What They Do in the Dark

May 30, 2012 Melissa rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: notworthit

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This book sucks. Coe manages some pretty good writing as she tells the achingly sad stories of Gemma and Pauline, two girls in the same class at school who happen to each have awful mothers. Gemma's favorite child actress is Lallie, who is shooting a Lifetime-style movie about pedophilia, part of which takes place in their school over the summer. This leads to lazy interludes with an older actress on the movie set, Lallie's agent, and a terrible caricature of a Hollywood producer, a woman named...more

8 likes · like · see review

Aug 16, 2012 Ciara rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012

i can't really recommend this at all, but when it comes to books, i feel like i am starting to feel like nina garcia on "project runway". "don't bore ciara." i didn't have the energy to write book reviews at all during my first trimester. now that i finally have my energy back, i'm trying to catch up, but i read so many books during the first half of my pregnancy (because i always have the energy to read), & so much of what i read made no impression on me whatsoever. two & a half months...more i can't really recommend this at all, but when it comes to books, i feel like i am starting to feel like nina garcia on "project runway". "don't bore ciara." i didn't have the energy to write book reviews at all during my first trimester. now that i finally have my energy back, i'm trying to catch up, but i read so many books during the first half of my pregnancy (because i always have the energy to read), & so much of what i read made no impression on me whatsoever. two & a half months after initially reading this book, at least i remember the plotline, even if i didn't like it.

it follows the sad, troubled lives of two young schoolmates growing up in yorkshire in the mid-70s. gemma is the more class-privileged of the two, but her parents split up & her mother immediately moves herself & gemma into her boyfriend's house down the street. he's a little molester-y, which made me feel really sad. gemma's favorite actor is a child star named lallie, who is in town shooting a film that sounds like a rip-off of "lolita". the producers want to shoot a few scenes at the elementary school & gemma is obsessed with being chosen as an extra so she can meet lallie.

pauline is dirt poor & lives with a revolving cast of shift relatives while her mother works as a traveling prostitute (not that pauline is old enough to understand that). no one really looks after her, makes sure she's clean, or seems to care about her at all. she's kind of a bully, but somehow she strikes up a strange friendship with gemma. until she is selected over gemma to be an extra in lallie's movie. then pauline's mother is murdered & for some insane reason, the police force pauline to ID the body (these girls are like ten years old, i just don't buy that at all) & the shit kind of hits the fan.

it all culminates in (SPOILER) gemma & pauline torturing & murdering a classmate in an abandoned house. i just...i don't know...what? obviously i remember this book not because of its intricate plotting (it was in fact slow as molasses) or nuanced, three-dimensional characters (everyone was like cardboard) but because it ends with two little girls murdering a third little girl, apropos of absolutely nothing. what the fuck, book? i wish i could unread you.(less)

4 likes · like · see review

Aug 03, 2012 Becky rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: for-fun

This is one of those books that starts as one thing and turns into something else entirely. It is set in the mid-1970's and focuses on two middle-school-aged girls in England. One is middle class, and her parents are separating. The other is a neglected girl from the wrong side of town who is barely cared for by her delinquent relatives, and her mother, a travelling prostitute, comes to visit her a couple of times a year. Through a series of events, they end up befriending each other, and each i...more

1 like · like · see review

May 31, 2012 Stephanie Driscoll rated it 3 of 5 stars

Listen. If you want to shock me, shock me. I'm all for darkness and terrible things happening. Bring it on. What I don't like it, is shock endings that come out of now where. That's cheating. While there were certainly pieces of writing that shone in this piece, particularly the ending, it doesn't make up for the confused mess of a book that the author ended up writing. I think I would be less harsh if all the bigwigs hadn't pooped about it so much and what an incredible read it was.
The fact is...more

