By @JBayleyWrites
Blood Orange is the Edinburgh-born author’s debut novel and Tyce has since released a second novel 'The Lies You Told'.
Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce
Harriet Tyce's thriller Blood Orange is the perfect book to keep you turning the pages if you too have been experiencing withdrawal upon finishing other gripping thrillers that may have had you hopelessly hooked such as Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train.
Comparisons between any book and Gillian Flynn's electrifying and sensational novel, can often be a reach and some of these evalutations are unjust, unsuited and sometimes even blatantly untrue.
There is a reason that Gillian Flynn's 2016 novel became a national bestseller and there's a tendency to use it as a yardstick for which to measure each prospective thriller novel.
That being said, I do not believe that to put Harriet Tyce's Blood Orange on the same level as Flynn's successful novel, is out of place at all.
Blood Orange is a novel which contains all of the appropriate elements of an invigorating and captivating thriller/law story.
This is a book that intertwines characters who feel real with a plot that is anything but monotonous.
The book is centred around the character of Alison, a criminal defence lawyer with a vivacious career, a murder case to work on and a family life to balance.
Another key concept which I think has pushed this plot and book further is that this is not just a story of a woman's career or solely a story of her domestic life with her family, it is both along with the struggles and imperfections of balancing the two.
The characters, most-of-all Alison, are very well-rounded. This character development is done so well that even their flaws poke through. When the main characters come across as somewhat unlikeable and their behaviour and decisions are frustrating, that is when they really shine.
I think what I like most about this novel is how it delves into the idea of people not having or being all they appear, without explicitly laying out a characters' two sides.
It also acts as another reminder that in a world ravaged with social media and posting perfections, that people usually only show you what they would like to, and that highlight-reel can be very misleading.
So, everything with Alison and her home life is not what it seems, and that is even before we look at the murder case she is working on, or her after-work activities.
From her domestic-duties to her lawyer-life, there is a lot going on in this book and it all finalises with a twist you will love!
Not a twist, easily guessed but one that is certainly worth the suspense.
This book provides the perfect lockdown read, you won’t want to put it down, and with many of our current schedules looking a little less booked up, you may not have to.
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