I read and loved Heart-shaped Bruise
– I thought I’d reviewed it, but can’t find it, so you’ll have to make do with Big’s review. [My quick version – it’s very well written, paced beautifully and though it moves between present and past the story builds towards a very surprising conclusion that left me quite stunned.]
It’s tough when you read a second book by a new author and you’re nervous as to whether it’s going to live up to the first. There are some similarities between Heart and this one, Follow Me Down. There’s a crime. A female teenage lead character. Jumping between present and past, although in this case there’s an event that the past and present are dated from, which made it even more confusing for me. There’s even a closed environment, though in this case it’s a boarding school, rather than a locked ward. And is there a love triangle? That’s one of the things you’re kept guessing about.
And then along with my internal nervousness there’s all the hype about the book on twitter, with its very own tag #FollowMeDown, and Big desperately wanting me to finish reading so that we could discuss the book, which she adored – no pressure at all then!
I’ll let you all down gently. It’s a good book. I didn’t like it quite as much as I liked Heart, but then again I didn’t suss the end of Heart out, and this one I did, so I felt a tiny bit flat. Big didn’t – maybe I’ve just read too many Agatha Christie’s 😉 And I had a break in the middle of reading it for a few days, and found it difficult to get back into – I think that is due to the timeline jumping backwards and forwards. Instead of having to pick up one strand you’re having to pick up two, which does add to the complexity. If you read it in one sitting, as Big tends to, and I would very much prefer to, that wouldn’t matter.
So – do I rate it? Yes, I do. There’s romance, and suspense, along with some discussion of less savoury parts of teenage behaviour with alleged rape. This is not a book for a younger reader – Big is right on the edge of the age range I’d say, and I’m pleased that we do talk about what she’s read. Tanya Byrne writes hard hitting stories, that are just as approachable for adults as for the teens she’s writing about. Definitely an author worth getting to grips with.
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