7 likes · like · see review

May 17, 2012 Georgie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I found this book gripping, disturbing, and odd. The book's plot centers around the lives of two ten-year old girls, living in Yorkshire in 1975. Pauline comes from a rough, poor family, with no father and a frequently absent and sometimes abusive mother. She is neglected, and is often dirty and smelly, and has to resort to lying and stealing to get by in life. Gemma is from a lower-middle class family, and though she is more materially well off than Pauline, her family is problematic too - her...more I found this book gripping, disturbing, and odd. The book's plot centers around the lives of two ten-year old girls, living in Yorkshire in 1975. Pauline comes from a rough, poor family, with no father and a frequently absent and sometimes abusive mother. She is neglected, and is often dirty and smelly, and has to resort to lying and stealing to get by in life. Gemma is from a lower-middle class family, and though she is more materially well off than Pauline, her family is problematic too - her mother is rather snobbish, obsessive, and mean and controlling. Gemma's mum leaves her dad for another man, taking Gemma with her, and the stepdad soon starts showing an unhealthy interest in Gemma. Then there is Lallie, an eleven year old child film star who is in town filming a rather disturbing film about a young girl, played by Lallie, being molested and murdered by a pedophile.
For much of the book, the plot revolves around Gemma and Pauline's lives, which are very different but in some ways the same, and the unlikely friendship they form. The story is a nostlagic look back at a 70s childhood, but it incorporates the dark and disturbing undercurrents that can come with childhood - bullying, neglect, and the ever looming threat of sexuality, prejudice.
For all the dark undercurrents, the horrible event at the end of the book really does come as a shock, and given that it involves such young children, it's even more shocking. The event ties in with everything that's gone before in that much of the point of the 'dark undercurrents' is that children, especially pre-teens, can be a lot less innocent and pure than one might like to assume. They can be cruel, sneaky, and even, the author seems to be saying, much more aware of and involved in issues relating to sex than adults might like to believe.

So all that part of the book was good, if rather disturbing to read, and in the case of the final event, actually shocking.I think Amanda Coe perfectly captured the whole mixed innocence and darkness of childhood, and it can be very dark.
However, this main plot was intersperesed with chapters from the viewpoint of various adults connected with making the film Lallie stars in. I get that the film is connected to and mirrors the 'real life' events of the book, but the interspersed chapters seemed annoying. There is a character called Quentin, a young American woman who comes over from Hollywood to try and headhunt Lallie for a film. Quentin has concerns about Hollywood wrecking Lallie's childhood. This is fine, and ties in with the book. However, much of Quentin's chapters seemed to involve way too much details about her love life, sexual habits, and need for drugs, and all this was just boring, and really seemed to have nothing to do with the rest of the book really, beyond Quentin perhaps being meant to represent Lallie's possible future if she gets corrupted by Hollywood. But really, if that was the point, it could easily have been made in a couple of chapters, rather than repetitive explorations and details of Quentn's drug use and sexual encounters. The Quentin chapters are what reduced this book to four stars not five because every time one of her chapters came up, I just thought, 'oh *god*, here we go again' and just wanted to get back to the Gemma/Pauline story.

That said, I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the darker sides there can be to childhood, though I do warn you, there is some disturbing stuff in there. Amanda Coe does an excellent job of maintaining an undercurrent of tension throughout the book so that even when nothing much is happening, the book retains it's sense of impending menace.(less)

like · see review

Feb 19, 2012 Joanne Sheppard rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What They Do In The Dark by Amanda Coe is actually quite funny at times. It also does a nice line in 70s childhood nostalgia, with lots of references that will make people start to wax lyrical about Spangles and clackers. Sounds fun, does it? Well, don't be fooled. It isn't.

That's not to say that What They Do In The Dark isn't an excellent book. The writing is brilliant throughout; the characters are utterly believable; the setting and period are evoked with a skill. And it's gripping: even when...more What They Do In The Dark by Amanda Coe is actually quite funny at times. It also does a nice line in 70s childhood nostalgia, with lots of references that will make people start to wax lyrical about Spangles and clackers. Sounds fun, does it? Well, don't be fooled. It isn't.

That's not to say that What They Do In The Dark isn't an excellent book. The writing is brilliant throughout; the characters are utterly believable; the setting and period are evoked with a skill. And it's gripping: even when frankly, not a great deal seemed to be happening, I found it impossible to put down. Three ten-year-old girls, all leading very different lives indeed, are connected by circumstance over a period of several months in a Yorkshire town. There's Gemma - bright, middle-class and popular and, in a material sense at least, perhaps a little spoilt. Then there's her classmate, Pauline. Pauline is the school bully, horribly neglected and living in squalid conditions with a violent, drug-using extended family. And finally, Lallie Paluza, a young TV star of the Lena Zavaroni ilk, whose comic persona and typically childish attention-seeking are tempered by an eerily knowing maturity. Gemma and Pauline, while barely even qualifying as 'friends', are thrown together by coincidences and conflicts. Lallie's link to them is more peripheral - she appears to live her life entirely in the company of adults - as her first straight acting role, in which she plays the victim of a predatory child-abuser in a creepy arthouse production, is filmed in the other girls' home town.

