Claire KendalCritiques

3.5 I found it a bit creepy and got frustrated with the main character at times

Most of us are familiar with the stories of celebrity stalkers. Less publicized are accounts of everyday people being stalked. This is one fictionalized account of Clarissa, an office administrator at a university, who endures the unwanted obsession of a university professor, Rafe. After spending one night of non-consensual sex with him, which she feels is due to his having drugged her wine, she becomes aware that he is following her and leaving her unwelcome reminders of their evening together.

Meanwhile, she is serving jury duty for an intense criminal case, where she is intrigued by Robert, a fellow juror. Their interest in each other grows while Rafe's obsession accelerates. This is a cleverly-crafted, chilling debut novel.

Found myself wishing something would happen already. No surprises.

This is a very uncomfortable read. A woman is being stalked and she is keeping a diary of all he says and does as evidence. At times you wanted to shout that she had enough and she should get help. The book was well written but rather creepy because of the subject matter.

So this is not a book that I would usually seek out but I have been reading more mystery/thriller books these days.

"The Book of You" written by Claire Kendal will cause your pulse to race and your hair to stand on end at times.

The main character Clarissa is dealing with an obsessive co-worker named Rafe. Clarissa is still reeling from a breakup with a man and attends an event for Rafe. Feeling lonely and a bit sorry for Rafe she stays and unfortunately one night which she cannot fully recall has caused Rafe to start stalking her everywhere she goes. Clarissa starts to keep a journal of everything that Rafe does hoping that she will eventually have enough evidence to provide to the police to keep him away from her. However, Rafe is able to twist things around to make it seem like he and Claire are in a relationship and she is just mad at him.

I really thought this book worked but I gave it 3.5 stars because including the jury trial that Clarissa was part of and the actually subject of that trial (gang rape) was just too much for me to read at times. I think that delving into two women's stories ended up taking away from the main story of Clarissa and what she was experiencing with Rafe.

Also I thought that the way the story was written with going back and forth between what occurred in the past with Rafe and also intermixing it with Clarissa's relationship with her ex and her friends was also hard to wade through. When the character of Robert was introduced I thought that it honestly didn't make much sense based on what Clarissa was experiencing with Rafe. I was surprised that as written the character would be okay with starting up a relationship with someone knowing that Rafe is stalking her and not going away.

Additionally, I can honestly say that there were some scenes towards the end I found very hard to get through and the ending was so vague that I was left perplexed by what it all meant.

Would warn potential readers that this book deals with stalking and rape.

This book should have a HUGE trigger warning about the subject matter, for people who have experienced rape, abduction, physical/mental abuse, verbal abuse, stalking, beatings, etc. This novel is SO well planned, thought out and investigated, that I felt like I was having flash-backs again, which is why I quit. Being I cannot finish this novel without suffering more intense anxiety and distress, I cannot rate it. I read only to 37% of this Ebook to page 117, before I had to stop. My teeth are clenched tight, my stomach is churning and hurts badly, and I WILL have nightmares tonight. That's how real the main character's events seemed to me.
I wish the author well, and hope she can write other novels that all of us can enjoy. I'm going to take an anti-anxiety pills now, and lie down. No, I'm not that big a "baby"; if you knew my past, you'd understand.
Read this novel at your own risk.

Claire Kendal hat zwei Releases im deutschsprachigen Raum. „Die zweite Schwester“ ist ihr aktueller. Für mich versprachen Cover als auch Klappentext psychologische Spannung, deshalb hat mich das Buch interessiert und deshalb hab ich es mir geholt. Dass ich von der Autorin noch nie etwas gehört hatte, war da nachrangig bzw. nur logisch bei lediglich zwei publizierten Büchern. Enttäuscht wurde ich jedenfalls nicht – richtig zufriedengestellt aber auch nicht.

