Em thought she had her life together, as she nears her 30th birthday. A good job, somewhere okay to live and a trip back home to Spain to celebrate her sister’s wedding.
Falling Down style, it all unravels pretty quickly as she loses her job, her place to stay and the increasing temperatures in London bring traffic across the city to a standstill.
She sets out to walk to the airport, hauling her suitcase the whole way.
Through her journey, she has time to reflect on the past, her regrets and sadness. We learn more about her – why she fled her hometown, her previous relationships and her hopes and dreams which haven’t been realised. She also meets people along the way – most of whom are set to stop her from reaching her destination, and with a couple of guardian angels in there. Oh, and there’s a serial killer in the mix too.
Literally everything goes wrong for Em, in a series of frustrating and destabilising bad luck mistakes and missteps. She leaves her phone charger in a place she can’t get it, her suitcase starts to break down, she loses and destroys clothes and everything else until she’s unrecognisable as her former self. THis is reflected in her mental health outlook too, where she’s decided, through her own thoughts and the serial killer, that she won’t lie down and take it anymore. She’s tired of hiding, tired of being called the wrong name because people can’t or won’t pronounce her real name. It’s not Em, by the way – that’s the name she gives herself so that it’s something that can be pronounced.
This is all told through a roughly 24 hour period, and this adds to the tension as it’s relentless. Em doesn’t get a break, a rest, until it’s all over, and we as readers are there with her.
I thought this was a compelling story, and while I got a bit frustrated with Em doing daft things which only hindered her further, I was rooting for her to get to her destination and find what she’s looking for. The abuse she receives from random men on the streets resonated with me, which I think will be sadly true for lots of women who read this. There’s a satisfaction in seeing a comeuppance of sorts in there. Em starts off being unseen and unheard, and ends in a very different place – there’s some triumph in that, and that’s enjoyable to read.
I’d recommend this for readers who like thrillers with a bit of crime in there too – not my usual genre but an easy to read story.
Thanks to NetGalley and to Headline for the DRC.
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