There are hints, suggestions and clues that continue to mount until the atmosphere becomes so tense and oppressive that it's almost as if there's a dank, foetid cloud hanging over the novel, before it reaches shocking - and for me, almost unreadably unpleasant - conclusion. The ending is entirely unexpected, almost jaw-droppingly so, and yet at the same time, seems perfectly believable, and it's this sickening feeling of credibility that makes it so difficult, so uncomfortable, to accept.

As far as the author's craft goes, I can barely fault What They Do In The Dark. There is a subplot involving a young Hollywood film producer, visiting the UK to consider Lallie for a role in a Disney film, which, while at times key to the chain of events that form Lallie's storyline, seems perhaps more detailed than necessary at times, but apart from that, I can find nothing about the writing of this book to complain about. Coe's use of varying points of view - Pauline and Gemma themselves, most obviously, but also Lallie's agent, and an ageing character actress who observes the child star on set - is extremely effective and the whole novel is a masterclass in pace and plot. The subject matter, too, is probably extremely worthy: there are valid and indeed essential points made by this novel, and in an extremely powerful way. But equally, it's a disturbing, uncomfortable read after which I couldn't sleep and wanted to scrub my brain clean with Domestos. Brilliant though it is, I think we can safely say I shan't be reading it again.(less)

3 likes · like · see review

Nov 07, 2011 Abby rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Sunday Times described "What they do in the Dark" as: 'One of the most masterly, disturbing pieces of fiction I have read in a long while . . . will send shivers down your spine . . . will leave you haunted long after you've read the final page.' The complete antithesis of what I thought.

I picked up this novel after Marie Claire put it as their 'must read book of the month'. I had high hopes for the book as it was described full of nostalgia of 'penny sweets' in Yorkshire in the 1970's (I th...more

3 likes · like · see review

Sep 21, 2011 Jane rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I had high hopes for this book: An intriguing title, a striking cover, publication by Virago.

I had to pick it up, and thought the back cover gave away nothing of the plot it did give a few enticing details, and it did promise to evoke an emotional reaction.

I did react emotionally – though not in a good way – and I found the title and the details a little misleading.

The book opens with a wonderful piece of writing: a press story about Lallie, a rising child story, that cleverly echoes stories of...more

8 likes · like · see review

Apr 18, 2012 Lara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult-fiction

I loved reading the girls' chapters, with their Coronation Street accents and their interesting '70s British stuff: "pop socks"??? Had to look that one up...

Got lulled into a false sense of security reading about the doldrums of filming on location and wandering along some sub-plots that appear to go places but maybe not (like the whole Quentin/Hugh thing) and then BAM. Very dark... and what was with the late night phone call to the agent? I still haven't figured that one out. About halfway thro...more

like · see review

Apr 10, 2012 Beth rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-reads, writing-that-gave-me-shivers, april-2012, mixed-feelings, library, borrowed, good-beginning-bad-ending, dangerous-implications, hurts-like-hell, quick-read, couldn-t-put-it-down

3.5 stars

I have absolutely no idea how to rate this book.

I might have made the wrong decision now. I'm not sure.

50 pages from the end, I was ready to give it 5 stars.

Let's get one thing straight: Amanda Coe is a fantastic writer. I will read whatever she writes next. She perfects the hardest kind of writing to get right - literary but never pretentious or unrealistic. Some lines and images in "What They Do In The Dark" are so perfect that I had to stop reading for a second just to contemplate th...more 3.5 stars

I have absolutely no idea how to rate this book.

I might have made the wrong decision now. I'm not sure.

50 pages from the end, I was ready to give it 5 stars.

Let's get one thing straight: Amanda Coe is a fantastic writer. I will read whatever she writes next. She perfects the hardest kind of writing to get right - literary but never pretentious or unrealistic. Some lines and images in "What They Do In The Dark" are so perfect that I had to stop reading for a second just to contemplate them. She's willing to give even her most unpleasant characters a voice and human feelings, like Lally's lonely, pushy stage mother, and she really gets you into their mind-set.

The one thing that dragged "What They Do In The Dark" down is too many subplots. But there was one subplot in particular that was a total bullet in the foot, in my opinion, and that was the dull-as-dishwater whining of Quentin Montpelier, Lally's producer who flies over from America to see if Lally is cut out for a Transatlantic career. Until then, "What They Do In The Dark" has been a harrowing and realistic exploration of life on a council estate and live in the lower middle classes in 1970s suburbia, complete with clever and evocative period details. But you only have to take one look at Quentin Montpelier's full name to figure out what might be wrong with the character, and what makes her so frustrating and out of touch with the rest of the narrative. I totally understand why Coe might have wanted to include her, especially as a jarring foil to Pauline and Gemma. But Coe seemed to pour too much time into this bristly, snobby, rich Hollywood bigwig's daughter. Quentin's clichéd and pathetic love life, her struggles with sexism in Hollywood, her drug addiction and her sex life is just not at all interesting or unique. I found myself developing a personal dislike for the author (which I know sounds totally irrational) based on her love for this upper-class twit. Sorry, I just don't care about some L.A. girl popping pills and getting manipulated by her producer lover when I've just read about a ten-year-old who performs sex acts on random men as her only way of getting money, a prostitute's vicious murder and a young girl being molested by her stepfather. Montpelier belonged in a totally different novel and took us out of Pauline and Gemma's world, fatally for the novel.