Ella ist unsere Protagonistin in „Die zweite Schwester“. Sie hat Anlass dazu, nach ihrer Schwester zu suchen. Die wird seit zehn Jahren vermisst, oder ist seit zehn Jahren oder zumindest seit einer Zeit tot – so genau weiß das keiner. Zehn Jahre sind jedenfalls genug, denkt sich Ella, sie will endlich Gewissheit haben. Auch für Luke, der Sohn von Miranda, der seine Mutter nie kennengelernt hat, denn wenige Wochen nach seiner Geburt ist sie verschwunden. Also sucht Ella, auch weil sie neue Hinweise hat, wenngleich diese zunächst sehr vage sind und man als Leser oft das Gefühl hat, dass Ella einerseits im Nebel herumstochert und andererseits, irgendwann einen Hang zur Paranoia entwickelt. Und dann ist da noch Jason Thorne, der in der hiesigen Psychiatrie sitzt, weil er mehrere Frauen getötet hat – war Miranda darunter? Ella soll die Möglichkeit bekommen, es zu erfahren.

Ich habe mich tatsächlich auf dieses Buch gefreut, habe es sogar einem anderen vorgezogen und großteils hatte ich auch Freude daran. Anfangs wollte ich es gar nicht mehr aus der Hand legen, weil die Atmosphäre stimmig und Ella ein interessanter Charakter ist. Dazu noch Luke, dem Sohn der vermissten oder toten Miranda, der mit Ella so etwas wie eine Ersatzmutter hat. Das Buch geht von Anfang an auf die Psyche des Lesers, weil man sofort herumdenkt, was mit Miranda passiert sein mag und hinterfragt auch den Charakter von Ella und sämtliche andere Charaktere, denen man begegnet – so war es zumindest bei mir. Kendal schafft eine interessante Stimmung, die angenehm und gleichzeitig unangenehm ist. Den Spagat schafft sie gut. Und dazu bietet sie uns subtile Spannung, die rund um Ella und ihre Schwester aufgebaut ist. Ella steht ihrer Schwester nahe – so nahe, dass sie fast durchgehend mit ihr im Gedanken spricht. Also wenn wir nicht gerade die ohnehin dialoglastige Geschichte lesen, bekommen wir die – eher einseitige – Unterhaltung zwischen Ella und Miranda auch noch mit.

Bei Ich-Erzählungen wie bei „Die zweite Schwester“ fällt es mir ohnehin immer schwer, dem Protagonisten vollends zu vertrauen, weil man eben nur die eine, nämlich seine - oder in dem Fall ihre - Sicht hat. Und man hat hier nur eine, denn einen zweiten Erzählstrang gibt es nicht. Wir haben zwar mit Jason Thorne einen Antagonisten, aber der ist erstens schon verurteilt und zweitens ein verdammt schlecht gezeichneter Charakter, der so wenig Charisma hat, dass ihn sich Kendal auch sparen hätte können. Im späteren Verlauf hat er mich dann doch etwas zu sehr an Hannibal Lecter erinnert; und das braucht es meiner Meinung nach nicht. Übrigens sind generell alle Charaktere außer Ella ziemlich blass – einzige Ausnahme bildet hier Luke, obwohl der irgendwann auch von der Bildfläche verschwindet, was ich sehr schade finde. Er haucht der Geschichte bis dahin einiges an Leben ein.

Auch wenn ich das Buch anfangs kaum aus der Hand legen konnte, tun sich im weiteren Verlauf doch ein paar Längen auf. Wobei ich mich ohnehin immer frage, ob es an mir oder nicht doch am Buch liegt, dass ich es gerade etwas zäh finde. Alles in allem ist „Die zweite Schwester“ ein solides Buch, dessen Titel mich aber doch des Öfteren zum Grübeln brachte, weil … es sind zwei Schwestern, aber … ach, macht euch am besten selbst ein Bild ;)

„Die zweite Schwester“ von Claire Kendal hat mich von Anfang an so gefesselt, dass ich gar nicht mehr aufhören wollte zu lesen, das dann aber irgendwann seine Defizite nicht mehr verstecken kann. Beispielsweise sind alle Charaktere außer Ella ziemlich blass. Einzige Ausnahme bildet Luke, aber der taucht irgendwann nicht mehr auf. Außerdem bekommt die Geschichte mit der Zeit dann leider doch ein paar Längen, und der Antagonist ist höchstens ein Hannibal Lecter für ganz Arme.

Clarissa has been called in for jury service, a case of a young prostitute who has been kidnapped and raped. As the case unfolds Clarissa will see similarities between the young girl and herself as Clarissa is been stalked.

I really enjoyed this book. The majority of the story follows Clarissa as she carrys on with everyday life and has to attend court. Things are not easy as Clarissa is constantly being watched by her stalker and events escalate.

