Four by Andy Jones
| Four by Andy Jones | |
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| Category: General Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Zoe Morris
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| Summary: A no-nonsense, blokey read. This was refreshing and deeply entertaining, with suck-you-in writing | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 288 | Date: July 2018 |
| Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1473680401 | |
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Friends are nice, and couple friends are doubly nice, giving you like minded people to spend time with. A pair of pairs, or a couple of couples. Married couple Sally and Al have known Mike for ages – Sally from university, Al through work. His new girlfriend Faye completes their foursome and though she doesn't have their shared history, she's a lot of fun – a bit younger than the rest of them, an actress and so on.
One night is all it takes. One night to change everything. One night and nothing will be the same again. It's hard to say who or what is to blame. Faye for suggesting it? The others for agreeing? The alcohol certainly helped (or didn't). But whichever way you look at it, four lives will change as a result, some relationships will strengthen, and others will fall apart.
This book had a touch of Nick Hornby or William Sutcliffe to it. It's blokey if you see what I mean. Blokey in a good way. The humour is dark at times and the descriptions are neat without being flowery. I found the writing incredibly engaging and the story had so many angles. The build up was fabulous – you knew something bad was going to happen but not exactly what, when, or to whom. It's an incredibly emotional story but not the sort I get from feminine authors. Instead, it's about pride, regret, envy. Mike and Al are friends but they're also competitive and both want to come out on top.
There are some parts of the story that are predictable. When a male author starts talking about periods, even from a female character's point of view, you can tell what is coming next. But (correctly) predicting the odd story arc didn't in any way ruin the enjoyment of the story, and there were many surprises I didn't guess, not least the ending.
This was a really interesting and fresh story. It's about what is, what was and what could have been, and the many interactions between the three long-standing friends were complicated in the way relationships of that nature can be. Faye is brought in to balance it all out, but even that doesn't last for long. I really enjoyed the story, and would like to thank the publishers for sending us a copy to review. If you like the sound of this, you might also enjoy an earlier work from the author The Trouble with Henry and Zoe
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You can read more book reviews or buy Four by Andy Jones at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy Four by Andy Jones at Amazon.com.
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