Coe totally nailed that intense, claustrophobic and unmistakable world of childhood, and the emotions that go along with it- her description of the short and brutal bond between rough council estate kid Pauline and her vicious, abusive prostitute mother Joanne is brilliantly rendered with the love/hate pull between them. The twist with what happens to Joanne is shocking but well-foreshadowed and so felt more like pieces of plot clicking into place as opposed to a ball from left-field. The same cannot be said for "What They Do In The Dark"'s much-hyped ending, which I'd heard was supposedly shocking and unforgettable. Well...I certainly wish I could forget it. Not just because it was disturbing, but because the disturbing action that ends the novel lacks the credibility that has sustained it throughout. There seemed to have been a mini-trend for novels and pieces centred around children who had become killers a couple of years ago in the UK, and "What They Do In The Dark" didn't have anything new to add. The sexual violence is deeply disturbing but, though not graphic, feels incredibly gratuitous, nothing more than shock value. A shame, because until then, it had been an extremely realistic and well-written novel. (less)

5 likes · like · see review

Mar 20, 2013 Lauren Hopkins rated it 3 of 5 stars

Not quite sure how I feel about this...as someone familiar with the Mary Bell case, it seemed like a cheap knockoff in terms of the incident with Cynthia but that aside, what was the point? It felt like a whole lot of nothing building up to one major plot point and a general nod to an overall theme of innocence lost. Yawn. It's been done before, and much better than it's done here. Even though the Cynthia incident is unexpected, it also feels a bit cheated as an ending, because so much that has...more

like · see review

Jun 18, 2012 Martha rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: debut-novels

This is an extraordinary first novel that explores ways children respond to the ambitions, conflicts, perversions, and plain old obliviousness of the adults who control their worlds. And then there are the adults who have been damaged by their own messed up parents... That's the stew pot of this novel, but what keeps it from being a depressing story is the subtle humor that spares nobody, from smelly little (sometimes) schoolgirl Pauline to the bullshit bantering film crew that moves into her w...more

like · see review

Mar 22, 2012 Bonnie Brody rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What They Do in the Dark: A Novel by Amanda Coe is a very edgy thriller told in three distinct voices. One voice is that of Pauline Bright, a poverty-stricken girl of about 11 from a dysfunctional family where she gets beaten up or gets the silent treatment from her mother - when mom's at home. Most of the time she is in Leeds quite likely hooking. Pauline goes hungry, rarely has her hair brushed and stinks so badly that some of the other girls breathe through their mouths instead of their noses...more What They Do in the Dark: A Novel by Amanda Coe is a very edgy thriller told in three distinct voices. One voice is that of Pauline Bright, a poverty-stricken girl of about 11 from a dysfunctional family where she gets beaten up or gets the silent treatment from her mother - when mom's at home. Most of the time she is in Leeds quite likely hooking. Pauline goes hungry, rarely has her hair brushed and stinks so badly that some of the other girls breathe through their mouths instead of their noses when she's around in order to avoid inhaling the stench. Her life is pure survival and she does what it takes to make it through the day - shoplifting, cutting school, beating up other kids, and bad mouthing adults. Her family is notorious in the town she lives in as almost all of them are criminals.

Gemma is about Pauline's age and comes from a middle class family. She has all the material things that Pauline lacks but she is very unhappy. Her parents have just split up and her mother has moved in with her new boyfriend. Gemma's favorite part of each day is watching a television show starring Lallie, a girl who is a great mimic and does song and dance routines. Gemma likes to pretend that she is Lallie and that she is living Lallie's life. Pauline tries to be Gemma's friend but most of the time she is unsuccessful unless Gemma wants something from her.

Quentin is a producer sent to England from Los Angeles to see if Lallie will make it as the star of an upcoming movie about a princess. Quentin is more interested in scoring drugs and getting sex than she is in the movie business but she leads Lallie and her mother along.

