Review: Good Me, Bad Me by Ali Land

Good Me, Bad Me by Ali Land

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Wow, what a debut for Ali Land! This dark thriller had me hooked from beginning to end.

On the face of it, the storyline is simple: Annie has finally been driven to betray her mother's monstrous secret to the police - nine little children, seven boys and two girls, tortured and murdered in their house and buried in the cellar.
Now, with a new name and a new foster-family, 'Milly' has a mammoth task ahead of her - to adjust to a new life and learn to act normally - whatever 'normally' is.
The fact that her mother's trial is looming, and that her mother's voice is constantly in her head, doesn't help with this process. Nor does the fact that her foster-father, who is also her psychotherapist, is less insightful than he claims to be, and remains obstinately blind to the growing tension between his new foster-daughter and his own brittle, damaged and spiteful daughter Phoebe.
It was never going to end well.

The author's insight into the mind of a deeply traumatised teenager, born from her experience as a CAMHS nurse, makes this a horribly credible story right up until the end. And her reticence about the actual extent of Milly's mother's depravity, the lack of detail about the sexual abuse and exactly what games went on in the room she called 'the playground', is both merciful and clever, ratcheting up the tension and speculation whilst sparing the reader a gore-fest.

I do have one criticism: I cannot quite believe the final scene between Milly and her foster-father. He is not only a well-meaning, kindly carer, he is supposed to be a trained clinical psychologist - not a ditsy, emotional social worker. Yes, his situation is extreme, but I still don't believe he could have been that dumb, that uncontrolled, or that gullible.

Apart from that, it's absolutely brilliant. More from this author, please!



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