Nothing is quite capable of holding a reader's attention as much as a well-written, fast-paced psychological thriller. Sophie Hannah's latest novel Kind of Cruel is a riveting story that will keep you guessing till the very end.
Suffering from chronic insomnia, Amber Hewerdine reluctantly seeks the help of hypnotherapy as a last resort. While under hypnosis, Amber blurts out the words "kind, cruel, kind of cruel”.
Amber is sure she only uttered them because she saw them scribbled on a notepad outside the hypnotherapist's office. However, it turns out that these words were scribbled on a pad in the room of Katharine Allen; a woman who has been atrociously murdered and whom Amber has never heard of before.
Given the fact that the police can't find any clues to the murder of Katharine, Amber is arrested. Amber believes she holds the key to solving the murder investigation deep within her subconscious, but having uttered the few words that sent her life spiralling out of control, her situation doesn't bode well.
Hannah explores the reasons behind Amber's insomnia. Amber loses her best friend Sharon, inherits her two kids and is now responsible for raising them with her husband, Luke. As Amber delves deeper into her mind and repressed memories rise to the surface, her life and the lives of those around her are put on the line.
Hannah brilliantly weaves several mysteries together, and the outcome is nothing short of a nail-biting page-turner. She doesn't give away much throughout the entire novel, but the small clues she lays out fall into place perfectly at the end.
Many police officers from the author's previous novels show up in Kind of Cruel. Charlie and Simon are two detectives whose relationship has always been mysterious in previous novels but has been explained in this novel.
Amber is the main protagonist, but the author flits between perspectives and allows other characters to put in their thoughts as well. She knows how to use her characters well to serve the whole of the story. And although Kind of Cruel features many characters, each of them plays an integral role in the story.
We would have liked Hannah to withhold revealing the identity of the killer a bit further, since she follows it up with a profuse explanation of his motives and psyche. Hannah's writing is witty, intelligent and forceful. Kind of Cruel is a thought-provoking novel that lives up to the author’s previous works.