The story is certainly creepy and delves into the fear of being stalked and how Clarissa is finding different ways of trying to avoid her stalker. I really did feel for Clarissa and liked her as a character.

A little light relief comes into the story and so did a little romance. At this stage I was hoping for a happy ending but didn't want the story to lose it's way with a romance. However the story continued with a satisfactory ending and for some a predictable little twist.

An easy read overall with plenty of creepy tension that held my interest till the end. What I really enjoyed was the references to fairy tales, as Clarissa had a love for them and how they were incoperated into the story. This is one of the better books about stalkers that I've read.

This book makes one wonder how she would react to being stalked. Despite the fact that the ending seemed rush, I really liked reading this first-time author's book. I kept coming back to it and was bummed when it was over. Hoping a few of my friends read it so we can talk about the ending of the novel.

I am reviewing the book The Second Sister by Claire Kendal. "It is ten years since Ella’s sister Miranda disappeared without trace, leaving her young baby behind. Chilling new evidence links Miranda to the horrifying Jason Thorne, now in prison for murdering several women. Is it possible that Miranda knew him?" This is a review of a free book provided by the Amazon Vine Programme. Here are my thoughts:

^^ Psychological thrillers are really my thing at the moment. I'd heard a lo
t about this author's first book, but did not get to read it, so I made sure I read this as soon as I could. Was it as good as I expected? Mostly.

^^ I really liked Ella's character and unraveling the story behind her sister Miranda's disappearance was both exciting and scary. In my search to guess who might be involved with her sister, this book brought loads of questions to the surface, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

^^ Ella's relationship with her nephew Luke was positively charming, in fact, we go to know her mum and dad really well, too. I liked that. It provided a lot of background information about what they had been going through since their daughter's disappearance. For some this may have been a slow burner, but I think in this instant it worked in Claire Kendal's favour.

^^ What did make me angry, (spoiler alert, continue at your peril) is the obvious reference of Ella and Jason's relationship to that of Clarice and Hannibal's relationship
in Silence of the Lambs (this was meant to happen, since there was even a mention of the pigs eating evidence on purpose, even though this had nothing to do with the story). Then there was the scary prison scene where Ella goes to talk to Jason (a clinically insane man) and he gets to her, right up close and personal to give her a clue to her sister's whereabouts. Then, guess what? He escapes and later a letter arrives for her from him saying how much he admires her and he'd always be watching and looking after her; clearly not always from afar. An obvious continuation of the SotL theme. Well, that really finished me off. Is this just me? Does this not bother anyone else? I mean, I've heard the saying - 'there's nothing new under the sun', but really? It wasn't even subtle, this was straight out of SotL. Had it not been for these moments I would have given this The Second Sister 5 stars. Until then, I had really enjoyed this book. I tried to think why this bothers me so much
. I guess I just feel a little cheated. Like the author thinks we're too stupid to notice what she's done?

Overall: SotL aside, I'm still happy to recommend this. Surprised? I bet you are! It hooked me from the beginning, developed well and I raced to the end eager to find a resolution. Despite my rant, this is a really fun page-turner. Mostly.

3.5/5

Con una llamativa publicidad de Amazon descubrí The Book of You, una novela debut de la autora Claire Kendal, publicada el 6 de mayo del 2014 por HarperCollins.

The Book of You nos coloca en la piel de Clarissa, una atractiva joven que es asediada, perseguida y atacada psicológicamente por un stalker.
Le aparece en todas partes, inunda su buzón de voz, manipula a sus amistades, la cansa con regalos. Cada negativa lo hace más insistente… y, probablemente, más peligroso.

Clarissa consigue escapar -por un tiempo- cuando recibe una encomienda como jurado para un complejo caso. Esas paredes logran aislar al hombre, mantenerlo al margen. Pero en algún momento la joven debe salir… y su stalker, Rafe, estará atento.

Con dos vertientes (juicio y anotaciones de Clarissa), notarán que el libro está narrado en 1ra persona y en 3ra persona, dependiendo del acontecimiento, lo que podría confundir a una persona menos dada a la lectura.

Claire Kendal demuestra manejar el lenguaje y el ritmo de la novela pareciendo, por ratos, una autora más experimentada.
Domina el uso de metáforas, utiliza descripciones precisas y sus diálogos son creíbles.
Brilla por la manera en que traza los momentos de tensión y suspenso, bastante palpables y es cuando el libro se convierte en un verdadero page-turner (difícil de soltar).

