Read – Page 1189 – What Cathy Read Next…

About the Book

Mike understands that most of us travel through the world as one half of a whole, desperately searching for that missing person to make us complete.

But he and Verity are different. They have found each other and nothing and no one will tear them apart. It doesn’t matter that Verity is marrying another man.

It’s all just part of a plan: you see, Verity and Mike play a game together, a secret game they call ‘the crave’, the aim being to demonstrate what they both know: that Verity needs Mike, and only Mike. Verity’s upcoming marriage is the biggest game she and Mike have ever played. And it’s for the highest stakes.

Except this time in order for Mike and Verity to be together someone has to die…

Format: ebook, hardcover (368 pp.) Publisher: Century
Published: 3^rd May 2018 Genre: Thriller

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk ǀ Amazon.com ǀ Hive.co.uk (supporting UK bookshops) *links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find Our Kind of Cruelty on Goodreads

My Review

Mike, the book’s narrator, is solitary, obsessive and single-minded. Living inside his mind and witnessing his twisted logic makes for an unsettling experience. As well as his intense and overwhelming love for Verity, there is a pent-up rage within Mike that sees him imagining random accidents or acts of violence against others he encounters in everyday life. Most successful for me were those sections where the author allows us to see how Mike interprets signs and signals, even small gestures, in a way that confirms his own viewpoint. He is confident that he knows what Verity and others are really thinking even if, on the face of it, they are expressing the opposite. He really does hear ‘yes when others say ‘no’ (as the final paragraphs of the novel demonstrate).

Mike also knows this game of ‘the crave’ is the most dangerous (but most exciting) version he and Verity have ever played. As the reader discovers, his obsessive love for Verity and what he believes are the rules of their game will drive him to desperate acts. However, thanks to the skilful writing of the author, I found myself torn between feeling sympathy for what Mike tells us about his traumatic, lonely childhood (assuming this is all true) and horror at his actions born out of a twisted version of love.

Our Kind of Cruelty is a chilling, thought-provoking portrait of obsessive love and desire. I’m not going to say more for fear of revealing elements of the plot but instead I’ll leave you with five quotes that give you a tantalising insight into the mind of the book’s narrator. (Please note, these quotes are from the proof copy.)

‘I knew immediately she didn’t that she didn’t mean a word of the email…’

‘And what that means is that sometimes two people need each other so much it is worth sacrificing others to make sure they end up together.’

‘…cruelty was a necessary part of our game.’

‘Everything is a game, V used to tell me; only stupid people forget that.’

‘…how do you show someone that what they believe to be true is really not the truth?’

To read Araminta’s fascinating piece, ‘How to Write A Feminist Thriller From a Male Perspective’, click here. I received a proof copy courtesy of publishers, Century, in return for an honest and unbiased review.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

In three words: Compelling, unsettling, creepy

Try something similar…Exquisite by Sarah Stovell (click here to read my review)

About the Author

Araminta Hall has worked as a writer, journalist and teacher. She has had two novels published previously: Everything & Nothing, a Richard & Judy read in 2011, and Dot, published in 2013. She teaches creative writing at New Writing South in Brighton, where she lives with her husband and three children. Her latest book, Our Kind of Cruelty, is being launched with major fanfare by Century and was inspired by a documentary about Amanda Knox that made Araminta think more deeply on female sexuality and how it is both vilified and glorified in the courts and media.

Connect with Araminta

Website ǀ Facebook ǀ Twitter ǀ Goodreads

MyWeekinBooks

New arrivals

The Hidden Bones by Nicola Ford (ARC courtesy of Allison and Busby)

The dead rarely leave matters tidy, widow Clare Hills knows that all too well. In search of a new start, Clare reconnects with university friend Dr David Barbrook and is pleased when he asks for her help sifting through the effects of recently deceased archaeologist Gerald Hart. Together they stumble the lost finds from Gerald’s most glittering dig. Hidden from view for decades, and supposedly destroyed in an arson attack, the discovery of the Hungerbourne Barrows archive is every archaeologist’s dream. However, the dream soon turns to a nightmare which puts Clare at the centre of a murder inquiry.

After the Party by Cressida Connolly (eARC, NetGalley)

‘Had it not been for my weakness, someone who is now dead could still be alive. That is what I believed and consequently lived with every day in prison.’

It is the summer of 1938 and Phyllis Forrester has returned to England after years abroad. Moving into her sister’s grand country house, she soon finds herself entangled in a new world of idealistic beliefs and seemingly innocent friendships. Fevered talk of another war infiltrates their small, privileged circle, giving way to a thrilling solution: a great and charismatic leader, who will restore England to its former glory.

