A magical read? This is the second Novel of Jess Kidd’s that I have loved. However, I always find them quite intimidating to review as she has such a distinctive style. I do not have the language skills to communicate what this book is like. How does one give a sense of the Magical Realism employed? A world where a Saint will butt in and give their own onion’s on your love life and where house will provide an essential clue to a mystery by more or less throwing it into the amateur sleuths face.

“a jar of pickled beetroot edges forward diffidently. Its neighbour, a box of savoury crackers, follows suit with more conviction…..sliding boldly out of their places as if they are offering themselves up for a dangerous mission”


As always Jess populates her world with larger than life characters. The cantankerous Cathal, the House (Bridlemere ), a small cast of medieval saints, Maud’s landlady Renata, “emerging like a New Age butterfly from her ground floor cocoon” and of course Maud herself. I even love to hate the antagonist.

There is a wicked sense of humour through out the Novel. “Like David turning up at Goliath’s with rubber gloves and a risk assessment and wondering where the hell to aim”

As for cozy mysteries let me just say that Maud Drennan and her sidekick Renata - are probably my favourite amateur detectives ever.

So let’s just sum up that after reading Jess Kidd's second novel that she is still an auto buy author for me.

Recommended to those who like cozy mysteries with humour and magic and those who have also read and loved Jess’s first novel Himself.  

In a sentence – an introspection on one of the strangest worlds in worlds in fiction.

Probably more recommended to fans of literary fiction and magical realism than pure Sci Fi/Horror enthusiast. Don’t expect a thrilling apocalyptic novel from this one but instead be ready to have your ideas on reality, spun round, probed and questioned.

For the first time ever I agree with the Daily Mail and their blurb– “Annihilation is so disquietingly strange as to defy summarisation. Read it”

Recommended to those who read and enjoyed Vandameer’s Borne.

This book has split me in two.

I love it: Its is a 4.5 star.
Look there is some beautiful writing here. For example there is a stunning scene where one of the female protagonists has sex with a stranger in the back seat of a car during a rain storm. The two family sagas are intriguing too with an interesting twist or two at the end.

I hate it. It should be a DNF and does not even deserve a single star.
Unfortunately, at there is at least two hundred pages of complete self- indulgent, convoluted, overwritten mess. When a molecular biologist is bored by Genetics, trust me it was bring.

So overall a DNF worthy book saved from time to time by flashes of brilliance. If someone crafty editor would get their hands on it an cut out 50% of the text – there may actually be a great book buried somewhere below.

In my opinion it did not deserve its place on the Bailey's short list and I will be most disappointed if it wins.