Salvo los personajes principales, creo que los demás fueron unidimensionales. Es una de las pocas negativas de la novela.
La autora logra que algunos puntos del libro sean impredecibles, mientras que falla en lograr lo mismo en otros aspectos (quizás los más importantes).

Sentí que al final de la obra le faltó algo, no sé. No puedo decir que fue abrupto o poco elaborado, pero en cuestión de la trama, siento que pudo ser un poco mejor.

No me es difícil visualizar a The Book of You como una película de hora y media en un futuro, tiene todos los elementos básicos para que ésto pueda darse.

La novela está ambientada en Bath, Inglaterra y el libro consta de unas 368 páginas (tapa-dura) y 480 páginas (tapa-blanda).

Clarissa es un personaje que, a pesar de ser atractiva, tiene debilidades morales, convirtiéndola en una protagonista ‘real’. Bien es cierto que su manera de proceder durante los sucesos que se leen en la historia es un poco floja y poco probable, a pesar de ésto, nos vamos adaptando a su manera de ver las cosas rápidamente, aún no estemos de acuerdo.

The Book of You es un buen libro, fácil de digerir y bien escrito. Ya les dije que es la primera obra de la autora y se dice que está trabajando en la próxima, muy probablemente vuelva a leer algo suyo.

I'm not normally one for thrillers, but I have read a few, and I don't think this book really stacks up in terms of plot or pacing. The story is about Clarissa, who is being stalked by her colleague Rafe. The problem is that there is no mystery or hint of a twist, no suspense or intrigue, just the plot grimly plodding towards its predictable, horrible conclusion. Rafe's stalking and threatening behaviour escalate throughout the novel before coming to a climax which was both entirely expected and incredibly difficult to read.

Clarissa is only trying to find her own way after her break-up. She does not know why Rafe is so fixated on her. His attentions are unwanted, but he will not listen when she tries to tell him to stay away. When called to serve as a juror on a seven week trial, she looks forward to a chance to get out from under his prying eyes for awhile. What she doesn't expect is to find a friend and possible romantic interest in a fellow juror. Is he too good to be true?

The Book of You is taut with suspense, and a book that had me holding my breath more than once as I read. Rafe is truly a disturbing man, and the author, Claire Kindal, does a good job of putting me right into Clarissa's shoes. The terror Clarissa feels, the doubts and the helplessness, all felt so real, so raw. I could completely understand Clarissa's attraction to her fellow juror, the need for normalcy and the need to feel protected.

The narrative of the story is broken into both first person journal entries and third person. Clarissa has started keeping a journal in order to document Rafe's behavior, hoping to collect enough evidence in order to make the authorities believe she really is being stalked and is in danger. It took me a moment to adjust to the shifts in narrative, but once I did, I was quite taken with the story and found it difficult to put down.

While the jury trial itself runs independent of Clarissa's own story, Clarissa cannot help but identify with the rape victim. Clarissa sees her own situation through the lens of the trial and doubts anyone will believe her, knowing Rafe will have a rational explanation for everything, however untrue it may be. Her desire to build up the evidence intensifies as the trial goes on. There were moments when I worried that her distraction from the trial at hand was unfair to the entire trial process. It reminded me a bit of my own jury experience and the self-admitted alcoholic who often came to court reeking of alcohol and whose personal life influenced his feelings of sympathy for the defendant who had committed murder after having too much to drink. While Clarissa felt anything but sympathy for the perpetrators on trial for rape and kidnapping (I felt the same), it was clear she over-identified with the victim, however rightly or wrongly.

I was both relieved and saddened by the ending. Much was resolved for both Clarissa and in terms of the trial. There was also a part that was left open, in which the reader can drawn his or her own conclusions. It's one of those endings that will satisfy some and drive others crazy.

Overall, I enjoyed reading The Book of You. It was an intense and emotional read. I haven't found myself looking over my shoulder or double checking my locks like I did after reading Elizabeth Haynes' Into the Darkest Corner, but I am not sure I would read The Book of You before falling asleep at night if you are prone to dreaming about what you've just read.

