As soon as I saw Emma Stonex had a new release I was desperate to read it and it was even better than I had hoped . The opening line is shocking and grabs you straight away. What unfolds is a sad tale of broken childhoods, neglectful parents, friends doing the best they can, and Gamma who is just a wonderful redemptive character. The names of the girls, Birdie and Providence, give us a kind of clue to their characters and impact. I read this in one day, I couldn't put it down, and I felt a terrible loss at the end. (That the book had ended- not a spoiler)

Birdie hears the news that Jimmy Maguire has been released from prison. The man that killed her sister. She leaves her family behind and sets off, with a gun, to find him
Told from different viewpoints as Birdie follows Jimmy and we discover, through flashbacks, what happened in the past.
I found this hard to read, particularly the diary entries when Jimmy was in prison, and discovered that I didn't really like any of the characters enough to care what happened.

An addictive read - tough to read due to the content at times but so well written. A cracking pace in places and a few unexpected twists in the story. Don’t start it just before bedtime!,

I enjoyed Stonex’ previous book the lamplighters immensely, and was looking forward to reading this. I’m afraid for me there’s an element of difficult second novel about the sunshine man - much like the first novel we have repeated use of different perspectives and use of reports from counselling sessions etc, which build an overall picture, but it’s less than the sum of its parts. I didn’t feel invested in either the “present day” revenge timeline, or the backtracking through past events, regardless of which perspective we were seeing events in. I’m not sure if the early foreshadowing of a psychological twist was meant to be so heavy handed but it felt very drawn out by the time it’s made explicit - I was rather glad when we got to the point so to speak.
Stonex does write effectively and the different times and places are well drawn, but for me it’s didn’t gel as much as I wanted it to

The Sunshine Man by Emma Stonex is a literary take on the revenge thriller and one that did not entirely work for me as much as I hoped but was still a thought provoking and tension filled read.
January 1989 and Birdie learns that the moment she has been waiting for has finally arrived, Jimmy Maguire, the man who murdered her sister has been released from prison. Time to put her plan into action. She heads to London with a gun and on a mission, to kill Jimmy before he can hurt anyone else. But there is another side to the story, one that Birdie knows nothing about and one that could change everything. Is this really a book about retribution or one about forgiveness.
I was drawn in by the premise of this book, and it started strongly as we get to know Bridie and her story, both past and present but where it fell apart a little for me was when we switched to Jimmy's perspective, these sections were more difficult to read and while that did align with the dissonance the character was experiencing it meant I just kept wanting to go back to Birdie's perspective. The dual timelines worked well and really did help to keep me guessing about what had actually happened as well as making me have some empathy for Jimmy's character, but it was not enough to make me love the book. The book however did give me plenty of food for thought about justice, grief and the fallibility of memory and I could appreciate the author's skill and ambition.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

I unfortunately had a really hard time connecting to the characters in this book especially reading from our second characters POV, very difficult to get through. My first from this author and it may just not be a good fit. I did appreciate the detail regarding a lot of the justice system and the back stories were intriguing at times but it never fully captured my attention and was hard to finish.

This is a clever crime/psychological thriller that will have you very quickly turning the pages to find out just what is going on.
With lots of twists and turns Emma really gets the reader invested in the emotions and reasonings (or not) behind each action. While I clicked pretty early what was happening, the ending was still satisfying and well done.

Birdie is going to kill a man. A man she knows killed her sister. But Birdie is just a wife, a mother,, a sister. No one special. Can she really do what she plans? And were Jimmy Maguire's crimes perhaps even worse than those she can admit to herself?

Told from multiple viewpoints, with a mix of first and third person narratives, hospital diaries and so much more, The Sunshine Man is a complex tale, weaving through decades of hurt and pain to one singular decision that Birdie must make. The flurry of perspectives is, at first, disorienting, and may unnerve some readers, but once the book starts moving and once you're properly able to place the sequence of the narratives, a sequence of terrible events unfolds before you, holding secrets within secrets, and exposing characters driven by demons they might never admit to.

In the end, the novel's final sequences are darkly cathartic and powerful. Once you break through to the story's emotional core, you'll be swept up into the world of the Sunshine Man, and you may be surprised to find where your empathy lies...

Definitely recommend this. Brilliantly written with twists and turns. The characters were fantastic. Becoming an auto buy author for me

Unfortunately I struggled to read this as the formatting was so bad with mixed up text and repeated text. I wanted to be hooked anyway but it wasn’t enough to overcome the problems. I will read again with a proper copy as I loved the Lamplighters and have high hopes.

