The Exes was such an exquisitely taut and tense debut thriller. Leodora Darlington builds on that fantastic premise to knock it out of the park.
This has such a brilliant structure, pulling you deeper into the dark storm of the story. It is like a hurricane, all-consuming and destroying everything in its path. We move between two different timeline and seeming to put the pieces of the jigsaw together, as we explore Natalie’s past relationships and life leading to the climactic confrontation of the opening. However, nothing is quite as it seems and the rollercoaster ride you’ll go on to discover the truth is exhilarating and worth every second. It is a book that keeps you on your toes, right through to the final page. You are constantly second-guessing what you are being told and the pages keep flowing as you race through to discover the secrets hidden within. The twists in this book were exceptional and truly made you question everything that had transpired before. They had tangible consequences and heightened the thematic content of the story too, pushing this to another level. Without giving anything away, I particularly enjoyed a few that aligned with certain throughlines for the book and played with your expectations as a reader of the genre. Quite an early one stuck with me, especially for the depth it added and the interesting concept it played with. I also enjoyed the emotional impact of them and how it altered your view of certain dynamics. Darlington ensures that the twists truly turn the story on its head and have tangible consequences for the characters. They are deliberate and impactful, as the best twists are.
At the centre of the hurricane, we follow Natalie, who is an astounding protagonist. Right from the start, your expectations with her are upturned as we enter into a chaotic scene of violence and then travel through her romantic history that is punctuated by death. You are not entirely sure what her role in this deadly web is but you cannot help wanting to find out. Natalie is a complicated person, deeply flawed but driven by a desperate desire for love. She is protective, smart and incredibly compelling. As a reader, I am fascinated by stories with potentially unreliable narrators. It adds another layer to the dynamic between reader and character, which is already a fraught one of trust, and makes it electric. Natalie’s voice pulls you right in and will not let you escape. She is such a three-dimensional, layered character and Darlington ensures you have time to understand her mindset and the events in her life that have led to this. The people around her are also complicated with snippets of her childhood fracturing through time. Darlington builds this wonderfully stomach-churning atmosphere of isolation around her and threads in details about her family that add to this increasingly uncomfortable feeling. It all builds a rich tapestry of Natalie.
This unease continues throughout the book with plenty to uncover. I was particularly fascinated with the way that Darlington explores power dynamics within the book. It is interested with these in relationships of all kinds—familial, romantic, work, social. There is plenty to think about within these pages and echoes aspects of our own lives. Natalie’s story is profoundly impacted by her race and her gender. Her cultural background adds a new dimension to certain themes explored and the outlook her and other characters may have on them. Darlington delves into the racial elements of these complex power dynamics and how deeply racism informs certain perspectives, the type of quiet hatred that seethes and bubbles over to the surface. It is an insidious and monstrous force that is shown implicitly and overtly, mirroring the way it burrows its way into every aspect of society. The impact of this is keenly felt and unfortunately very timely.
The Exes is an outstanding debut, combining ingenious twists with brilliant characterisation and rich thematic throughlines, all through the fractured prism of its compulsively readable narrative.
The Exes is available from Amazon, Bookshop.org, Waterstones, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
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Synopsis
Unbearably tense and unmissably twisty, this is the outstanding debut suspense novel from the most exciting new voice in thriller writing, Leodora Darlington.
Natalie chose James carefully, because he’s different from all the men she’d loved before. Calm. Competent. Kind.
And there are three very good reasons she needs to be so careful. Their names are Marc, Luca and George.
Natalie prefers not to think about what they did to her. Let alone what she had to do to them.
Except now, on a night they are meant to be celebrating how happy they are together, Natalie and James are lying in separate bedrooms. She is asking herself how she could have been foolish enough to let yet another man hurt her like this.
Slowly, Natalie realises she’s already holding a knife.
But she’s not going to do anything with it. She’s not.
Not again.