Psychological thrillers have been my books of choice for a lot of this year. I wanted to like this one more than I did though.
Ella has lived the last 10 years haunted by what happened to her older sister Miranda. She shares custody of Miranda’s son Luke, now 10 with her parents and as he’s gotten older, he has more questions about what happened to his mother. Did she just leave, run away or did something more sinister happen? With the 10,year of her disappearance, Ella becomes obsessed with what happened to Miranda and sets out, determined to find the answers.
The plot itself was fine; add a crazy ex friend, a rocky relationship with an ex, a creepy serial killer and Ella making some pretty stupid decisions to the mix. I had a slow start to this one and at times I found it all over the place; the story didn’t flow for me.
Still an ok read, have just read many better of this genre.

This book was intriguing, mysterious, and creepy. It's about a crazy one night stand that begins with rape and ends with a crazy stalker. The guy is straight lunatic I tell you! He follows her everywhere and leaves her creepy photos at her doorstep. While she tries to uncover secrets and remain alive, he digs deeper into her privacy. He invades her friendships, her workplace, and her casual day to day life. She can't get away from him. He is always there and it takes extreme measures to finally be rid of him.

While I really liked this story... there was a lot of redundancy that became boring at times. Each journal entry was another encounter of him lurking and her noting. Most occurrences were similar. I think I really craved difference. More action... More intensity...

All in all it was a well written book with a twisty plot. I recommend it to fans of You by Caroline Kepnes.

this was well written. The style was well constructed. The descriptions were clear. But... mainly it was depressing. I think that was my biggest learning curve was I felt worse after the book. It is not for the easily scared or those not feeling the best. I found nothing uplifting in the story. I think that might just be my experience as the technical tale being told was well told. I just didn't like the tale.

It's a claustrophobic novel, about a woman who was raped by a person she knows, then stalked by the same person because she couldn't be sure if she was raped and couldn't prove anything.

In my opinion Clarissa was weak and not firm; if it was me, he would have wetted his pants out of fear. Being polite and gentle in such situations isn't smart or classy, it's weak and stupid.

We have a saying in Palestine "الرصاصة إلي ما بتصيب بتدوش" which means that if you shot and miss, the voice of the bullet is still there. It means if she made a scene everywhere she went and attracted a LOT of attention of the police and people, maybe she wouldn't have been in that situation.

The Book of You

Underwhelming and Irritating

2 stars

Whew! I have never wanted to finish a book as badly as I wanted to finish this one. It started out decently but fizzled out. No real plot surprises, suspense, or anything. In short, Clarissa Bourne is assaulted and stalked by her colleague Rafe Solmes. I felt bad about the assault but couldn't like Clarissa. The frustrating part is she isolated herself and pretty much accepted being stalked even though she had evidence (a journal with sightings, unwanted gifts, public outbursts, numerous text messages, notes) to prove it and stop it. Also, it took way too long to get to the climax and by then I was exhausted. The ending was unsatisfying and absurd.

Scarily very accurate and therefore very terrifying to me personally.

Scarily very accurate and therefore very terrifying to me personally.

I can't remember a time when a book has so disturbed me as much as "The Book of You" by Clair Kendal. I listened to the audio version of it so I am not sure how much of the credit I can give to the writing and how much to the reader. (Orlagh Cassidy). Admittedly, her slow, methodical voice in the beginning almost made me lose interest, but I gave it a bit more time and then I was hooked.

Clarissa is chosen to serve on a jury for a trial about a young prostitute that was gang raped by some street thugs. At the same time she is being stalked by a man in the building she works, Raif. She learns that she had spent a night with him after he had slipped a drug into her drink. She begins to put this together initially from little comments and notes from Raif. At one point she attempts to call emergency to complain about it and though the woman on the other end is sympathetic, she realizes that there isn't any help for her. She has no proof of a crime committed, only her knowledge.

Serving on the jury shows her how little protection a woman has when she brings charges against an abuser/abusers as she witnesses the woman seeming to be the one on trial. That the burden of proof is on her that she was in fact a victim and not a wiling participant. Serving on the jury shows her that she must have so much proof that there is no choice in their need to believe her.

Raif somehow seems to know everything about her. Even the fact that she had wanted a child with her former husband and his near infertility, their attempts to increase the chances medically and the eventual failure which also ended in the failure of their marriage. He feeds her these bits of information through notes, in her ear as she is waiting for the train home, on the phone.

