Book Review; Black Thorn- Sarah Hilary

Page Count 359
Publication date July 2023
Publisher Macmillan
GoodReads link

Synopsis
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Blackthorn Ashes was meant to be their forever home. For the first six families moving into the exclusive new housing development, it was a chance to live a peaceful life on the cliffs overlooking the Cornish sea, safe in the knowledge that it had been created just for them.
But six weeks later, paradise is lost. Six people are dead. And Blackthorn Ashes is left abandoned and unfinished, its dark shadows hiding all manner of secrets.
One of its surviving residents, Agnes Gale, is determined to find out the truth about what happened. Even if that truth is deadlier than she could have ever believed possible . . .
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Review
I’m not sure where I’ve landed on the rating scale with Blackthorn. This is a very slow burn with a somewhat irritating amount of repetition within the dialogue and character behaviours, however the plot itself is a good one.

I’d very much enjoy a screen adaptation of this story, Hilary sets a vivid and believable scene with the build of an idyllic, gated community for families who appear perfect from the outside… but they never are are they?

Several tragic events befall the small group of neighbours in this unfinished paradise, some of which were dragged out far too long for their predictable revelations but Hilary balanced the scales by shocking me with a few truths nonetheless.

Main character Agnes is autistic which I personally thought was written accurately from my own experience with relatives- though I’m not well versed.
Hilary squeezes the heart with Agnes younger brother’s reaction to his sister and her behaviours, I felt Christie was perhaps the best written character of all.

Unfortunately the Gale family drama Blackthorn centres itself on gets quickly dull and repetitive. With a timeline switching to before, during and after their six weeks of life in Blackthorn, Hilary has ample opportunity to utilise cliff hangers but failed to do so in a way that enticed me to read on.
I pushed on to discover the truth behind the shocking events at Blackthorn through sheer determination but the pacing of the book almost had me walk away several times.

I probably won’t read another title by this author.