After a college party, two boys drive a girl home: drunk and passed out in the back seat. Rumours spread about what they did to her, but later they’ll tell the police a different version of events. Alice will never remember what truly happened. Her fracture runs deep, hidden beneath cleverness and wry humour. Nick – a sensitive, misguided boy who stood by – will never forget.
That’s just the beginning of this extraordinary journey into memory, fear and self-portrayal. Through university applications, a terrifying abusive relationship, a fateful reckoning with addiction and a final mind-bending twist, Alice and Nick will take on different roles to each other – some real, some invented – until finally, brought face to face once again, the secret of that night is revealed.
True Story was one of the most quietly absorbing and oft disturbing novels I’ve read in years – defying any attempt to classify it within genre, just when you grasp it, it changes direction and feel whilst always staying true to the story being told.
One night something happens. What exactly that is soon gets lost in the mists of time, what True Story does is take you on a character driven, memory fuelled journey through the aftermath lives of those involved. Cause and effect run through the narrative as it unfolds..each section offering something to the reader, but any other attempt to explain it fails me so that will have to do.
A literary page turner, True Story will grip you, horrify you, hit all the high and low spots of human emotion, never once follow the path of least resistance and in its final moments, once again defy expectations. Clever and intensely socially relevant, using literary mind tricks to explore an emotive subject, I doubt very much you’ll find another book like this anytime soon.
Very highly recommended.
You can purchase True Story (Riverrun) Here.
Happy Reading!
