not normally the sort of genre I would read, however I did enjoy this. Believable characters and interesting storyline. I formed strong images of what the library and the characters looked like. One or two plot twists which I wasn't expecting kept me reading long into the night. Thanks to Netgalley and Hachette UK for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

Unfortunately the blurb did not mention that this was set in a dystopian post pandemic world, where people’s militias rule and books carry disease. Although I like thrillers generally I found the setting quite difficult and I think the book could have been better described for its potential readers. The core plot was interesting and I thought it was well written; the setting just wasn’t for me.

A thoroughly depressing story.

Nan and Ana are identical twins. Daughter of a famed author, they hold her foremost critic responsible for their mother's death. Their opportunity for revenge is hinged on their jobs working for the National Library.

With a title like The Library Suicides I didn't expect a happy story, but this may well be one of the most depressing things I've read in a long time.

Set in an alternative reality/alternative future of an unidentified small country where paper has been outlawed because of fears that it may have been responsible for sharing germs in a pandemic. Books are now only preserved in the National Library and all previous works are being slowly digitised.

Seagulls also appear regularly.

All of the characters are obsessed with their own interior narrative and unwilling to open their minds to anything else.

The whole things is just difficult to relate to or get a hook into it.

Not for me.

4 Stars from me

This is such a clever story, beautifully captured and it opens up and whole new view for the future of mankind. I love it when an author's mind goes this far off the wall!

Ana and Nan were fascinating to follow as the story unfolded - sweet yet unerringly creepy. 

I loved how several of the characters had their own subtly naughty agenda and how all these threads pulled together for the main overture.

Utterly different, various bits of this will play on in my mind for a good while.

This is my 4th Jólabókaflóðið post this Christmas Eve.

The premise of this book is that two twins have laid a trap at the library where they work with the aim of killing the man who is said to have driven their mother to suicide, but things go badly wrong. The book is set in an apparently very near future, but where much is already very different - books and paper are no longer allowed after everyone became ill - allegedly with books spreading the germs ... and where there is a much stronger feminist agenda in the heart of politics. Some good ideas but could definitely have been dealt with more cleanly. I did finish it and thought it tied up pretty well but I'm sorry to say that it's not a book I particularly enjoyed.

The setting of this book is a small country set next to its larger neighbouring country ... and from the point that I read that I decided that I just didn't like this book. Why not give these countries names ... it started off wierd calling the countries by these names but when they're actually called that in conversation it just sounds totally wrong. I apologise to the author if there was a clear plan and reason for choosing to giving them names (as opposed to Wales and England presumably). And I'm afraid this annoying little thing tainted much of the rest of the book for me .

Thank you for NetGalley for providing me with this book for review. What a interesting read, not what I was expecting an interesting enjoyable journey.

As soon as I saw this I knew I wanted to read it. I loved the premise of the library - which I equate to being a safe and peaceful space - being a place of danger and intrigue and the questions around identity and self. However, I felt that this didn't quite deliver on the promise of the blurb and felt almost like two different stories in one, which didn't quite meld together.

After the suicide of their mother, identical twins Nan and Ana, decide to take revenge on the man they blame for driving her to her death, in an complex and convoluted manner. I didn't quite understand the need for the complexities as the twins state from the beginning they are prepared to be caught for their crime, and it felt like the complicated plot was more to lead to the reader to the second plot - the true purpose of the library - rather than to accommodate the twin's crimes.

The blurb of the book lead me to expect a thriller, but this felt more like a mix of dystopian and gothic fiction and reminded me a lot of 1984 - with it's undefined but somewhere in the future timeline, ongoing and constant battle with a neighbouring country for which the purpose is unknown but is used to control it's citizens, constant monitoring by the government and the removal of books and paper from the general population so that the online copies can be monitored and narratives changed. There is also a lot within the book regarding gender conflict, and elements of the slow removal of the male gender. Certainly the male characters within the book are portrayed as weak (Eben) or easily manipulated through the use of sex (Dan).

The gothic elements came about through the use of the location - the library almost like a modern version of the old haunted house where you can enter but never leave as doors close behind you, denying you access to where you need to be, and it's labyrinths and hidden rooms which contain secrets and betrayals, and as though the house itself almost closes rank on the people within with it's poisonous gases and self destruction, hiding its secrets until the very end.

The characters of Nan and Ana again felt gothic - the idea of the doppelganger that is seen through Jekyl and Hyde and the Picture of Dorian Gray. The idea that although identical on the outside, the mind can be very different and the overwhelming urge to destroy the other element of oneself.

I really disliked the character of Eben, so didn't really care what happened to him. In fact, at times, I could have shot him myself! Dan frustrated me as he was clearly an intelligent man with the crimes he had previously committed, but allowed himself to be played like a pack of cards. Ana and Nan were the most interesting characters within and I liked the discussion around nature vs nurture, and the impact of illness on one's personality. The most interesting element of the book for me was the Farenheit 451 aspect of the destruction of books - who makes the choice around what is relevant to culture and should be maintained and how banning the use of the paper by the population cuts down on free thought and creativity, turning people into archivists rather than creatives - but it felt like this was almost an afterthought and definitely could have been explored further and more fully.

I felt disappointed by this book - possibly because I had such high expectations for it. I read it quickly in two sittings as I wanted to know what would happen next, but the ending left me rather flat. It felt like there were two many conflicting elements which left none of them fully explored.

I was impressed by how cinematic this book was, it was almost like watching a movie, and a great one it would make too. Lots of twists and turns to keep up the tension, I loved it.

The Library Suicides follows weirdly co-dependent twins, Ana and Nan, as they plot library-based revenge on the man they deem to have killed their mother.

The story takes place in a country where paper books have been banned, and there's some sort of conspiracy with a neighbouring country and... I didn't really feel like the worldbuilding was in-depth enough to make sense. These fictional laws and regulations were crucial to the plot of the story, but were treated in a 1984-esque way whereby the rationale for them wasn't ever fully explained and we as the reader were expected to just accept them. However, the rest of the narrative didn't necessarily mesh with this approach, which made it a bit jarring.

The book was a bit slow and took me a while to get into; if I hadn't been reading it on a plane, I'm not sure I would have been able to stay focused long enough to make sense of the plot. Still, there was enough suspense that I read to the end as I wanted to know what would happen.

Overall not sure if I liked this book due to the inconsistent internal logic but it was definitely an interesting read.

First up, I will be honest and admit that when I requested, and was delighted to receive, an ARC of this book, I was expecting a locked-room mystery, perhaps a piece of ‘cozy fiction’. However, what I received was a dystopian novel built on an ambitious premise. The pivotal character, although a deceased one, is famous author Elena, whose suicide, allegedly driven by the savage reviews of her work by a critic called Eben, leaves behind twin children: Ana and Nan. Both sisters now work in the National Library where they hope to enlist security guard Dan to exact revenge on Eben. The sisters’ symbiotic relationship veers between supportive and toxic, and the dystopian setting in a country obsessed with its warfare against germs is bleak, as the descriptions of place reflect. Digesting the many minute fantasy-novel details takes a lot of energy and unfortunately detracts from the extremely interesting but underdeveloped story of Dan. I also missed the mention of an engagement with physical books, as descriptions of a fully digitised library just cannot produce an atmospheric canvas of the same intensity. Overall, this was a satisfactory book but not a thrilling, read for me. I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for the free ARC that allowed me to read this novel and to produce this honest book review.