"An absolute master of modern horror. And a damn fine writer at that" - Guillermo del Toro Alex Grand is a successful crime novelist until his latest book is condemned for appropriating the experience of victims of abuse. In a bid to rescue his reputation he ghostwrites a memoir of abuse on behalf of a survivor, Carl Batchelor. Carl's account proves to be less than entirely reliable; someone is alive who shouldn't be. As Alex investigates the background of Carl's accusations his grasp of the truth of the book and of his own ...
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"An absolute master of modern horror. And a damn fine writer at that" - Guillermo del Toro Alex Grand is a successful crime novelist until his latest book is condemned for appropriating the experience of victims of abuse. In a bid to rescue his reputation he ghostwrites a memoir of abuse on behalf of a survivor, Carl Batchelor. Carl's account proves to be less than entirely reliable; someone is alive who shouldn't be. As Alex investigates the background of Carl's accusations his grasp of the truth of the book and of his own involvement begins to crumble. When he has to testify in a court case brought about by Carl's memoir, this may be one step too far for his insecure mind... FLAME TREE PRESS is the new fiction imprint of Flame Tree Publishing. Launched in 2018 the list brings together brilliant new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.
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New. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. 352 p. In Stock. 100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, allow 4-14 business days for standard shipping. To Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. protectorate, P.O. box, and APO/FPO addresses allow 4-28 business days for Standard shipping. No expedited shipping. All orders placed with expedited shipping will be cancelled. Over 3, 000, 000 happy customers.
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PLEASE NOTE, WE DO NOT SHIP TO DENMARK. New Book. Shipped from UK in 4 to 14 days. Established seller since 2000. Please note we cannot offer an expedited shipping service from the UK.
I have not read anything by Ramsey Campbell before, but my research informs me that he is 'one of the great masters in horror fiction'. His previous books seem to be traditional horror stories containing ghosts, monsters and demons. However, if you are expecting this kind of book from 'Somebody's Voice', I would step away now and read one of his many other stories instead!
There are a lot of ironies to reading this book. At the beginning we meet Alex - an author whose books are being boycotted due to his poor handling of child abuse and transgender issues within its narrative. Somebody's Voice seems to have gotten a lot of low-star reviews on Goodreads, most stating Campbell's bad handling of transgender issues within the book.
Also ironic is the fact that Alex is described as a proof-reader - he edits typos on the boycott placards that are being waved against him. This entire book is in dire need of a proof-read and a good edit itself. I understand that I was given an ARC copy, however having read over 300 ARCs now I am used to poor formatting or the occasional typo. There are a lot of sentences in this book that make no sense, for example: 'And are we to be to what took you there?'. These are littered throughout the book and are really jarring and confusing. I really hope that these will be corrected before the publishing date in a month's time.
There are also a lot of plot points in Somebody's Voice which make no sense and as such make the book feel completely unrealistic. For example, I don't understand why a publisher would choose an author whose books are currently being boycotted for bad handling of child abuse and transgender issues to ghost-write a memoir for a transgender person on their experience of child abuse.
I also didn't understand why Alex was ghost-writing the book and yet his name is on the cover, he is invited to all the press events and even interrupts those events multiple times to talk about how he wrote the book.
It was also so frustrating that no-one in the book seemed to understand how writing works. Friends, family and strangers all assumed for some reason that Alex was writing about his own experiences which made no sense. If I help write a biography for Katie Price, for example, no-one would even dream to think that I was actually Katie Price - I'd just be an author being paid to help write a biography.
The book alternates chapters between author Alex and extracts from the book he is writing which focuses on Carl/Carla's childhood experiences. I felt these chapters were really well written and engaging. They are of course hard to read and deal with very sensitive subject matter, but the characters were so realistically frustrating and those chapters really transported you back to another time when religion was at the forefront and children were seen but not heard. However, I don't really feel that the transgender elements were explored in this at all. Carl seems to make their choice to transition solely based on seeing an old friend make the change themselves. This comes out of no-where and it feels a bit like wanting to follow the latest fashion trend rather than a deep-seated unhappiness with the gender Carl was born into. I feel that the book would have been a lot stronger if it had just focussed on the child abuse rather than the author trying to write about something he has no experience in.
The chapters that feature Alex are quite frankly a mess. I understand that the author is trying to be clever and the whole thing feels very 'meta'. There are times when characters completely mistake something simple in a conversation in a way that is not at all realistic. I went through so many ideas as to what was really happening - was Carl not a real person at all? Just an alter-ego for Alex? Was Carl using Alex to get back at him for his previous book? Was Lee actually just Alex? By the end everything was spiralling out of control but the conclusion did nothing for me. I still don't really understand the truth of what was going on. The final chapter also throws up a lot of uncomfortable questions about what it means to be transgender - it isn't a virus you can catch or an identity you can just put on whenever you fancy!
Overall, Somebody's Voice is a mess - the author is trying to be clever but ends up just insulting and confusing his readers. Thank you to NetGalley & Flame Tree Press for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
