Tag: thriller

Book Review – Sanctuary by Tom Gaisford

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About the Book

What possesses someone to claim asylum in his own country?

Alex Donovan is a young refugee lawyer in crisis.

Helping desperate clients reach safety is what gives his job meaning. But he now finds himself demoted, signed off sick for stress, and facing redeployment to the firm’s subterranean billing department.

Then there is Amy, the woman he adores. The irresistible junior barrister seems to be drifting away from him.

With little to lose and all to prove, Alex dreams up a madcap plan to restore his honour and secure Amy’s affection.

Format: ebook (331 pages) Publisher: Cinto Press
Publication date: 24th April 2025 Genre: Thriller

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My Review

A human rights lawyer adopting a fake identity to claim asylum in his own country in order to expose flaws and abuses in the system is a neat premise for a book. Confined to a detention centre waiting for his claim to be considered, Alex experiences firsthand what it is like to be an asylum seeker. There’s a lot of fun to be had from his spirited attempts to maintain the identity he’s adopted, although always at the back of your mind is that, at this very moment, there are real people going through this process and for them it’s no fun at all. In fact it could be a matter of life and death.

During the days he spends in the detention centre, Alex discovers some distinctly unsavoury things are going on. His sense of justice means he cannot ignore what he has found and he embarks on a risky mission to expose the truth. It’s also the sort of thing he imagines might impress Amy, a junior barrister he has fallen head over heels in love with despite the fact she’s already in a relationship.

At the beginning of this review I described the plot as ‘a neat premise for a book’, and so it is but perhaps not quite in the way you were expecting. Suddenly the book takes a whole different turn making you reflect on what you’ve just read. It’s a clever sleight of hand although I was a bit disappointed as the earlier section had been so enthralling. However, Alex isn’t done yet with exposing abuses in the immigration and asylum system. More subtle in nature, they’re no less momentous for the people caught up in them.

Alex is a loveable character, quick-witted and passionate about helping people navigate the asylum system even if that means risking his own career. I couldn’t help hoping his adoration for Amy, seemingly doomed from the start, would be rewarded in the end.

Many of Alex’s experiences are clearly informed by the author’s own time as a barrister working in human rights, asylum and immigration law. Although I’m certain the system is not perfect, I’d like to think not every High Court judge is corrupt and the Home Office is not completely an ‘impenetrable cesspit of an institution’ except in the realm of fiction. Having said that Sanctuary is a clever way to make you think about the issue, not only because we need to be reminded from time to time not to look the other way but also because one day we all might need someone like Alex on our side.

I received a digital review copy courtesy of the author.

In three words: Lively, thought-provoking, ingenious

About the Author

Tom Gaisford is a barrister with over ten years’ experience working in human rights, asylum and immigration law, and a freelance contributor to The Independent, The Tablet and openDemocracy. Prior to law, he did a master’s degree in Human Rights and spent a year at Salamanca University, where he studied Spanish literature and translation.

In 2021, Tom stopped practising law and moved with his young family to Guernsey, where he has since completed his first novel, Sanctuary, and begun work on his second. Tom relishes the creative freedom of fiction writing, which he sees as a means of entertaining, of connecting people, and as an alternative form of advocacy. (Photo: Instagram profile/Bio: Goodreads author page)

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Book Review – Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

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About the Book

A family on a remote island. A mysterious woman washed ashore. A storm gathering force.

Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny weather-lashed island that is home to the world’s largest seed bank. As Shearwater risks being lost to rising sea levels, the island’s researchers have fled, and only the Salts remain.

Until, during the worst storm in living memory, a stranger washes ashore. The family nurse the woman, Rowan, back to strength, but it seems she isn’t telling the whole truth about why she’s there. And when Rowan stumbles upon sabotaged radios and a recently dug grave, she realizes that she’s not the only one on the island with a secret.

Format: Audiobook (9h 34 mins) Publisher: Canongate
Publication date: 24th July 2025 Genre: Thriller

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My Review

Wild Dark Shore was a book club pick and not something I would have chosen for myself although I was aware it has received rave reviews. (Unfortunately I was unable to go to the meeting so these thoughts are just my own although I understand the majority of book club members enjoyed it.)

The author certainly knows how to create high drama with multiple scenes full of tension and jeopardy. This was heightened for me because I listened to the audiobook version which has four different narrators making the experience like listening to a radio drama.

I was swept along by the story and the mystery behind Rowan’s presence on the island. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to say more without spoilers but safe to say things get quite dark. I was fascinated by the Salt family’s life on such an unforgiving and remote place, existing without many of the luxuries (some would say necessities) of everyday life and reliant on infrequent visits by supply vessels. But at the same time embracing the opportunity to immerse themselves in an unique place, living alongside the creatures who inhabit it, many of whom are being impacted by climate change.

I liked Rowan’s keen interest in learning about the animals, flora and fauna of the island from Orly, Dominic’s youngest son with his incredible memory for facts. For me, Rowan’s relationship with one member of the family developed a little too quickly to be credible. And, if I’m being picky, for a woman with stitches in a large gash sustained when she was washed up on the island, she seemed remarkably agile.

The element of the story which focused on climate change was actually the most fascinating part of the book for me. Not just the rising sea levels and increasingly violent storms that threaten the island and the continued viability of the seed bank located there, but Rowan’s experience of the destructive power of wild fires in Australia. You really do get a sense of mankind struggling, sometimes in vain, to defend itself against the increasing impact of climate change.

In three words: Tense, dramatic, compelling

About the Author

Charlotte McConaghy is the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of the novels Wild Dark Shore, Once There Were Wolves, and Migrations, which are being translated into more than thirty languages and adapted for screen. She has a Masters in Screenwriting and lives in Sydney with her partner and two children.

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