Set in the late 80's, Birdie Keller is waiting for news that the man who killed her sister is being released from prison,

Birdie wants revenge and this terrifying thriller is both pacy and intriguing.

This is a novel that could have been so much more, but that said it is a story that is well told and one that will satisfy any fan of this genre.

It is a perfect cat and mouse tale and one that combines Birdie sense of revenge and her love for her sister.

It has an element of emotion and I felt that I could see both sides of the two main characters. I didn't know who to side with.

I had high hopes for this after reading Stonex’s previous novel, but this one fell unfortunately flat for me. I was hoping for the unique story telling of her previous book, but it just wasn’t quite here

The Sunshine Man is an utterly gripping psychological thriller that will keep you hooked from the very first page.

In January 1989, Birdie wakes to the news she’s been waiting eighteen long years to hear: Jimmy Maguire, the man who killed her sister, has been released from prison. Determined to make him pay, Birdie heads for London with a gun in hand. But as she pursues her quest for vengeance, she uncovers a much more complicated story.

Is Jimmy truly the killer, or is he the one person Birdie can trust? As the layers of her family’s secrets and long-buried betrayals begin to unravel, Birdie must confront the haunting truth—and decide whether forgiveness or retribution is the answer.

Emma Stonex masterfully writes from multiple perspectives, much like she did in The Lamplighters. In The Sunshine Man, we hear from both Birdie and Jimmy, allowing us to form our conclusions about what happened all those years ago. This approach makes the novel a far richer experience, as we are never quite sure who is right or wrong.

The pervasive colour yellow in the story takes on a dark and unsettling significance, representing much more than just a cheerful hue. It lends a chilling edge to the book, turning what should be a symbol of warmth into a stark reminder of the past’s haunting shadows.

If you love tense, atmospheric thrillers filled with twists and moral dilemmas, The Sunshine Man is an absolute must-read!

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

Managed to work my through despite significant formatting issues which I have reported appropriately
An intriguing read and rather different from the usual. I had enjoyed The Lamplighters so was keen to read this.
Overall a good read and I suspect the ending will be good discussion for book groups
As I finished it I have reviewed but understand if Netgalley remove because it contains technical issues

Such a good book, thrilling, tense and un-putdownable! It rivals her first, you know you're getting a good read with Emma Stonex!

This is a taut tale of revenge, guilt and retribution by the author of The Lamplighters.
I really enjoyed the parts narrated by the female protagonist and liked the tense prose. I found the second protagonist's sections much harder to read and sometimes felt these didn't land for me.
I liked the highlight on the history of using a different way of treating people convicted of crimes.
All in, this didn't 100% grip me as much as I'd hoped and I didn't like this anywhere near as much as her previous book.

Side note: this was one of the most chaotic ARCs I've read. There was a technical error and the first few pages were repeated throughout with the same paragraph recurring, making it hard to read. I reported this but it wasn't rectified. It was almost impossible to read this on a Kindle.

I really enjoyed The Lamplighters so when I saw Emma had a new book out, I was eager to read it… and it didn’t disappoint! In fact, in my opinion, it had a distinct edge over the first. The opening line hit you right between the eyes and my attention was immediately grabbed and then held all the way through. Although the book is described as being a cat and mouse chase, I wouldn’t say it was, but this small point aside, it was a gripping exploration of revenge and redemption, both from the point of view of the main protagonist, and the perpetrator of the crime which overshadowed her life. I did spot the twist in the tail but it was the perfect denouement. Beautifully written and very enjoyable. Many thanks to the author and publisher for the chance to read an advanced copy.

The theme of Emma Stonex’s second novel is revenge. James, a boy but now a man, has been imprisoned for eighteen years for killing Birdie’s younger sister, Providence, but he has always protested his innocence. He leaves prison and Birdie is waiting for him, ready to kill him when the opportunity will present itself. The novel switches between past and present and Birdie’s and James’ viewpoints describing the events leading up to the killing and Birdie’s tracking of him upon his release.
Stonex’s writing is wonderful. Her descriptions are so fluid and poetic and embellish the narrative. The novel is not just a regular mystery but is a portrayal and understanding of how tragedy affects the lives of Birdie, her grandmother and Jimmy. It has so many layers which are peeled back slowly and emotionally, evoking sympathy for both Birdie and Jimmy as children and adults.
This is another creatively original novel from Stonex and one which I can highly recommend. Thank you to the publishers for the ARC