At a party hosted by her new friends, Phyllis lets down her guard for a single moment, with devastating consequences. Years later, Phyllis, alone and embittered, recounts the dramatic events which led to her imprisonment and changed the course of her life forever.

Summer of Love by Caro Fraser (eARC, courtesy of Head of Zeus)

The dark days of the war are over, but the family secrets they held are only just dawning.

In the hot summer of 1949, a group of family and friends gather at Harry Denholm’s country house in Kent. Meg and Dan Ranscombe, emerging from a scandal of their own making; Dan’s godmother, Sonia; and her two young girls, Laura and Avril, only one of whom is Sonia’s biological daughter. Amongst the heat, memories, and infatuations, a secret is revealed to Meg’s son, Max, and soon a terrible tragedy unfolds that will have consequences for them all.

Afterward, Avril, Laura, and Max must come of age in a society still reeling from the war, haunted by the choices of that fateful summer. Cold, entitled Avril will go to any lengths to take what is hers. Beautiful, naive Laura finds refuge and love in the London jazz clubs, but Max, with wealth and unrequited love, has the capacity to undo it all.

The Mountain Man’s Badge by Gary Corbin (eARC, courtesy of the author)

Lehigh Carter never wanted to be sheriff. And he sure never wanted to arrest his new father-in-law for murder.

Mountain Man Lehigh Carter got talked into serving the unexpired term of disgraced long-time Mt. Hood County sheriff Buck Winters, hoping for a quiet nine months in office before the voters selected a new, permanent office-holder. But a few months into the job, poachers discover the body of Everett Downey, a sleazy local businessman, and the evidence points to Lehigh’s brand-new father-in-law, the once-powerful senator George McBride. To his chagrin and his new bride’s fury, Lehigh is forced to arrest George for the murder, and suddenly his happy marriage is on the rocks. Soon he’s living in a tent with only his two dogs for companionship.

While most people in Mt. Hood County appreciate Lehigh’s honesty and his willingness to fight the cronyism and corruption that have plagued Mt. Hood County law enforcement for decades, his desire for reform ruffles some important feathers. Lehigh finds himself fighting unseen enemies, determined to portray him as inept and even more corrupt than his predecessor – even at the cost of protecting the integrity of the murder investigation. Even his own deputies seem intent on bringing back the old guard, and a series of evidence leaks put Lehigh’s reputation and ability to serve as sheriff in jeopardy.

Lehigh’s not a quitter, though, and with dogged persistence, begins to chip away at the investigation, discovering facts that don’t add up…and leads him to suspect why some of those most intent on removing him from office have reasons far more sinister than Lehigh’s reform agenda. Can Lehigh uncover the truth behind Everett Downey’s murder without becoming the killer’s next victim?

On What Cathy Read Next last week

Blog posts

Monday – I took part in the blog tour for Ecstasy by Mary Sharratt, sharing my review of this fascinating fictionalised account of the life of Alma Schindler who came the wife of Gustav Mahler. I also posted the first in a new series called Fact in Fiction, revealing five things I learned from the fiction titles I read the previous week.

Tuesday – Another blog tour, this time with an extract from historical novel Her Hidden Life by V. S. Alexander, which is based on a true story. I also shared my Top Ten Tuesday list of books with my favourite colour in the title, although I diverged a bit by featuring the colours of the rainbow.

Wednesday – WWW Wednesday is the opportunity to share what I’ve just finished reading, what I’m reading now and what I’ll be reading next. I also shared my review of The Burning Chambers, the first in a new trilogy from Queen of historical fiction, Kate Mosse. Quite a few people commented on my Mary Berry analogy!

Thursday –My Throwback Thursday book was Fortune’s Wheel by Carolyn Hughes which I chose to complement the cover reveal on the same day for the next book in Carolyn’s Meonbridge Chronicles series, A Woman’s Lot.

Saturday –I took a tour of my TBR pile in order to participate in the My Blog’s Name in Books meme. I also published my review of a book by another Queen of historical fiction, Alison Weir. It’s the third book in her Six Tudor Queens series, Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen.

Challenge updates

Goodreads 2018 Reading Challenge – 72 out of 156 books read, 6 more than last week
Classics Club Challenge – 14 out of 50 books read, same as last week
NetGalley/Edelweiss Reading Challenge 2018 (Silver) – 23 ARCs read and reviewed out of 25, 3 more than last week
From Page to Screen– 10 book/film comparisons out of 15 completed, same as last week
2018 TBR Pile Challenge – 5 out of 12 books read, same as last week
Historical Fiction Reading Challenge 2018 – 36 books out of 50 read, 4 more than last week
When Are You Reading? Challenge 2018 – 7 out of 12 books read, same as last week
What’s In A Name Reading Challenge – 0 out of 6 books read, same as last week
Buchan of the Month – 4 out of 12 books read, same as last week