Catherine Ryan Howard successfully utilises an intelligent narrative structure to draw out a compelling and thrilling mystery that plays right into modern day fears.
The way that the author starts at the point of murder and works simultaneously backwards and forwards to round out both her characters and her satisfying thriller of a story is surprisingly effective. At first it feels as though it could become overly complicated as you try to place who each character is and where they sit in the timeline of events, but it doesn’t take long to fall into the beat of Catherine Ryan Howard’s pacing.
This book swept me up and held my attention with the tension and horror of the events. The story really takes advantage of modern day fears around technology and social networks, with one of the main characters being an Instagram influencer. This was maybe an area that weakened the impact of the book for me. Something that bothers me with a lot of contemporary thrillers is that by referencing modern day trends/technology/popular culture (or using them as a plot device) it really ties them to this moment in time, and potentially means that aspects of the novel might not age well. However, I think that is just another reason to read this book sooner rather than later!
Where this book draws out suspense from the abuse of social media platforms and technology, it simultaneously keeps its readers on the edge of their seats in an area that has been causing nightmares since Norman Bates’ first appearance in Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’. That feeling of insecurity staying in an unfamiliar location, the feeling of someone watching you, Rewind plays with that fear and pushes the idea into new and exciting areas.
There were a few areas that could have been a bit tighter and more concise, and maybe a couple of sections where the plot seemed to get ahead of me, but I’ll take those flaws for the well written settings of both city and rural life in a modern day Ireland populated with a surprisingly large cast of well written characters.
If you like thrillers and intelligent time jump narratives, this one is for you.
The way that the author starts at the point of murder and works simultaneously backwards and forwards to round out both her characters and her satisfying thriller of a story is surprisingly effective. At first it feels as though it could become overly complicated as you try to place who each character is and where they sit in the timeline of events, but it doesn’t take long to fall into the beat of Catherine Ryan Howard’s pacing.
This book swept me up and held my attention with the tension and horror of the events. The story really takes advantage of modern day fears around technology and social networks, with one of the main characters being an Instagram influencer. This was maybe an area that weakened the impact of the book for me. Something that bothers me with a lot of contemporary thrillers is that by referencing modern day trends/technology/popular culture (or using them as a plot device) it really ties them to this moment in time, and potentially means that aspects of the novel might not age well. However, I think that is just another reason to read this book sooner rather than later!
Where this book draws out suspense from the abuse of social media platforms and technology, it simultaneously keeps its readers on the edge of their seats in an area that has been causing nightmares since Norman Bates’ first appearance in Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’. That feeling of insecurity staying in an unfamiliar location, the feeling of someone watching you, Rewind plays with that fear and pushes the idea into new and exciting areas.
There were a few areas that could have been a bit tighter and more concise, and maybe a couple of sections where the plot seemed to get ahead of me, but I’ll take those flaws for the well written settings of both city and rural life in a modern day Ireland populated with a surprisingly large cast of well written characters.
If you like thrillers and intelligent time jump narratives, this one is for you.