Dark

The story is hard to immediately like. It is about a horrible topic - the man who lost his wife in a terrorist attack in London. His hatred for those around him and his inability to deal with that or develop a relationship with his daughter. The last section of the extract, where he physically beats his child and essentially terrifies her in a moment of anger at her teenage rebellion feels cold and cruel. His callousness in disciplining her because he didn't understand her is not something that makes him particularly likeable. Likewise, the way he writes in his journal such as his descriptions of his therapist are very detached from reality and it is almost as though he is trying to get a reaction out of her rather than actually attempting to address the difficulties he is facing. A difficult to like main character ultimately makes a book difficult to read for me. If I don't care about them or what happens to them, then I struggle to read the rest of the book.

The cover is good - it grabs your attention and I feel I would certainly read the blurb on the back cover if I saw it in a book shop.

I'm just not sure the extract would be enough to convince me to read or buy this book.