Ones to Watch in 2017 – He Said She Said Erin Kelly

Publication Date: April 2017 from Hodder and Staughton

Source: Advanced Reading Copy

He said it was consensual.
The woman said nothing.
But Laura saw it…
… didn’t she?

In the hushed aftermath of a total eclipse, Laura and Kit interrupt something awful.

Laura is sure about what happened. Later, in a panic, she tells a little white lie – and four lives are changed irreparably.

When the victim turns up on their doorstep, her gratitude spills into dangerous obsession. Laura and Kit decide to run – but Beth knows they have pledged to see every eclipse together. They will never be able to entirely escape her.

As the next eclipse draws near, Laura must confront the fallout from what she saw in the darkness. Confessing will cost her marriage; keeping the secret might prove fatal.

But all secrets, sooner or later, will come to light.

Out of all the 2017 books I’ve read so far, with a fair few sitting on my shelf still, I think He Said She Said by Erin Kelly probably has had the biggest emotional impact. Not in a loud and sudden way that disappears almost immediately (although there is a moment in this book where that happens too) but in the way my mind has quietly wandered back to contemplate the nuances, to think about consequences and to wonder at life.

He Said She Said is beautifully atmospheric, the backdrop of eclipse chasers giving it a clever and intriguing setting that moves with the plot, but the main hook here comes with the utterly fascinating characters we meet within the pages. There is no other writer writing today (in my opinion) who draws so brilliantly on the vagaries of human nature to bring us authentic, incredibly present and vivid fictional folk to travel the reading road with. Here as with all her previous novels she has created something once read never forgotten.

Relationships are tangled, lives are changed, far reaching consequences set in motion by a few words spoken on impulse during an untenable situation, one time when Laura witnesses a seemingly violent act. Such a small thing, a tiny exaggeration perhaps but that one moment will haunt the rest of her life. Erin Kelly weaves a devilishly clever, highly unpredictable yet always solidly realistic story, slowly bringing us to the truth of what happened under the cover of darkness and often breaking your heart whilst doing so. This is not so much an unravelling of a mystery as it is an unravelling of the people caught up in it, layer upon layer peeling from the surface until you can see the true faces of those involved.

The Poison Tree is still in my top ten books of all time, The Burning Air will always and forever be the novel that with a short couple of sentences sent me tumbling out of my comfort zone and into the abyss – but He Said She Said I believe is Erin Kelly’s finest novel to date by quite some margin. Intuitive, intricate, a woven tapestry of literary delight I loved this. Beautiful and horrifying in equal measure, speaking to difficult complex subjects, you may think you know but you don’t know. Just wait…

So Highly Recommended that I fear falling. Don’t miss it.

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Happy Reading!

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One Response to Ones to Watch in 2017 – He Said She Said Erin Kelly

  1. Cleo says:

    I am a huge fan of Erin Kelly’s but so far I’ve resisted reading this one so I can post closer to publication – your review has just made this even harder to resist – For this to top The Burning Air which is one of my favourite reads of all time… My anticipation has reached new heights!

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