Here Comes Trouble by Simon Wroe

Synopsis
Ellis Dau has spent his childhood dreaming of London, New York and Ashford in Kent, from his home in Kyrzbekistan. When he's expelled from school, his father takes him to work with him at the Chronicle, the last remnant of free speech in the highly repressive country. As Ellis starts to fall in love, with the local oligarch's daughter, he grows to learn that some things are worth fighting for.

It's a relief to see that Wroe's ability to reveal the eccentricities in his characters has not lessened in his second book. Ellis starts off the novel as a very mixed up sixteen year old, and I recognised his melodramatic tendencies from my own teenage years, as Ellis thinks of his grounding as being a prisoner, telling his mother 'this is a gross injustice'.

His father Cornelius possesses some unique traits such as standing on his head every morning for ten minutes, and is a mystery for Ellis. I like the fact that Wroe includes this detail, as many teenagers have no idea why their parents behave the way that they do, and it's endearing that Ellis 'would put on his father's spare town shoes and walk about' in a attempt to understand his father, as well as absorbing 'the serious adult power he imagined lay within'. It's only when Cornelius takes Ellis to work with him, that Ellis sees something more to his father than the very taciturn and quiet man that Cornelius is at home. Wroe's way of describing the difference is memorable as well 'the dry riverbed of conversation became a raging torrent'.

Wroe divides the book into three sections, First Glimpses, Cuts and These words are forbidden. First Glimpses ends with Ellis realising that his father can't solve everything, and that he had only ever been 'the small, the neutral'. Cuts is about Ellis becoming stronger, and learning to care about freedom of speech for his fellow countrymen, however I think it's the arrest of his mother that truly tips him over into action.

Wroe's ability to paint graphic pictures for the reader comes out again, and inevitably there are violent sections of the novel, given that there are a group calling themselves the Horsemen who seek to oppress wide swathes of the Kyrzbekistan people.

Each of the characters Wroe creates within the novel are flawed, but those that Ellis is interacting with regularly, seem to have a shared tendency to stand up against oppression regardless of the personal consequences. Joan, Ellis's love interest is brave from the outset reacting with 'deep reverential boredom' to Grotz, the leader of the Horsemen. Cornelius tells Grotz that they are 'thugs' even after the Chronicle has been trashed.

However dark the events of the book get, Wroe has created patches of lightness as well. He creates situations for Ellis to get into, such as trying to get into a nightclub, and making up his own game of 'body bowling', which are very funny.

This book confirms my opinion of Wroe as a incredibly gifted writer with a keen eye for the quirks and silliness that can exist in human nature. I will be keeping a look out for whatever he does next.

The Liar’s Chair by Rebecca Whitney

Rebecca Whitney has managed to craft a detailed portrait of a highly dysfunctional central romance in the middle of her debut novel. It’s a psychological thriller about a woman named Rachel who is trapped in a very controlling marriage with David. She has been conducting a long term affair when the novel opens, and happens to be returning from a assignation with her lover when she accidentally runs over a local homeless man.

The novel alternates between Rachel’s past and her present at regular intervals without losing the pace of the initial mystery. It’s a impressive feat especially as it’s Whitney’s first full length novel. However it’s not a novel that you can approach without full concentration, as it would be very difficult to fully understand the many twists and turns in the story if you’re not really focused.

The sections when Whitney reveals the depth of the dysfunction and cruelty which exists in Rachel’s marriage can be a little hard to take. The David character is cold, and subjects Rachel to physical violence and emotional cruelty which I found difficult to read about. There is a part about him leaving her locked up with his two pet dogs, and no real human sustenance. Whitney writes wholly from Rachel’s perspective, and maintains Rachel’s characteristics throughout, there didn’t seem to be anything in her reactions which seemed to be wildly out of character.

However Rachel isn’t a character that I could truly connect with, as the situations that she finds herself in, are wholly out of my sphere of experience. I did want to see her escape from the abusive marriage, but found her decisions to be a little unusual, as she tried to get away.

It’s a tribute to Whitney’s high standard of writing prowess that I found myself reading to the very end, and I even want to see what the second novel will be like. She is working on another psychological thriller, according to the author’s details.