The Nurse by Claire Allan
Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense
Read: 27th March 2022
Published: 17th March 2022
★★ 2.5 stars
DESCRIPTION:
Someone is watching her. She just doesn’t know it yet.
Nell Sweeney has led an ordinary life. Every day she walks to and from the hospital where she works as a nurse, believing that no harm can befall her.
Until one day she is taken.
Because someone out there has a secret. Someone out there has been watching Nell – and they’ve been watching others like her too.
Nell is the unlucky one – she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And if she isn’t found soon, someone will make sure that she isn’t the last woman to disappear…
A chilling, gripping read, perfect for fans of Clare Mackintosh and Gillian McAllister.
MY REVIEW:
I thoroughly enjoyed Claire Allan's previous thrillers "Forget Me Not" and "The Liar's Daughter", and have a couple of others on my TBR list also, and was excited to dive into her latest. But THE NURSE, for me, wasn't as absorbing and I found the endless monologuing from all main narrators to be long and drawn out. That being said, the story did pick up in the second half somewhat but still not to the author's usual standards and not enough to enthrall me. The concept was intriguing but the delivery failed for me particularly as I found Marian to be irritating, both in character and narrative. I was, however, eager to discover what really happened to Nell.
The story focuses on the disappearance of Marian Sweeney's 22 year old daughter Nell who is reported missing four days after when her housemate realised she hadn't seen Nell in that time. Clodagh, her friend, hadn't worried at first because as a nurse, Nell worked different shifts and the girls would often be ships passing and miss seeing each other. That, and Nell's recent propensity to live life in the fast lane with a new group of friends, with drugs and drink the order of their nights out. Had Nell fallen in with the wrong crowd thus getting her into trouble? Was she really missing or was she just hiding in shame for her stupidity?
Marian is feeling bereft at her daughter's disappearance. Like all mothers, she claims to know her daughter and that she was a good girl. If there was anything worrying her then she would know - Nell would have told her. But would she? When Clodagh reveals Nell's recent behaviour to her, Marian begins to wonder if she really knew her daughter at all. And in the background is Marian's non-existent marriage to husband Stephen, Nell's father. The two of them are clearly at odds with one another and while Stephen does show an element of concern for his wife, Marian is in her own world where only she and Nell exist. It's blindingly obvious that this marriage won't survive whatever is to come - whether Nell is found or not.
And then there is a group of men in an online community who call themselves "incels" (involuntary celibate). They meet in a chat forum on the dark web sharing their views and experiences with the women of today who they feel emasculate them as men. Desiring a romantic or sexual connection but are unable to do so, these men feel that women are taking away their rights whilst claiming their own. Blaming women for everything that is wrong in their lives, they feel slighted by those they see are "the weaker sex" who they feel should respect them as being superior. And while there are those who are merely keyboard warriors, using the anonymity of the dark web, to rant and rave about the wrongs these feministic women have brought into their lives, there are a select few who act on their warped beliefs.
So one man, identified simply as "Him", who feels disrespected by women (both in his personal and professional life) and has the idea to follow lone women at night...to scare them...to see their fear and to feel it. When he shares his experiences online and encourages others to try it, there is one response that stands out to him calling him out as a liar. So then he decides to film his next target as proof, creating the hashtag #IHaveThePower which then goes viral. However, in his desire to share the power of his exploits, he soon discovers that things have gone too far when one of his followers takes things further, in a direction he is not comfortable with. He never intended anyone to get get hurt but he has started something he can no longer control. This part of the story was chilling, to say the least.
Then the remains of a woman are found and Marian fears, though doesn't want to believe, that it is her daughter. But what the incel who has Nell has something even more chilling planned...a live streamed grand finale in which he will take back the power.
The concept was invariably intriguing and even somewhat chilling. But I loathe constant monloguing without much dialogue to balance it out. This story is all in the narrator's heads and feels too one-sided in its delivery. Maybe that's the intention, but for me it bogged the whole story down and made it long and drawn out. This isn't the first book I have read featuring incels, a subculture movement of men on the dark web who desire romantic and sexual partners but are unable to get them thus declaring women to be feminists who emasculate men. It certainly is an interesting concept, a dangerous world that can be taken to the extreme.
Told from three perspectives - Marian, Nell and the incel - THE NURSE is an intensely dark read that had the potential to be a compelling thriller but it simply rambles a bit too much. I felt half the book could have been cut down, mostly Marian's constant incessant ramblings. I get that she's distraught, but her narrative was a snoozefest I ended up skimming for the most part. The rest of the tale drags a little too much. And the title? Not really essential to the plot, apart from the fact that Nell is a nurse. And...?
Personally, I feel the story could have been cut down with a far more exciting narration. 400 pages, mostly filled with Marian's ramblings, was just a bit too much. A shorter, pacier style would have been more compelling.
Overall, THE NURSE had an intriguing concept that failed to deliver in thrills and excitement. The story didn't particularly grab me when I tired of Marian's narrative so quickly and ended up skimming it for the most part. I know I'm in the minority here but this one just wasn't as thrilling as the author's other works.
I would like to thank #ClaireAllan, #Netgalley, #AvonBooks for an ARC of #TheNurse in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
A former journalist, she published eight contemporary women’s fiction titles with Poolbeg Press in Ireland, establishing herself as a multiple Irish Times Bestselling Author.
Her novel 'The First Time I Said Goodbye' - based on a true story of a love affair between a Derry girl and a US marine became a US Kindle Top Five bestseller.
However in 2016, Claire decided to change genre and to write domestic noir - this secured her her a book deal with Avon, an imprint of Harper Collins.
Her debut thriller Her Name Was Rose has sold more than a quarter of a million copies and has achieved bestseller status around the world.
When not writing thrillers, she can be found penning romantic comedies under her alias of Freya Kennedy.
Claire is currently working on a TV adaptation of her 2020 novel ‘The Liar’s Daughter’ with Hat Trick productions, and as a story consultant for the new BBC cop drama ‘Blue Lights’.
Her sixth thriller ‘The Kindling’ is scheduled for publication in January 2022.
Social Media links:
No comments:
Post a Comment