Hope – Terry Tyler

From the very beginning this author’s style has great get up and go and I enjoyed reading this novel. The narrative is intriguing, the reader knows it’s all going to go wrong, but how? We have a feeling it’s probably going to be okay in the end, but is it? It’s a novel for the here and now that takes social media by the scruff of the neck and gives it a good shake. (As an appropriate aside it was through social media – Instagram – that I contacted the author to ask her to recommend one of her books. She responded suggesting Tipping Point, The Visitor and this one.)

Dystopian novels are not my normal read, but this book was one I thought about when I wasn’t actually reading it. I read it quickly because I was desperate to know what was going to happen next and, to me, that’s always the sign of a good read. As I swiped the pages ( yes, a Kindle read) I was aware of the strong “It could never happen here” voice shouting at me and the little voice whispering “Oh yes it could.” Of course, the more I read the louder the little voice became. I felt real empathy and sadness as the characters fell into the downward spiral to end up in the Hope Compound where life was sustained (but was it? – “Aye, there’s the rub”), individuality stripped away, the food dreary and something weird and definitely not wonderful going on. I didn’t like the sound of the showers much either, or the monthly medicals.

I’m not one for giving a blow-by-blow account of the story in a review so I suggest you get a copy and read it. I think you’ll enjoy it, I did.

www.amazon.co.uk/Hope-Terry-Tyler-ebook/dp/B07S89DK54/