After the Storm by Jane Lythell

Title: After the Storm
Author: Jane Lythell
Published: 7th January 2015
Publisher: Head of Zeus

Review

Having read Jane's debut last year The Lie of You and loving it, I could not wait to get stuck into her latest offering After the Storm.
At first I was a little unsure about this as I read a book similar to the premise of this a while ago and did not like it. Thankfully however, I found After the Storm much better executed and the story much better.
After the Storm cleverly draws you in under a false pretence of security. Everything seems fine for the characters whilst you are reading, but you know that something is going to happen, you just don't know when. The never-ending feeling of this expectation is what I loved about it as you just never know when it will come about. Jane creates a great sense of anticipation as to what is to come by giving little hints that all is not well. I was easily drawn into Rob, Anna, Kim and Owen's world. The descriptions and the atmosphere created by Jane's writing were absolutely perfect. Jane literally transports you there and I think this is part of the reason I prefer After the Storm to The Lie of You.

I loved the little unravelling of secrets that each character had kept hidden from one another. There was a great sense of a lack of trust and Jane makes you doubt each character, especially towards the end. I also really liked the quick changing of the narrative from one protagonist to the next. It keeps you on your toes and adds to that sense of anticipation and really gets inside the minds of each of characters and what they are each thinking of each other. This is something hard to execute without confusing the reader, but Jane has done it perfectly and it really adds to the novel.

Although there is a wait for the big bang in the novel, this did not deter me from wanting to read on and my enjoyment of the story.

After the Storm is Jane's best yet and cannot wait for her next novel!