The scenes from the playground and the school are horrific and if you are a reader that does not like violence, racial slurs, or cursing, you might want to rethink reading this novel. These themes are not vicarious - they belong in the book, but the book is very heavy and difficult to get your head around at times. The abject poverty and dysfunctionality of Pauline's home and her subsequent behaviors are mind-boggling. Gemma's rage at her family situation starts to grow out of bounds and she becomes almost as heavy-handed as Pauline. The book culminates with an act of violence that is horrifying.

Amanda Coe has a way with words and most times she uses them brilliantly. I felt that the sections dealing with Quentin and the movie-making business were not up to par with the sections on Gemma and Pauline and they tended to go on too long. Otherwise, I would have rated this book a five.
(less)

1 like · like · see review

Oct 16, 2012 Paige rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

This book disturbed me. Seriously. I've been avoiding writing a review because I don't want to think about it again.

To start, I found it somewhat difficult to read. I understand that the book was written in the U.K. by a Brit, but there was so much slang in there that I had a hard time figuring out what she was talking about. There were characters with their own sideline plots that went nowhere, had zero growth, and pretty much seemed like filler pages to a book that probably could have been 50...more This book disturbed me. Seriously. I've been avoiding writing a review because I don't want to think about it again.

To start, I found it somewhat difficult to read. I understand that the book was written in the U.K. by a Brit, but there was so much slang in there that I had a hard time figuring out what she was talking about. There were characters with their own sideline plots that went nowhere, had zero growth, and pretty much seemed like filler pages to a book that probably could have been 50 pages shorter without the reader suffering.

There were two main plots, however, which were good enough to pique my interest and keep me reading. One was about a child star who is forced into the adult industry of television and film, and at times it's hard to tell if she's doing it because of her own delight or because her "stage mom" is dragging her along. I felt like they were treating her more like a piece of equipment rather than a child, with multiple people saying on many occasions that they wished she looked younger, had a smaller nose ("What a shame about her nose," said one person), was smaller, etc etc. On top of all this, the movie which she was filming during the book was about a young girl that enters into a sexual relationship with a much older man that eventually murders her.

The other storyline was split into two smaller parts, following Gemma-- a seemingly sweet, blonde, perfect girl from a middle-class family-- and Pauline, a girl from a home full of criminals, and whose mother is a wandering prostitute/call girl. Gemma is a timid girl, preferring to follow the rules and avoid stepping on any toes, and her mother takes her along when her parents split, to live in a home across town with her mother's new boyfriend. Who sexually abuses Gemma. Her father literally ignores her, pretending not to be home when she comes to his house for comfort, and her mother reigns with terror over the whole household and makes Gemma scared of her punishments. This all pales in comparison to Pauline's home, where she has her scalp chemically burned by peroxide her mother mistakes for shampoo, a disgusting incident where she gets sick onto a newly washed comforter and her clothes and takes it all to school rather than risk her mother finding out, and she spends her days earning extra money by pleasuring older men in an alleyway and terrorizing her classmates.

I have never quit a book 20 pages from the end, but I was so horrified and disgusted by what happened that I almost stopped reading. I don't want to give it away, because I know there are some out there that would enjoy the book for its' macabre and terrifying ending. I was not one of those. This book bothered me so much that I have spent the past several days varying between avoiding thinking about it and trying to come to terms with it.

Overall, I think, this was a book about bullying. The adults in her life bullied the child actor, her mother and her mother's boyfriend bullied Gemma, Pauline bullied everyone, and Gemma and Pauline together bullied one particular target. It definitely made me think about how such young children get that urge for violence towards their fellow classmates and neighbors. It examines the inner drive for humans to push the weak and helpless around simply for the feeling of power. I gave this book 3 stars for the first 150 pages of intriguing insight and study into the human character.(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Aug 10, 2012 Kayla Parker rated it 4 of 5 stars

The first fifty pages of What They Do in the Dark promised something great would come of the winding story, crafted with continuously dark and haunting undertones throughout. The three main characters, young girls from different social statuses, were well constructed showing not only the innocence of youth but the loss of it at an early age also. Gemma, a young plump girl from a well-to-do family deals with separation and obsession while Pauline, the skinny uncouth girl who I imagine with a Cock...more The first fifty pages of What They Do in the Dark promised something great would come of the winding story, crafted with continuously dark and haunting undertones throughout. The three main characters, young girls from different social statuses, were well constructed showing not only the innocence of youth but the loss of it at an early age also. Gemma, a young plump girl from a well-to-do family deals with separation and obsession while Pauline, the skinny uncouth girl who I imagine with a Cockney accent, deals with the hardships of poverty. Then there's Lallie, the child star who indirectly becomes a main character through the voices of the older women who work with her. Lallie is involved in a world too old for her, but somehow keeps the show of naivety, whether or not she stars as a young girl who becomes a sexual abuse victim. Through the eyes of these three characters, Amanda Coe devises an ominous plot that unfolds within the short span of 250 pages.

