My Review of Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton

Finished on: 29/01/13

7th Book of my 2013 Reading Challenge

Rating: 4 stars

Sorry for my lack of presence in the blogging sphere since I reviewed Sir Thomas More, I have been a busy bee starting to write my essays ages before the deadlines. Weird I know, but I like knowing that I have time to edit after a first draft and avoid any last minute disasters.

At this moment in time, I am very excited because I am going home tomorrow for 5 days! 5 whole days with my family, which is going to be amazing! I’m really looking forward to spending some time with my family and going out to celebrate my good friend Ilona’s 19th birthday (any gathering which brings us lot together is always massive fun). But whilst at home, I have some work to do (which is inevitable being a uni student), including reading the book ‘The Prince’ by Niccolo Macchiavelli. It’s the content for my seminar discussion next week and I also have picked the essay question on Macchiavelli as my first assignment. I’m hoping it will be an interesting read but you never know. I’m also not sure whether to review it when I’m done, I think I’ll reserve judgement until I have finished reading it.

Anyway, onward to my review of Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton.

This thriller/mystery novel follows Gracie and her daughter Jenny, caught in a fire at son Adam’s school, an arson attack but no one can work out who is responsible. Although both Gracie and Jenny are unconscious in hospital, between them in what I can only describe as a ‘alternative plane of existence’ or a middle ground between this life and the next, they try to piece together what happened and who is responsible. In the ‘real world’, Grace’s sister in law Sarah, a police officer, is also trying to work out what happened to them and who started the fire.

I really enjoyed this book, mainly because this is the second book I’ve read by Lupton that has left me completely clueless as to who the arsonist was. I had so many ideas in my mind and the person I considered to be the least capable was responsible! I love it when mystery novels actually manage that!

The ending was also really beautiful, I can’t really give it away but it’s mentioned throughout the book as a possible outcome, but you delude yourself into thinking that no one will let it go ahead. Yet it does, and it’s a beautiful example of unconditional love and putting your children first.

Definitely highly recommended, a great and engaging read which keeps you guessing until the very end