“The book is brilliant. It reads like a memoir and grips like great fiction should – beautiful characterization”Viga Boland – Author – No Tears For My FatherTalented pianist Megan Youngblood has it all – fame, fortune and Gideon. But Gideon isn’t good enough for Megan’s ambitious, manipulative mother, whose meddling has devastating repercussions for Megan and for those close to her. Now, trapped … Megan and for those close to her.
Now, trapped inside her own body, she is unable to communicate her needs or fears as she faces institutional neglect in an inadequate care home.
And she faces Annie. Sadistic Annie who has reason to hate her. Damaged Annie who shouldn’t work with vulnerable people.
Just how far will Annie go?
‘Someone Close To Home’ is a story of love, malice and deadly menace.
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I read on the treadmill, and this page-turner made me exercise three times my usual minutes! I think I burned off an entire chocolate cake in calories. I couldn’t put it down (the book, not the cake).
Megan was a successful concert pianist with a bright future. But her career and happiness are a part of her past at the opening of the book. Megan lives in a neglectful nursing home, unable to speak or control her body, and someone in the home is determined to torment her.
The story covers a time period of about a month or so. The progression of Megan’s life, starting at age 9, weaves through her memories, and eventually the timelines intersect. Both timelines are gripping. Megan’s inability to protect herself is heart-wrenching and infuriating. Craigie did a great job of stringing me along as Megan navigates the danger and vulnerability in her life.
Megan is a great character and the most three dimensional and relatable of the cast. I empathized with her immediately, understood her choices (even the horrible ones), and was in her corner for the duration. The pace is speedy, the setting bleak. A great choice for readers who love a gripping thriller
Someone Close to Home by Alex Craigie is a poignant tale of a talented and successful pianist who is too weak to rise to her own defense and thinks of others before her own self. A brilliantly written first person account of Megan, who is now languishing in The Yews, a cheap nursing home, and is at the mercy of insensitive caretakers who consider the inmates irrelevant. They have to face rough handling, insensitive comments; even verbal and physical assaults like slaps. They long for a genuine, friendly human contact but are treated as “their tasks.”
Mrs. Kenton’s non-serious attitude in managing the nursing home smacks of negligence, she doesn’t investigate any irregularities and fires the wrong persons. Annie’s atrocities go undetected for a long time but all that bothers Mrs. Kenton is, the reputation of the institution. Megan is the worst sufferer, as she has lost control over her body and her speech due to a stroke. She is “trapped in a web spun by adults,” (to put it mildly, in her own words.)
Craigie enters into the mind of Megan to bring out the abuse, the suffering and the resilience that shines through this book. The indifference of her son, whose love didn’t let her escape domestic violence, is heart breaking. Even Camilla, her daughter is callous and cold. Some of the characters are devilish, difficult to tolerate – Jordan, the tormentor who only knows bullying, Megan’s mother – devious, selfish and cunning and Annie – the pervert beyond anybody’s imagination. They fit into the story with perfect ease.
This book is emotionally draining and is predictable but is significant from two angles. One, it exposes the condition of nursing homes, which need to focus on hiring professionally trained staff and providing better care than just earning money. Two, it points at clear red flags in understanding relationships that Megan ignores.