Member Reviews
I am sorry , I spent two days trying to get into this story without success. The characters didn't appeal to me and I found the story very confusing.
Sarah Hilary just gets better and better. She has always written in a thrilling style designed to lead you up a twisty garden path. Sharp Glass is no exception.
Professional packer Grace Maddox accepts a job that she knows very little about, primarily because she needs the money.
As she approaches the large in the middle of nowhere, in the dead of night, she wonders if she has made a mistake.
When she wakes in the cellar after suffering a head injury at the hands of a complete stranger, she knows that she has.
What does he want?
Is he going to kill her?
Apparently not. He says he wants answers, but Grace doesn't know what he wants from her.
Or does she?
Daniel Roake, respectable Ophthalmologist is the midst of a nervous breakdown.
He can't even remember why he is holding Grace hostage, but he knows he must let her go. Days after he first captured her, he tries to do just that. But the tables are turned when Grace retaliates and wants to know everything he knows.
She is sure that he knows something about the murder of a young girl whose bedroom she had to pack for a grieving family. But she doesn't know exactly what. And she is determined to find out.
No matter what the cost...
This really was a book of two halves for me. I mostly enjoyed the first half, getting straight into the story, but then the story seems to be very drawn out and was just not an enjoyable read for me.
I could just not get on with the content/story/characters based in Sharp Glass. I really dont like being negative about a novel, but this one was not for me.
The story starts on page 1, no run up to it or anything but straight into - we meet the main character who is a professional packer and was given the job of sorting and packing a house out, she was then basically kidnapped and is now being held in the cellar of the house that she was meant to be working on.
The kidnapper is telling the main character that he wants information about a murder that took many years ago and she is the only one with an insight into it.
The pace for me was incredibly slow and did not hold my attention, I found it quite chopping and changing and. I very nearly DNF this novel.
Thanks for allowing me an ARC in exchange for my honest review.
The last thing she remembers is standing outside the empty house. One she was employed to pack, ready for removal. Her job is her life. It is her compulsion to take care of an owner's precious possessions, to do whatever it takes to help them move on. Now she is cold, dirty, damp, and trapped in its cellar with no chance of escape, miles from anywhere. His prisoner. And then he returns. Her captor believes she holds the answers to why a young girl was murdered a year ago, He refuses to let her go until she reveals her secrets. But he doesn't know she has hidden depths, an anger she works hard to control. The battle lines are drawn. They are the only two people who can solve the mystery of the dead girl, but when the truth is revealed, whose life will shatter?
This is a bit of a slow burn, but I do think this is the correct pace for this story. A woman is being held hostage in the cellar. She had been employed by the owner of the house to pack up, so it's ready for removal. It's slowly revealed who the woman and man are. At first, the story is told from the woman's perspective, later it switches to the man's. Her captor believes she knows all about a young girl's murder.
I was intrigued to find out the outcome of this story, how things would work out between the captor and the woman held in the cellar. It was obvious the woman knew more than she was letting on. It did feel a little far-fetched. There were twists and turns in this psychological thriller. It's quite an emotional read.
Published 11th July
I would like to thank #NetGalley #PanMacmillan and the author #SarahHilary for my ARC of #SharpGlass in exchange for an honest review.
Grace Maddox has a business that packs up people's homes. As part of her job, she helps pack up Elise Franklin's room for her parents, Tess and Clark, to move from the old house to the new one. Grace responds to a request to do the same for a new job. Unknown to her, this job is not what it seems! All the sub plots are brought together with a chilling and dramatic climax with an ending that I never saw coming. It is unputdownable and an edge of a seat book!! I highly recommend this book.
A good first half that drew me in and kept me there,the second half I struggled a bit more to focus on and think that was because it felt lomg
Great writing though and atmospheric
Thank you for sending a proof, which I read rather than via NG. I have reviewed Sharp Glass by Sarah Hilary for book recommendation and selling site LoveReading.co.uk. I have chosen the book as a Liz Robinson Pick of the Month. Please see the link for the full review.
Sharp Glass is a strange read. We open with a woman realising she’s being held hostage in a cellar. We don’t know who’s holding her, or why. Over the course of the novel we come to realise exactly who she is and who has taken her, and how it links to the disappearance of a young girl in the area.
Initially told through the eyes of our female character, it’s evident she’s hiding something but we’re never quite sure what. Then the book switches to the view of Dan, the man who was holding her. Once we know how he links to the story we are then given the story as they both experience it. And we realise nothing is quite what we thought.
Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this before publication. It was not what I expected, and I’m not sure whether the structuring made it harder to engage with.
Talk about a tense read. From the very start of this novel you get that rising sense of unease. That certainty that something bad is about to happen, not least because our protagonist and narrator at this stage of the story is headed towards a secluded, and empty house, to undertake her role as a professional packer, packing up the entire house ready for the homeowner to move. It's a job that allows her unfettered access to people's entire lives, including their secrets. Their grief and their pain. It's a job over which she takes great pride. But someone has call to invite her out into the countryside, far from the nearest neighbour, and it is not for her packing skills.
Now, the reason I have not so far used the narrator's name is that, so far in the story, we do not know it. And her situation is far from normal as her recounting of the journey to this remote house is a memory. her circumstances at the point we meet are far less favourable. For she is a prisoner, trapped in a basement by an unknown perpetrator for reasons she does not yet understand. But all soon becomes clear, for her if not the reader. Is it really a case of mistaken identity or something far more sinister?
