Kind of Cruel -Sophie Hannah

It has been quite some time since I chanced upon a book that actually made me think. And before I proceed further, I still don’t  take back most of what I wrote about Sophie Hannah here.

I have been rotting in the sad premise of bedside reading for years now. Most of my reading is just scanning. I don’t pay real attention to individual sentences or words. I have even skipped chapters when the author resorts to mindless description or endless dialogues or boring arguments that really don’t contribute to the plot. But Sophie Hannah made me re read the prologue twice –so compelling was her theory about stories and memories that I ended up poking my brain for memories and stories and tried to distinguish between the two based on her explanation.

The book satisfied me on so many levels. This book is a classic whodunit which keeps hinting who the perpetrator is and also confirms it midway. But the author keeps us gripped because we want to know how the 3 apparently random incidents of a death by fire, death by beating and arson –separated by years - gets connected. And above all, we want to know the motive.

The book has 3 narratives –that of the hypnotherapist, Amber Hewerdine, the protagonist and a third person narrative. Amber, an insomniac who hasn’t managed to sleep for more than 10 minutes a night, for almost 2 years, goes to a hypnotherapist for help. She bumps into Charlie Zailer (Hannah’s featured detective in the Culver Valley mystery series) and what she remembers in the hypnotherapy session makes her the key to the murder mystery that the police are absolutely clueless about for the past 2 months.

The way the hypnotherapist Ginny puts forward the working of our brain and finally how she provides the motive for the murders is very engrossing. So engrossing that, even me, the regular paragraph and even chapter skipper, ended up devouring every single word. The extensive research that Sophie has made, is so evident in the way she explains the working of our brain and conscious and subconscious. I was reminded of “Primal Fear” and “Seven Minutes”, in the way the book delves into the psyche.

Do I recommend this book though? Not for all...unless you are in the mindset to do some heavy reading. The plot, though the king, is aced by the theories and the arguments this book puts forth. It examines different varieties of dysfunctional parent –child relationships, though Amber’s sister in law and Zailer’s husband, Simon Waterhouse, who is the chief investigator of this case.

Some characters are etched so well..Amber, Jo, Simon, the girls –Dinah and Nonie. But many characters are just bare bones –especially Luke –Amber’s husband and Neil –Jo’s husband. I ended up feeling that I want to know more about how things worked out between them as couples. I also wanted to know how Neil accommodates to his the oh so loving and sacrificing Jo? You also question the famous rhetoric –how much parents can be blamed for the sins of the children?

But, inspite of all these, I enjoyed the book immensely –simply because it made me think while reading it –which has been quite some time since any book managed to do that.