Shatter by Michael Rowbotham

This is the first of the book analysis I talked about. I'm playing about with format, so it will kind of 'grow' and the system is adopted from Read Better, Write Better Novel Study Workbook.

TITLE:             Shatter

AUTHOR:       Michael Robotham

GENRE:           Crime (Shortlisted for Crime Thriller Award)

AUDIENCE:   Adults

VOICE:            Quietly powerful, clear

TONE:              Solemn, thrilling, scary

MOOD:            Mystery, dark, emotionally disturbing

THEMES:       Relationships, death, psychological, good vs evil

FIRST IMPRESSION: The first thing that struck me was how dark the cover was, after reading the story, it was a very apt colour to choose. There is an image on the front which I can’t quite work out, looks like some kind of angel.

PREMISE/PLOT: The blurb is both intriguing and all encompassing, makes you want to read on. A woman throws herself, naked apart from a pair of red shoes from a bridge for no obvious reason. Her daughter claims she would not have committed suicide and was afraid of heights.

ORGANISATION: Seventy short chapters, which suits my reading style. I like reading from scene to scene and putting the book down after a cling hanger, only to pick it up seconds later because I have to read on! Has an epilogue which is very appropriate and rounds off the story, because you care about the characters.

NARRATION/POV: Mainly split between the main protagonist, Joseph O’Loughlin and the ‘baddie. Point of View changes only with scenes which made it an easy read.

SETTING: Set in Bristol, an area which is very familiar to me and a definite pull for selecting it to read.  The events take place in a reasonably short time frame.

STRENGTH/WEAKNESS  The major strength of this novel was the portrayal of evil through a non-physical manner. The author handled the psychology of evil and portrayed how, when threatened with what people believe to be true, they will and can do things they wouldn’t normally do.  I couldn’t find any weaknesses.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: First time reading work of this author and would definitely read another.

Don't Think Just Write