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ClareR (6106 KP) rated Something Dark in Books

Nov 12, 2017  
Something Dark
Something Dark
Lemn Sissay | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
An unflinching look at the Social Care system in the UK
I went to see Lemn Sissay read poems from his last book 'Gold From The Stone' last year at the Chester Literature Festival, and I've been hooked ever since. His poetry is very personal, and so I was interested to see what this would be like.

This is his story of being taken in to care and the resultant damage. It's a one man show, there's no one else on stage with him, and I think this is indicative of how his life has been lived. He has always had to be self sufficient, from the day that his Foster parents (who had parented him from birth) told him at the age of 11 that 'he' didn't love them anymore (it would be more accurate to say that they didn't love him). They didn't even say goodbye to him: his brothers and sisters didn't get to say goodbye, and he was ushered into a car with his social worker and taken to a children's home.


This illustrates how children in care are 'emancipated' at 18 and expected to cope on their own. Most of them have no family or many friends, and are left to fend for themselves. Lemn was given the information to start the search for his birth mother, which is a very interesting part of the story (which I won't divulge!)


I'm actually going to see this performed by Lemn next week (14/11/17), and I'm very much looking forward to it.
  
He'll do anything to protect his secrets. She'll stop at nothing to expose the truth.
It only takes one person to break the silence.
When solicitor Finn Fitzpatrick is approached by a man to investigate the death of his daughter, her first instinct is to refuse.
The father is grieving, and unable to accept that his daughter committed suicide. And yet something about the man’s story chimes with Finn.
Why did a bright, confident, beautiful young girl suddenly drop out of school? Could the answer lie in her relationship with Ireland's most famous film director?
The deeper Finn goes into the case, the more dark, twisted and dangerous the picture becomes.
Because these are powerful people she is trying to expose. And they're willing to do anything to keep the truth hidden.

This is a brilliant crime thriller debut from Catherine Kirwan featuring Finola 'Finn' Fitzpatrick, a solicitor, set in the small town of Cork in Ireland
This is a fast-paced and gripping novel.
This one's written from a really interesting perspective of a slightly eccentric solicitor rather than a cop.
The story is written very well and the characters are interesting and jump off the page.
Kirwan hits on one of the hottest issues in our contemporary world, and handles it sensitively as she weaves a hugely compelling novel around it.
Definitely a worthwhile read and I look forward to reading more by this author.

Many thanks to Netgalley/Catherine Kirwan/Random House UK, Cornerstone for a digital copy of this title.