The story was very well executed and ultimately saved the book from its other shortcomings, such as boring, predictable characters found in the personality of the only American in the story, Quentin. This character was very out of place in this story, rarely bringing it around to the main characters of Lallie, Pauline and Gemma. Each chapter that focused on her was like an annoying detour that I couldn't wait to finish. I would have preferred her character remained secondary or even in the background rather than given the limelight. This was the most annoying part of the short book, words and time wasted on a character no one cared for. The other shortcoming Coe had was a lack of clarity in her writing style at certain points. Every once in a while her words would becoming confusing; I had a hard time figuring out which character she was talking about when the two girls were together because she used "she" way too often. (I realize that's a nit-picky thing to point out.) She also added certain statements to the story that were confusing and seemingly out of nowhere, making me think I had missed some train of thought or skipped a paragraph somewhere that would explain these thoughts.

Neither of those weaknesses overshadows the full story however, which was perfectly dark and also shocking. It is a tale of innocence and corruption, crafted for the right amount of distress. It is definitely worth picking up, and was a very quick read.(less)

like · see review

Jun 27, 2012 Marlene rated it 1 of 5 stars

Lets start by saying that the title is deceiving. NOTHING happens in the dark, as a matter of fact, NOTHING ever happens in this book until the very end and still, it leaves you with the question, "HUH"? It was confusing, lacked in details and left me wanting to skip thru the chapter and never having to read another page. A mess of a story. Everyone in my book club hated it! Sorry Amanda Coe

2 likes · like · see review

May 04, 2012 Jann Barber rated it 3 of 5 stars

There were multiple story lines and points of view, but they were easy to follow.

I am probably going to have trouble sleeping tonight, as I did not realize that the tone of the story would become so disturbing near the end.

Based on how events played out during the development of the book, the characters' actions did not seem out of line. I just wasn't expecting events to ratchet to such a disturbing degree.

Personalities, nature versus nurture, and how people behave when their dreams turn out to...more

like · see review

Oct 03, 2011 Linda rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Just been reading some reviews of this on Amazon and i'm still totally confuddled by people who read books they find "horrible" all the way through! Its pretty obvious from the very beginning this ain't going to be a feel-good narrative in any way, shape or form so why carry on reading if you're easily revolted? Anyway, i loved this, i was a 70's child, grew up in the Gorbals and i saw plenty of what goes on in this novel. Abuse, violence, benign neglect, alcoholism, drugs and murders (all of th...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jun 13, 2012 Melissa Lee-tammeus rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: borrowed

Okay, for a really long time, I simply had no idea how any of the plots in the book really had any tie in with one another. I had read a lot of reviews on this book saying how wonderful it was, so I stuck with it, but I have to say I was a bit lost. Loved the great writing, definitely intrigued enough to keep reading, but lost. And then, as they all said the last 20 pages come. And I started to get a stomach ache. And I found myself screaming in my head, "WHAT?, WHAT?" I kept saying "oh, no, oh,...more

like · see review

Sep 17, 2011 Anne rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Amanda Coe is a successful television script writer, she is co-writer of Shameless and the creator of As If. Both of these shows are gritty, down to earth, shocking and no-holds barred viewing and her debut novel; What They Do In The Dark is exactly that too. If you are shocked by stories of dysfunctional families, or offended by bad language, violence and abuse then this story is probably not for you. If, like me, you appreciate fiction that really does mirror real life, then you will most like...more Amanda Coe is a successful television script writer, she is co-writer of Shameless and the creator of As If. Both of these shows are gritty, down to earth, shocking and no-holds barred viewing and her debut novel; What They Do In The Dark is exactly that too. If you are shocked by stories of dysfunctional families, or offended by bad language, violence and abuse then this story is probably not for you. If, like me, you appreciate fiction that really does mirror real life, then you will most likely be hooked by this extremely written, shocking novel.
Set in Doncaster in the 1970s, the story centres around three young girls, all very different, but all linked together. Gemma lives a fairly average life, she's clean, has pocket money and goes abroad for her holidays.
Pauline, on the other hand, comes from an infamous family. Totally dysfunctional where violence, abuse, dirt and hunger are the norm. Pauline's mum is often away from home, her Nan is dependent on prescription drugs and Pauline is left to fend for herself. She is dirty, she smells, she fights and swears, and nobody likes her.
Lallie is a child star, with a weekly TV programme, an overbearing theatre mother and adored by Gemma.
This novel took my breath away at times. Amanda Coe has created characters that are flawed so badly by life, yet are not sentimental in any way. The writing is stark and detached, narrated by various characters with a vividness that is really outstanding.
This is a story of neglect, of betrayal and of incredible sadness and culminates in a horrific and shocking act. Every associated character can link into the fate of the these girls, adults who are indifferent, who are selfish, or just don't see how their actions can affect the children who are in their care.

