An emotional one...
After The Storm is the debut novel G.D. Wright and - just like the waves on the front cover - his tale arrives with force.
There is a Content Warning before you start reading and if you are distressed easily, it's probably best to check these themes - although reading them does give spoilers. However, the cover itself prepares you for one of those themes and shows that this is a dark read.
The author states where he lives by the sea as his writing inspiration and I can see (no pun intended) how looking out on such a landscape would allow your mind to wander as - being a writer myself - I see stories in everything, everywhere!
The story opens with a Prologue, Before the Storm, and delivers the first shock of the novel. Throughout, chapters go from how a days/how many hours before (the storm)/during it then to after the storm in hours, then in days. Ending with an epilogue that I was really not expecting!
Multiple characters are shown with different ones heading up the chapters where all perspectives being told through third person narration, giving the reader an overview of how they are feeling from the outside.
Description is used effectively throughout along with convincing dialogue (you can tell the author is both a family man an ex-police officer) and I think Wright has played to his strengths. Occasionally, there is a touch of humour too.
Overall, it's a dark tale with a few surprises along the way and many a pull on the heartstrings showing how life can change so quickly and unexpectedly.
I enjoyed the unexpected turns that this took and know that it's a book that I will think about after reading.
I have given a four-star rating as I initially felt the different characters needed to be more distinctive and I would like to see presentation features used for the police reports and text messages - although the inclusion of these were a good inclusion to add to certain elements of the story.
Thank you to NetGalley and AVON (a division of HarperCollinsPublishers) for my electronic ARC. This title will be released on 1st August this year but you can pre-order a copy for just 99p on Kindle currently at Amazon:
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