The Fog is a psychological nail biter in the tradition of the old Hollywood film noir classics. Kate has applied to be part of a retreat on an isolated Irish island, the aim of which is to relieve authors who are experiencing writer’s block.
Kate has an unfinished novel which she hasn’t been able to get back to as she is trying to piece together the shattered fragments of her recent personal history. Even in the present she is having difficulty sorting out what is real and what she is imagining. She appears to be suffering from some kind of post traumatic shock and so is pleased to learn she has been accepted for the retreat, and hopeful it is what will help her to find a way out.
The island is straight out of Daphne du Maurier’s imagination: dark, forbidding and bitterly cold. The story is pitched perfectly to keep the reader compulsively turning the pages, trying to keep up with Kate as her memories come back and then retreat, and as she gets to know her fellow writers, as well as Cormac who has convened the retreat and Ewan who is aiding Cormac in carrying out the program Cormac has devised.
Shocking truths emerge as Kate’s past begins to reveal itself, and there are surprise twists and turns right to the end of this highly satisfying and rather creepy (and I mean that in the nicest possible way) novel by the Australian author, Brooke Hardwick.
Best sit by a fire or curl up in a nice, warm bed to read this terrific book. There is lots of unbearably cold weather to get through!
Published by Simon and Schuster.
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