I really liked the way in which Sarah Hilary has framed this story. From the beginning we are served up far more questions than answers and it sets out in creating a real mystery, a story teeming with suspense and far more suspicion about our protagonist than you might expect. It is soon clear that nothing in this book is as it first appears and behind the initial shock of the deception and imprisonment of our unnamed narrator, there is a far darker and truly emotional take at it's heart.
This is actually a story of two halves. We are given the point of view of not only the person being held prisoner, but also the man who has imprisoned her. For the first part of the book we only see the house and what is happening through her point of view, or through her imaginings. It means that we are rooted in both the reality of her small world, the confines of the room, and a kind of fantasy existence, heightening the tension and uncertainty about what is happening and why. It is a kind of claustrophobic existence, and the worst case scenario of her imagination lifts the feeling of apprehension to skin crawling levels. It's a clever game, the power of the mind often far more scary or intense than reality. The slow erosion of her sanity is telling, and through her paranoia and fear, we learn a lot more about her character and her background than you might expect. She is fond of lists - used to great effect to provide checkpoints of what we know - or what we think we know - and add in a few surprise reveals giving context to her plight.
As for her captor, the motivations for his actions are surprisingly emotional, his own back story tinged with sadness and regret. As their roles reverse, and we hear more from his point of view, including a journey back into the memory of what is was that brought us to this current set of events, there is strange kind of kinship between the two, far more that connects them than divides, and it serves to heighten the suspense and fear of what might comes to pass. There is a murder mystery at the heart of their story, the death of a young girl a year before. Sarah Hilary uses carefully spun memories to tell her story, to add context to the unusual bond that is building between our two narrators. This is more than Stockholm Syndrome, more than guilt, and it is a heady and addictive mix, keeping me entirely glued to the page.
If you like an intense mystery, a story full of suspense, suspicion and emotion, where nothing is as it first appears, then you really need to read this book. It is packed with tension, perfectly paced, and featuring the authors beautifully literary narrative skill. Sarah Hilary has a real talent for creating characters who absorb your attention entirely, whether or not you truly like them as people, and this has never been more apparent than in this book. Neither of the narrators is perfect, neither entirely sympathetic, although there are elements of their respective history that gave me cause to reassess my feelings on them. But the depth of their obsession is perfectly matched, and creates the kind fo narrative that compels me to read on. Definitely recommended. Sarah Hilary fans are going to love it.
What would you do if you were on your own in a remote house… that is, on your own essentially bar the person refusing to let you go? It starts with an unsettling premise which continues throughout. She’s lonely, scared, and trapped and willing to do whatever is necessary to flee. It’s not exactly the job she arrived for…
Sharp Glass is another great read from Sarah Hilary. I really enjoyed the first half of the novel, but I struggled with the second half. A great concept though
Sharp Glass by Sarah Hilary is the story of a woman trapped and alone in a remote house in the country. Why is she trapped in this house, has she been kidnapped or being held to account for something she has done.
She was employed to pack up the home, that is her job, that she is very accomplished at. She has instead been locked in the cellar.
Her captor believes she knows why a young girl has been murdered and who is responsible. They are the only two people who know why this young girl was murdered.
The storyline is very drawn out and whilst the climax is very sad, when we find out who is responsible for the young girl’s death and other deaths, it wasn’t one of my favourite reads by this accomplished author.
A little too slow for me. Ended up not finishing as I just could not get on with it. I really did try as I hate to give up on a book but this just wasn't one for me
Grace is being kept a prisoner in Daniel's basement, because he believes that Grace knows something about the murder of a young girl, Elise, that took place a year ago.
Grace was kidnapped when she was at work, and her job is to pack up people's possessions for removal - something that she takes very seriously. Her last immediate memory is being at the house where her current assignment is located.
What Daniel doesn't know is that Grace has her own serious anger issues. What Grace doesn't know is why Daniel is doing this. They are both about to find out a great deal about each other.
This story is a very slow burn indeed. Things pick up towards the end when most of the action takes place. Nevertheless, it is worth reading. A creepy, claustrophobic, atmospheric thriller where most of the action centres around character growth and the slow revealing of snippets from the past that come together to make up the big picture.
It's hard to write a review for this as I was interested in the synopsis of the novel and although it was advertised as a slow burn it really was too slow and repetitive for my liking. However it did give off a claustrophobic and tense atmosphere. I have read a Sarah Hilary book before but sadly this one was not for me.
I really enjoyed this book, I felt like it's different to the usual crime novel by Sarah but I definitely felt on edge, there's a good storyline and both likeable and unlikeable characters. I alway look forward to a new book by Sarah. If she isn't on your radar, add her and soak up all her books.
Having read Sarah's previous books I was ready for more of the same but this is a much slower and more character based psychological thriller.
It did get faster towards the end and has some disturbing moments in it but well worth persevering with the slower pace.
Initially, I found this a little slow and wondered if I’d engage with the story or characters. But bit by bit it pulled me in as the narrative switched between the two central characters, Grace and Daniel. Grace is held captive in a basement and Daniel wants to know about the murder of a girl, Elise. There’s not a lot of action, but the tension in this tale comes from the skilful way in which the backstory of each of these flawed characters is crafted. It’s far more than a hostage / captor story and a clever way to explore some disturbing themes. Sarah Hi,army’s writing is powerful and I ended up racing through the final chapters, totally blindsided by the twists. Stick with this; it gets better and better as the drama unfolds.
Having only read a few of Sarah Hilary's books which were very good I was looking forward to reading this new one,sadly it was just to slow for me and very repetitive.The characters were hard ro engage with and I found myself not rushing to finish.
I will look forward to reading more by this author and hope this was just a one off for me. Hopefully others will enjoy.
Thanks to Netgalley and Pan Macmillian for the ARC.