She keeps a journal of these interactions, her days, her feelings. And it is mostly through these journal entries that the story unfolds. It is through these journal entries that you get into the head of what it is to be stalked, to be the subject of someone's unwanted obsession. Raif has seeped into everything, every thought, every moment. She looks for him around every corner, in every room, on every street. He leaves her packages, presents. She realizes that she cannot send them back, that she needs to keep them. They are evidence that she can one day provide to prove his obsession. They are evidence to prove that it is not her imagination.

She begins to take sleeping pills to help her sleep and they become a nightly ritual. She knows there is a real fear that if this knowledge ever gets out, it could harm her case against Raif. It can be used to make her look like she is unstable. She realizes that almost every thing she does can be used to make her look bad. She sees this fact each day in court as the attorneys do this to the young prostitute.

Her only relief through all of this is a man she meet on the jury, Robert, a fireman. They become attracted to each other and it provides her with something positive to provide moments of relief from the ever present thoughts of Raif.

As you move through the book, you become tied into the fear, the terror that has become Clarissa as she writes "The Book of You", the name she has given the book she keeps her notes in. The terror of this novel is particularly close to many women, given how many have been on the receiving end of a stalker. The truth in the story that most know their stalker, most have had some form of personal relationship with the stalker, even a romantic relationship. For those that have been on the receiving end of such a situation, this book is even more terrifying because it pulls you deeply into the emotional disintegration you succumb to the longer the stalker comes at you. It reminds you how vulnerable you are, how little real help is out there.

Its easy to become Clarissa as you read the pages. Or listen to the pages being read. Orlagh gives a haunted voice to Clarissa. You feel the helplessness and terror. You feel the grasping for answers, the desire to protect those you love from this man's abuse. The isolation that comes from stepping away from them to protect them. The fear of disbelief if you tell your story. The pain that comes when you actually meet that disbelief with someone that you love.

I don't know if Claire was ever herself a victim. If she was not, she at least must have known someone intimately who had been. This is not a happy story. Though there is a love story woven in its pages, it is a story of terror and one that is so very common. It is told with a beautiful haunted voice. It is told with words that seep into your heart, into your soul and into your mind. It is a story that will haunt your dreams for a very long time after. And it is a story that should be read so more people might understand how devastating it is to be a victim. It should be read so that people believe that person when they say they are being stalked. It should be read so that they are not alone. And it should be read so the stalker receives no pity and is seen for what he truly is. It just plain should be read.

http://sephipiderwitch.com/book-claire-kendal/
02/05/2015

The Book of You – Breathtaking & Brilliant

The Book of You is the debut thriller from Claire Kendal that grabs you by the throat and does not release you until the book is finished. This is a pacey thriller that really gets inside your head you feel the tension and at times is terrifying and very apt subject in stalking and the actions of a stalker. Claire Kendal has not been afraid to tackle a subject that terrifies many women and gets inside the mind of the victim while leaving no room for sympathy for her stalker.

Rafe the stalker and the villain of this book is one of the creepiest seediest men around and at times you think how can he really get away with what he is doing. He comes across as the sort of person you would not want to work with get to know or spend a minute longer of your time with him than you have too.

Clarissa is just out of a relationship and is quite vulnerable when one night after a few drinks she sleeps with Rafe, although her recollection of that night is rather is none existent. After that night Rafe seems to be everywhere that Clarissa goes and it does not help that they both work inside the same University department.

Over a seven week period Clarissa is on Jury Service and she starts to identify with the victim of the alleged crime before the court. Clarissa also is able to relax because not even Rafe would follow her to court in Bristol when he was in Bath, but he even manages to follow her there and back. As she develops a relationship with a fellow Juror Rafe is there getting nastier towards her. Through the case she has been listening to Clarissa is slowly gathering the evidence so that she may go to the police and make a complaint. She has read the leaflets from the organisation for victims of stalking that advises her to record all the incidents of Rafe’s stalking and so begins the Book of You, every incident recorded every unwanted present recorded.

Claire Kendal has written Clarissa to look at times as unbalanced and twisted as Rafe gets under her skin and interferes with her friendships, and you are able to feel the terror Clarissa is feeling and see her fragility growing. The Book of You is written in the present as she slowly records what is happening to her as you observe her descent in to terror.

