Rewind

by Catherine Ryan Howard

[zooloo1983]

I loved the premise of this book, instead of chapter headings the book was split into sections, PLAY, REWIND, FAST FORWARD and PAUSE!


Do you dare do any of them? Do you dare to PLAY and watch the brutal killing of an unknown person? Do you dare to PAUSE and learn uncomfortable secrets? Do you dare FAST FORWARD to the present day and follow Audrey and investigate the missing person? Or do you dare to REWIND and try to uncover the truth to why Natalie travels up to Shanamore Holiday Cottages? My answer is Yes I do dare!

Each segment of the film is a different voice and it just worked so bloody well. You are thrown through the wringer, never quite knowing what is going on. Is Natalie going crazy? Is her husband having an affair? Who has been killed? Who is the murderer?

I was so absorbed in the book, I was hooked and the chapters were snappy at times that they made your head spin, can you truly believe what is going on? By having the chapter headers laid out in this way just changes the game and your reading enjoyment in my opinion, it added to the horrifying events and teases you because nothing is quite what it seems. Some elements of this book I was outraged and it made for uncomfortable reading with a character, something not quite wired right in their head but Howard tackled this perfectly. She created just enough angst and, dare I say it, disgust for this particular character that my skin crawled every time they were in the book!

You do have to be prepared to wipe the slate clean for the weekend and not do anything else one you pick this up, because before I knew it I was on page 200 in one sitting, but alas I had to go to bed as I was off to the Reading festival the next day.

From the intense start you do not want to stop the movie, all your sense are heightened and you know straight away that everything is just off with everything and everyone, LOVE IT! The main reason for all heightened senses is knowing that you can not change the events in this book, you start with the end and it is somewhat heartbreaking. A bit like Moulin Rouge, you know the ending at the beginning and it makes everything else just so bittersweet as you know nothing that happens will change the outcome. (Completely different plots but you get my drift)

I was floored by the ending, I mean I knew something was not quite right, but this! This I did not expect and it was so chilling and so fricking good!! All the characters felt fleshed out and came alive (although would prefer they didn’t!) through the pages. As always Howard has delivered! She knocked the wind out of me in The Liar’s Girl and here I could not breathe. I am excited to see what she does next!