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Second Lives – P.D. Cacek

When four patients unexpectedly wake after being declared dead, their families are ecstatic and the word “miracle” begins to be whispered throughout the hospital. But the jubilation is short lived when the patients don’t respond to their names and insist they are different people. It is suggested all four are suffering from fugue states until one of the doctors recognizes a name and verifies that he not only knew the girl but was there when she died in 1992. It soon becomes obvious that the bodies of the four patients are now inhabited by the souls of people long dead.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher so I could join the blog tour. My thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for the opportunity to host a leg of the Second Lives blog tour.

For the first fifty (or so) pages of Second Lives we are introduced to the key characters. Half of them died shortly after we were introduced. Their deaths are not glorified or gruesomely depicted, as I may have expected from a horror novel, but are shown with compassion and the characters are given a dignity as the curtain draws on their lives.

I had originally believed Second Lives to be a horror tale but despite edging towards a supernatural slant it is not a gore-fest, monster mash, chilling tale of death and resurrection. It is a cleverly crafted, character driven story which raised some thought provoking moments.

Much of the enjoyment in Second Lives comes from reading about how the characters cope with the situation which they find themselves in. To have died and be ‘reborn’ into the body of a stranger. Not as a baby to grow and live anew but to drop into someone else’s life. Sometimes the new life lives in a time period long after the deceased character originally lived so the body-shock issue is compounded by a radical lifestyle shift too. It can be overwhelming.

Second Lives was an opportunity to read a story vastly different from the “normal” thrillers I read. The premise is very clever and the execution equally so.

Second Lives is published by Flame Tree Press and is available to order here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Second-Lives-Fiction-Without-Frontiers-ebook/dp/B07QCVBDRS/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1555013420&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

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June 7

Lullaby Girl – Aly Sidgwick

Who is the Lullaby Girl?

Found washed up on the banks of a remote loch, a mysterious girl is taken into the care of a psychiatric home in the Highlands of Scotland. Mute and covered in bruises, she has no memory of who she is or how she got there. The only clue to her identity is the Danish lullaby she sings…

Inside the care home, she should be safe. But, harassed by the media and treated as a nuisance by under-pressure staff, she finds the home is far from a haven. And as her memories slowly surface, the Lullaby Girl does her best to submerge them again. Some things are too terrible to remember… but unless she confronts her fear, how can she find out who she really is?

Taut, tense and mesmerizing, Lullaby Girl is a shining debut from an exciting and very talented new author.

Thanks to Black and White Publishing for my review copy and for the chance to join the Lullaby Girl Blog Tour. I had the pleasure of interviewing Aly Sigwick about her debut novel, you can read our conversation here: Q&A.

Lullaby Girl was a traumatic read. Aly Sigwick puts her heroine, Kathy, through the wringer and despite the fact the book should be about Kathy’s recovery from a life changing episode it is far from a smooth ride.

Kathy is found on a beach, she was on the brink of death yet is discovered just in time and ultimately finds herself in secluded convalescence home Gille Dubh in the remote Scottish Highlands. Kathy has amnesia, she cannot recall her name, her family or how she came to be washed up on a beach, however, in her dreams is the memory of a dark figure who Kathy knows she is terrified of and she is adamant that this figure must not find her.

When she is first brought to Gille Dubh Kathy will not speak but she does sing a mysterious song which is soon identified as a Scandinavian lullaby. The media are very interested in this mysterious girl and desperate for information they latch onto any morsels of gossip they can glean and, when word of Kathy’s singing leaks, the Press dub her the Lullaby Girl.

As Kathy begins the long road towards recovery we share her journey. She struggles to accept that the staff at Gille Dubh are working in her best interest. Kathy places her absolute trust in Rhona, one of the carers, and mistrusts almost everyone else. Unfortunately for Kathy, Rhona is facing issues in her personal life and she cannot devote the full time care to Kathy which both women would benefit from. This leaves Kathy also having to rely upon Rhona’s colleague Joyce. To say that Kathy and Joyce do not get on is something of an understatement and as a reader I was physically wincing at some of the scenes where the two clashed.

I am reluctant to discuss the story in too much detail as I am going to urge you to read Kathy’s story for yourself.

I loved Lullaby Girl as it evoked so many different responses and emotions as I read it. I feared for Kathy, anguished for her situation and then got frustrated with her when she fought those looking to help her – and that could all happen in just a single chapter. An intense and memorable book which I have to score 5/5. You have to read this – it is stunning.

Lullaby Girl is published by Black and White Publishing. It is available now in digital format and in paperback.

Aly Sidgwick is on Twitter as: @Menacegrrl

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