I was exactly the same age as these girls in the era that it was set. I lived just 20 minutes away from Doncaster and we often shopped there as a family. I recognised the settings, some of the people and the air of apathy that is a theme throughout this story.

This is fiction, but could be true, it is realistic, it is hard to digest, but it really is an excellent first novel.(less)

1 like · like · see review

Jan 08, 2013 Holly rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013-reads

A novel about bullying, and adults' mindless exploitation of girl children, and the plain brutality of Yorkshire life, against the counterpoint of 1970s entertainment culture. And while the subject matter was grimly ugly the writing was so interesting - so much was hidden within plain sight! - that as a reader I was rewarded by paying close attention. (Many of the GR reviewers who were so dismissive of the "extra" characters or surprised by the violence of the last 20 pages were just not reading...more

1 like · like · see review

Aug 18, 2012 Alyson rated it 2 of 5 stars

Generally, the more hype and supporting quotes for a book, the more I'm going to be disappointed. This one promised the most shocking unexpected something or other ever. Hmm. For 95% of the book it wasn't that dark, wasn't shocking, and was a bit disjointed as well. I didn't think the child-star Lallie was very well drawn at all.

The two other girls were great though - in the sense of being real characters. I thought the ending was very odd. It read as if they, or the author, were on drugs. Unti...more

like · see review

Jul 08, 2012 Brandy rated it 2 of 5 stars

I can't say I would recommend this book to anyone, but if you were stuck on a plane with nothing else to read but this book or the sky mall magazine, I would say go ahead and read the book.

Amanda Coe's style of writing; short, choppy, british little fragments of a sentence were a little difficult and annoying for me. It constantly pulled me out of the story to try and re-read. Comprehend. Feel irritated by. <-- annoying, right? Now add british slang!

The plot was ok. I did not feel like all of...more

like · see review

Jun 16, 2012 Gyte rated it 2 of 5 stars

I had very high expectations for this book. It sounded mysterious, exciting. I could not wait to find out, so what... What do they do in the dark?

However, besides the very shocking ending, ths book does not have much to offer. I can see a great opportunity to build on the the ending, explore the minds and events afterwards. However, what happens in the book, it simply ends there. The reader has to go through the whole book in order to basically get to the very beginning of a story, which then is...more

like · see review

Apr 16, 2012 thewanderingjew rated it 4 of 5 stars

The book takes place over the summer months of 1975. A child star, Lallie Paluza, is filming a movie about a young girl’s encounter with a pedophile, which has disastrous consequences. Concurrently, another story is playing out. Two ten or eleven year old schoolgirls, Pauline and Gemma, from two completely different walks of life, develop and odd relationship which barely resembles friendship. Most of the characters featured, in both narratives, seem severely dysfunctional in some way or to be t...more The book takes place over the summer months of 1975. A child star, Lallie Paluza, is filming a movie about a young girl’s encounter with a pedophile, which has disastrous consequences. Concurrently, another story is playing out. Two ten or eleven year old schoolgirls, Pauline and Gemma, from two completely different walks of life, develop and odd relationship which barely resembles friendship. Most of the characters featured, in both narratives, seem severely dysfunctional in some way or to be the product of deviant backgrounds or lifestyles. They have little regard for the consequences of their actions and believe the means justifies the ends. Parental influence, when featured, is almost negligible or negative
Pauline is penniless; she lives in a state of open depravity in a home filled with an odd assortment of relatives and visitors. She is exposed to a lifestyle far beyond her years without the mental or emotional capacity to process it. Her mom is in and out of jail, as a lady of the night. Pauline can be cruel and completely ungovernable. She does as she pleases, when she pleases. She has no guidance and has no moral compass. She seems to have no conscience. She is streetwise and a bully.
Gemma lives with her mom and her mom’s boyfriend, in a good neighborhood with many advantages, but she misses her dad. On the outside, she appears to be living in a healthy, wholesome environment. She is obsessed with her adoration for the child star, Lallie. Under her goody two-shoes personality there lurks a subtle mean or angry core that shows itself with surprising vehemence. She is a seething combination of confused emotions.
This novel is very unsettling. The subject matter that is hinted at, as the story moves back and forth from the movie set to Pauline and Gemma, is often unnerving. Underneath the main storyline the reader may anxiously feel a suspicion that there is a more than a casual relationship between the storyline of Lallie Paluza and that of Gemma and Pauline. About halfway through the novel, the narratives actually intersect for awhile, as the movie crew comes to town to choose extras for the Lallie Paluza movie. As I read, I always had the feeling of an unknown dread, an unspoken violence that was lurking beneath the dialogue.
The storyline in the Gemma/Pauline chapters is very easy to follow and effortlessly holds the readers interest, but the switch to the story about Lallie sometimes feels disjointed and is not always a smooth enough transition to make the reader aware immediately that the venue has changed. Often it is hard to figure out which character is being featured and in what story the character plays the part. That was the weakest part of the novel since it was not as engaging.
I received this book from Goodreads. For a first novel, the author has done an excellent job of putting pen to paper. It is creative and well written. Most of the important characters are well defined and although the reader might not want to picture the scenes because of their nature, the author does a good job of painting them for the imagination.
(less)

