#BookReview: Hope by Terry Tyler @TerryTyler4

Hi everyone. Today, I have a book review for you by an author I greatly admire, Terry Tyler. I’ve read both books in this series (Hope and Wasteland) and here’s my review for book one, which could easily fit both books in the series.

About the Book:

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‘We haven’t elected a Prime Minister, we’ve elected a lifestyle’.

As the fourth decade of the 21st century looms, new PM Guy Morrissey and his fitness guru wife Mona (hashtag MoMo) are hailed as the motivational couple to get the UK #FitForWork, with Mona promising to ‘change the BMI of the nation’.

Lita Stone is an influential blogger and social media addict, who watches as Guy and Mona’s policies become increasingly ruthless. Unemployment and homelessness are out of control. The solution? Vast new compounds all over the country, to house those who can no longer afford to keep a roof over their heads.

These are the Hope Villages, financed by US corporation Nutricorp.

Lita and her flatmates Nick and Kendall feel safe in their cosy cyberspace world. Unaware of how swiftly bad luck can snowball, they suspect little of the danger that awaits the unfortunate, behind the carefully constructed mirage of Hope.

Terry Tyler’s nineteenth published work is a psychological thriller that weaves through the darker side of online life, as the gap between the haves and the have-nots grows ever wider. Whether or not it will mirror a dystopian future that awaits us, we will have to wait and see.

My Review:

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I only discovered this author this year, and I’ve fallen in love with her books.

Hope was all the more compelling because I’m reading it at a time in which the UK’s PM is now seen in the news running with his personal trainer. Anti-obesity ads are on the radio all the time … so much so that I just switch off. What’s so different between fiction and real life right now? Not a lot, and that’s freaky. It’s also testament to the powers and prowess of this amazing writer. Whether way in the future, the near future, or now, she hits the nail on the head every time.

While the narrative is well written and mostly error free, I did pick up on a few glitches, such as:

‘then’ instead of ‘than’

‘whose’ instead of ‘who’s’

‘alright’ instead of ‘all right’

And some funny sentences which have some of the characters ‘turn round’ … I’m sure the intention here was to ‘turn around’ instead of into a sperical shape!

And then there were instances of adding extraneous words, as in:

He shrugged (his shoulders) and She nodded (her head). We don’t need the bits in parentheses because they’re self-explanatory.

However, with all that said, these instances were few and minor and didn’t detract from the brilliance of the story enough to lose stars. Whichever way you look at it, from all I’ve read up to now, this writer would have to work hard to get less than a solid five stars from me.

I’m heading straight to the next book in the series and cannot wait to get into it. Terry Tyler has become one of my auto-buy authors.

Even if you don’t usually read dystopian or post-apocalyptic fiction, you’ll love Hope and this series. And, most likely, you’ll enjoy all of her books. Nothing that Ms Tyler has written up to now seems far-fetched because she has a chilling knack of making it all so real and not just possible but entirely likely.

 

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NOTE ON RATINGS: I consider a 3-star rating a positive review. Picky about which books I give 5 stars to, I reserve this highest rating for the stories I find stunning and which moved me.

5 STARS: IT WAS AMAZING! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! — Highly Recommended.

4 STARS: I WOULD PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER — Go read this book.

3 STARS: IT WAS GOOD! — An okay read. Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it.

2 STARS: I MAY HAVE LIKED A FEW THINGS —Lacking in some areas: writing, characterisation, and/or problematic plot lines.

1 STAR: NOT MY CUP OF TEA —Lots of issues with this book.

I’d love to hear what you think of this review. Thanks for stopping by