Claire Kendal has written Rafe so well that you just want to scream and shout at him as he increases the fear and terror upon Clarissa. The tension and pace that the writer creates adds to the pace and terror of the book and really gets at your psyche.

For a debut psychological thriller this is a winner all the way, with plenty of twists and turns that you do not see coming. At times you really are on edge as Clarissa’s life starts to unravel and your anger grows against Rafe. The suspense and fear oozes from the pages and will appeal to all lovers of the thriller genre and this book is a brilliant debut that leaves you gasping for breath.

Clarissa is being pursued by a man who won't take no for an answer. They work at the same place and outside of work hours, he manages to show up everywhere she is and leave her unwanted presents. With relief she is chosen to participate in a long trial where she realizes that the victim could be her.

I enjoyed the beginning but the middle seems like the same thing over and over... Clarissa heads to court and sees her stalker on the way, she flirts with another jury member during the day and comes home to an unwanted present from her stalker. It dragged. I also don't like the change from first person to third person, sometimes in the middle of a chapter. I have no idea what the author was trying to accomplish.

The Book of You by Claire Kendal, a debut psychological thriller of obsession, and a disturbing portrait of a sadistic stalker who believes himself to be in love, and a victim trying desperately to escape.

Clarissa Bourne, is a polite, 38-year-old living in Bath, England and working at the university. She is still recovering from her recent break-up with her co-worker, Henry who has moved on to Cambridge, and she has drifted apart from most of her friends over the years.

One night, after a launch party at a Bath bookshop for a scholarly study of fairy tales, Clarissa Bourne agrees to let the book’s author, academic Rafe Solmes, walk her home. The next morning, she awakens with Rafe in her bed, with no memory of how she got there and the suspicion that he’s drugged and raped her.

After a date rape, (which she cannot remember), Rafe, turns into stalker. He will not let her go, turning into a sick obsession. Everywhere she goes, Rafe is there. He is always there. (really got annoyed with this over and over on the audiobook).

He calls, texts, in the shadows everywhere she turns. He showers her with gifts, and continues to stalk and threaten her, as he thinks they are soul mates. She goes to the police, but not enough to go on. So she begins journaling, documenting everything.

Meanwhile, she's called for jury duty and is chosen for a seven-week trial; the case involves a woman of questionable character who was kidnapped, beaten and raped by multiple men. She meets fellow jurors Annie and Robert. Annie becomes her friend, but Robert, a firefighter, she feels drawn to. She dreads when the trial is over, because she will not see Robert, and will have to return to work where Rafe will continue the stalking.

With every move that Rafe makes, Clarissa cannot see past the fact that she would not be believed as he skillfully portrays himself as more of an emotional victim at the hands of a neurotic woman, turning the tables with sick mind games and manipulation.

Switching from present day, and between her situation and the jury trial, covering seven weeks of Clarissa’s life – a complex, and haunting world of an insecure woman, fearing for her life.

For me if you like this type of chiller, would like more mystery and suspense surrounding the story, versus a long and drawn out stalker episode. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator’s voice (Orlagh Cassidy) was very annoying and the repeat of “he is always here over and over,” drove me nuts.

The main character was weak, and insecure and I became very impatient with the story, exploring how fairytales echo real life themes of obsession, sex, and violence.

British debut novelist Claire Kendal created quite the page-turner. I read this book in three days and stayed up well into the night that last day to finish the book entirely.

The story is of Clarissa, a young woman whose one-night stand with English professor Rafe, ends up in a horrifying stalking situation perpetrated by this colleague of hers from work. The most dreadful part of this story is the psychological horror of the stalking. I credit the author in being able to give me real nightmares just from reading the beginning of her book. However, I'd just as soon read a good book and not have nightmares.

The plotting is clever in that the story of the stalker runs parallel with a court case in which several men have been accused of raping a woman who was repured to be a hooker.

Be aware that you might very well come away from this book being angry. The story is in no way kind to women. It pictures graphically the many ways which women easily become "victims". This happens over and over again.

SPOILER ALERT: There are two things that I find extremely hard to believe in this story. The first is how "fireman Robert" suddenly appears exactly when needed to defend Clarissa. The second is how a woman who could never get pregnant and failed several IVF trials suddenly and conveniently becomes pregnant.

I'll let both of these coincidences pass because this book turned out to be a great thriller and excellent entertainment. I wonder what Claire Kendal will now do for an encore?½