like · see review

May 31, 2012 Erin rated it 1 of 5 stars

This book was written with two very separate story lines, one of two young girls and one of behind-the-scenes/actor dynamics. The lives of the two very different girls appealed to me and I was interested in the course of their story, but the alternate story caused an internal groan every time it started up again (I ended up just skimming those chapters). I hated. Hated. The end. It was so upsetting and brutal that I found myself actually angry at the author. "This is how the author is leaving th...more

2 likes · like · see review

Apr 20, 2012 Ellen O'brien rated it 3 of 5 stars

If you are in the mood for something that is dark and disturbing, this is the book for you. A British book through and through, there is an almost unrelenting sense of doom for all the characters from Lallie Paluza, child star, to Gemma, spoiled child and apprentice school bully. Adults are portrayed as hopeless dolts or sexual predators - folks who are only too willing to overlook reality in order to pursue their own pleasures. Children are portrayed as victims both of the adults in their world...more

1 like · like · see review

Jan 03, 2013 LeeWhedon rated it 1 of 5 stars

What They Do In The Dark by Amanda Coe. I am not going to say much about this book because I do not want to say anything that may encourage anyone to read this. DISTURBING. I understand where the author was trying to go with this and I will not take away from her that she is a really good writer. But...the story itself seriously did not need to be written...pointless. A story about the friendship between 2 young girls with a surprising and violent ending. Too many subplots that never really tied...more

2 likes · like · see review

Mar 27, 2012 Beth Hultman rated it 3 of 5 stars

Um...Not sure how I feel about this book. I thought the characters were very interesting and the writing pretty good. I usually read American authors, not as a rule, but it's just what happens, so it was good to get out of my comfort zone. The pace and story kept me reading, but at times I felt it'd be okay to just set it down forever and not pick it back up. I wanted something to happen, to make everything gel for me. Then, something did happen and maybe it's because I have kids now that it bot...more

like · see review

Jun 24, 2012 Dan Kearns rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-crime-noir-pulp

I don't think this book earned the Bad Thing toward which it was driving. The only thing that makes the Bad Thing believable at all is the 70's Yorkshire setting, and that setting isn't earned by the book either. Ms. Coe's concerns are those of a Lifetime movie-- mothers & daughters, men & women, sex & aging-- so that, in a way, I guess, the Bad Thing sort of fits in, in a "movie-of-the-week" sort of way. And, avertings to the Yorkshire Ripper aside, the condemnations, the faults in...more

like · see review

title link	preview: What They Do in the Dark
avg rating	preview: What They Do in the Dark Goodreads rating: 2.67 (530 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12229217-what-they-do-in-the-dark?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347526207l/12229217.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12229217-what-they-do-in-the-dark?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]What They Do in the Dark by Amanda Coe[/url]

What They Do in the Dark

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (9)

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

Books by Amanda Coe

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About What They Do in t...

What They Do in the Dark

Friend Reviews

Lists with This Book

Community Reviews

new topicDiscuss This Book

combineOther Editions (9)

Genres

Readers also enjoyed similar books

Books by Amanda Coe

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website

Trivia About What They Do in t...

new topic
Discuss This Book

combine
Other Editions (9)