by Ronnie Turner
SYNOPSIS
Fear blisters through this town like a fever…
When Teddy Colne arrives in the small town of Rye, he believes he will be able to settle down and leave his past behind him. Little does he know that fear blisters through the streets like a fever. The locals tell him to stay away from an establishment known only as Berry & Vincent, that those who rub too closely to its proprietor risk a bad end.
Despite their warnings, Teddy is desperate to understand why Rye has come to fear this one man, and to see what really hides behind the doors of his shop.
Ada moved to Rye with her young son to escape a damaged childhood and years of never fitting in, but she’s lonely, and ostracised by the community. Ada is ripe for affection and friendship, and everyone knows it.
As old secrets bleed out into this town, so too will a mystery about a family who vanished fifty years earlier, and a community living on a knife-edge. Teddy looks for answers, thinking he is safe, but some truths are better left undisturbed, and his past will find him here, just as it always has. And before long, it will find Ada too.
REVIEW
After recently moving to Rye, Teddy answers a job advert from the window of Berry & Vincent and is given the position of shop assistant. On his first day he is confused to find that the shop owner is a very eccentric man who refuses to speak and seems to be amassing a bizarre collection of weird and creepy objects in his shop rather than selling them.
After asking many questions to the locals, he begins to fear his new boss. He is told to stay away from the shop and even to leave Rye and never come back by every resident he speaks to. The problem is that Teddy is also running from something. Events from his childhood have left him lonely, orphaned, and he has been unable to settle down anywhere for long. He sees his new job as a place to hide away, but then he meets Ada. Ada is also an outsider, estranged from her family and bring up her son alone. She is one of the only residents who is willing to venture inside Berry & Vincent, but even this is just a way of irritating the local gossips who refuse to accept her and her son.
The longer the two spend in Mr Vincent's company, the scarier things become. He seems to have an unnatural obsession with both Teddy and Ada and knows things about the pair that he should never have been able to find out. However, as Teddy begins to fight back against his strange boss, Ada starts to question his own motives. Who should she trust? What is really going on? and Who is this man she had begun to trust?
Wow! So Pretty really packs a punch! It was so unsettling and written in a totally unique voice. There was a sense of unease from the very first page and it just never left. Part of this was because I felt like the shop, Berry & Vincent, was a character in it's own right. The horrific collection of objects in the shop, how these objects were linked to people in a really alarming way and the fact that a lot of these objects literally had eyes on anyone who dared to enter, led to a claustrophobic and unnerving few hours of reading!
I don't think I've ever read a book that was so subtle and so fast-paced at the same time. The short chapters switching backwards and forwards between Teddy and Ada's points of view add a level of desperation as you read. So much is left unsaid at the end of each chapter - teasing you with all of the strange goings on and weird behaviour that you just can't wait to hear an explanation for.
I won't go into any more detail as it would spoil the horrific surprises waiting for you at the end of this story. All I will say, is that I am going to be thinking about the consequences of the heartbreaking events that take place for a long time to come.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ronnie Turner grew up in Cornwall, the youngest in a large family. At an early age, she discovered a love of literature and dreamed of being a published author. Ronnie now lives in the South West with her family and three dogs. In her spare time, she reviews books on her blog and enjoys long walks on the coast. Ronnie is a Waterstones Senior Bookseller and a barista, and her youth belies her exceptional, highly unusual talent.
Thanks to Anne Cater - @RandomTTours, Ronnie Turner - @Ronnie__Turner and Orenda Books - @OrendaBooks for the opportunity to read and review.
Publisher: Orenda Books
ISBN: 978-1914585593
Pages: 320pp
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