BlogTour stop for he relentless new novel from the bestselling author of The Cry and Worst Case Scenario
#AshMountain #BlogTour #Bushfires @FitzHelen @OrendaBooks @annecater #RandomThingsTours
"What Would You Save?.. "
Synopsis
Fran hates her hometown, and she thought she’d escaped. But her father is ill, and needs care.
Her relationship is over, and she hates her dead-end job in the city, anyway. She returns home to nurse her dying father, her distant teenage daughter in tow for the weekends.
There, in the sleepy town of Ash Mountain, childhood memories prick at her fragile self-esteem, she falls in love for the first time, and her demanding dad tests her patience, all in the unbearable heat of an Australian summer.
As past friendships and rivalries are renewed, and new ones forged, Fran’s tumultuous home life is the least of her worries, when old crimes rear their heads and a devastating bushfire ravages the town and all of its inhabitants…
Simultaneously a warm, darkly funny portrait of small-town life – and a woman and a land in crisis – and a shocking and truly distressing account of a catastrophic event that changes things forever,
Ash Mountain is a heart-breaking slice of domestic noir, and a disturbing disaster thriller that you will never forget…
My Review
After the authors haunting book "The Cry" I was excited to see what the latest read would bring and wow what a story!
Drawn back to her sleepy hometown of Ash Mountain after her father has a stroke, Fran while compelled by family ties is less than thrilled about having to return.
More so when she realises that the years away have done nothing to change the town or the people who live there.
Old friends remain, and old rivaleries still simmer but just when things cannot seem much bleaker and the stress of nursing her father mounts as well as and trying to reconnect with her daughter who visits the suprising chance of new love rears its head.
but the longer she stays the more Fran falls and as the secrets of the past come forth add to this the raging Bushfires coming ever closer to the town in the end she will have to confront the real reasons she left Ash Mountain in the first place.
This story is told in three distinct timelines, 30 years from the present time when Fran was growing up in the town and nods to why she left back then, we get the story of her return to town, her fathers health and the days leading up to the fires that are heading towards the town, and finally as the fires take hold and the disaster unfolds.
All together a truly captivating and compelling read, a multitude of events perfectly blended from family drama, New relationships, Natural disaters, Grief, Loss, Abuse and ultimately Survival.
This read is a rollercoaster from start to finish and one that I found I could not put down. The author had cemented herself as a master storyteller, soaked in tension, you could almost feel it and the suspense dripping from each chapter.
Overall an absolutley outstanding and heartbreaking read 5 stars all the way!
Author Bio
Helen FitzGerald is the bestselling author of ten adult and young adult thrillers, including The Donor (2011) and The Cry (2013), which was longlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, and is now a major drama for BBC1.
Her 2019 dark comedy thriller Worst Case Scenario was a Book of the Year in both The Guardian and Daily Telegraph.
Helen worked as a criminal justice social worker for over fifteen years.
She grew up in Victoria, Australia, and now lives in Glasgow with her husband.
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Blog Tour
Thank you to the Publisher and Author for sending me an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this novel and for the opportunity to review these works.
All reviews are my own unbiased opinion.