Anna's Reviews > A Terrible Kindness

I absolutely hate it when writers manipulate their readers into fast-turning pages by A. choosing a real-life tragedy as a mere background and B. withholding a crucial scene yet dangling that narrative carrot in front of them. It only tells me you know the rest of your novel is not as strong as those banging opening chapters. It also misuses other people’s tragedies for emotional weight and character development.

William is very much his mother’s son in that he treats people around him badly… I liked Martin, though, uncle Robert and his partner Howard, Gloria with her family, and their interactions. They deserved better.

By the time the scene™ is revealed, I’d pretty much guessed what went down and was right. The return to Aberfan, at the end, was underwhelming, the “it’s all so ordinary” comment almost disrespectful.