By Michael J Malone
Published by Orenda Books https://orendabooks.co.uk/
300 pages ISBN 9781913193966
Publication date 21 December 2021
I was sent an electronic copy to enable me to take part in this Blog Tour. I would like to thank Anne at Random Things Tours for the invitation to participate and of course the Author and Karen at the publishers.
From the blurb
The darker the memory
The deadlier the obsession…
Synopsis
Luke is trying to start afresh as a therapist working as an alternative health practitioner. His partner has died young through breast cancer and although he hasn’t adopted her son Nathan, he is his number one priority in life. Luke has a chequered past though. He has been to prison for dangerous driving after an accident which killed his best friend.
Jenna was besotted with her boyfriend, but he was controlling and lived a shady existence. When she fell pregnant a termination seems to be her only option to escape his clutches.
Jamie and Amanda are brother and sister. Their world falls apart on the death of their much older brother. Danny was their lifeline as their parents were incapable of looking after them, once he was gone, they drifted into the care system.
When Jamie and Jenna become patients of Luke dark pasts are revealed and their futures collide.
My thoughts
This is an intense and at times dark and disturbing novel. There are only a few characters, and this allows intensity and paranoia to build up in a tight and complex plot.
The chapters are short, and the perspective moves quickly from character to character. I found this a little choppy at the start but once the novel gets into its stride it proves to be a great device for rationing out the plot. There are no cliff-hangers but rather layers upon layers within the story and as each is peeled back it hints that there is still more to come, like the reader is opening a Russian matryoshka doll. Only each successive reveal is darker than the last and the final one isn’t a tiny almost insignificant doll but the lie upon which all the misery is based, a lie that destroys lives.
It is the characters who drive the story, none more so than Danny and he is dead throughout. He is a thoroughly unpleasant individual and as each layer is stripped back his legend increases. To be generous this could be because of his upbringing and environment, but it is his mastery of coercive control than can still be effective beyond the grave that is key to all the suffering. We are used to this control being exercised by abusive men over women, but in an interesting twist Danny is even able to use it to control men, especially his best friend Luke. Except for Danny though the remaining cast are each shown to be an amalgam of good and bad, with shades of light and dark, though none of them is particularly endearing. It is a fine author who can capture a readers attention with normal flawed people.
Luke is desperate to put his past behind him and create a future for himself and Nathan. He loves Nathan even though he is not his son and clearly more than the promise he made to his mother. His reluctance to publicly confront is past is what is still allowing someone to have a hold over him.
Amanda is driven by revenge, hurt by the loss of her childhood dreams of dancing and her marriage to a much older man to secure her future. In the end though she discovers that all she is really looking for is the truth.
Poor Jamie is controlled throughout when he seems to just want to get on with his life. Amanda’s poison and pulling of his strings eventually take their toll on his psyche to disastrous effect even though he just wants to be liked.
Aspects of the novel remind me of some of the more serious works of Graham Greene with sin and redemption at its core. Whilst Greene’s sinners battle with personal demons it’s their loss of faith that requires the willingness of others to forgive their sins. In the Quicksand of Memory, the characters seek their personal redemption through the doing good works and trying to be a better person. Can these actions be enough counterbalance sin of the past and allow for a better future? When you are being punished by the sins of others forgiveness is not easy and can come at great personal cost. Luke finds his salvation comes with great pain and only after complete disclosure of the past. Even then it is only a partial redemption, it’s not an entirely happy ending.
One man’s attempt at controlling others ripples out to adversely affect everyone he meets, but they are just collateral damage to him. Luke and Jenna desperately want to escape their past but in doing so unintended consequences lead to misery for others. Does Jamie and Amanda’s bad start to life determine how it will be lived in the future or is it within their grasp to change it to their will?
All of these layers of deceit and murder are skilfully and thoughtfully blended into a dark compelling story.
The author
Michael Malone is a prize-winning poet and author who was born and brought up in the heart of Burns’ country. He has published over 200 poems in literary magazines throughout the UK, including New Writing Scotland, Poetry Scotland and Markings. Blood Tears, his bestselling debut novel won the Pitlochry Prize from the Scottish Association of Writers. His psychological thriller, A Suitable Lie, was a number-one bestseller, and the critically acclaimed House of Spines, After He Died, In the Absence of Miracles and A Song of Isolation soon followed suit. A former Regional Sales Manager (Faber & Faber) he has also worked as an IFA and a bookseller. Michael lives in Ayr.
Quicksand of Memory can be purchased direct from the publisher here
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