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joolsbee's review
dark
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
rosielazar1's review
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
saraslats's review
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Alcoholism, Classism, Alcohol, Colonisation, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Child abuse, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Stalking, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit
squirrelsonbookshelves's review
4.0
This isn't an easy read, with an "unlikeable" lead (although when it's immaturity and mental health issues, it's different to just being a horrible character) and graphic descriptions of violence (general and sexual).
However, it is well written and made me feel so much. A mother's grief, a girl's spiral and battle with alcohol and depression.
Plus always remember - it is never the victim's fault.
However, it is well written and made me feel so much. A mother's grief, a girl's spiral and battle with alcohol and depression.
Plus always remember - it is never the victim's fault.
generalheff's review
2.0
The Newcomer's dust jacket states: "When her 29-year-old daughter Paulina goes missing on a sleepy pacific island, Judy Novak suspects the worst ... Every man on the island is a suspect... even even death won't stop Judy Novak from fighting for her daughter's life." I read this to mean the book would be something like a murder mystery - with Judy - the mother - travelling to this random island and piecing her daughter's murder together and finding the killer.
Instead, we get a two-timeline novel - half the mother's story coming to terms with her grief and finding out the killer from the local police, half the daughter's final days - neither of which really covers the murder (or identification of the killer) itself. It meant I read to the end of the book waiting for a catharsis or resolution that did not come, the book never really coalescing into something that made architectural sense. I finished the book not even sure whether the murderer's identity was confirmed or not, something that perhaps in a different book I would have thought was deliberate (the mother wasn't sure, no one really knew or cared etc as a deliberate plot point) but this seems a stretch here.
As for what we do have - the tale of mental health issues and addiction (the daughter) and grief (the mother) - there are genuinely touching moments scattered throughout and the first half of the book had me pretty well engaged. The mother's story in particular - as she navigates her relatives and the islanders, is emotionally engaging and likely a tough read for anyone who's been dealing with grief.
The daughter's side of the story is much trickier. The author, Laura Elizabeth Woollett, has (I believe) made the daring attempt to have her protagonist Paulina highly dislikable and damaged. She mistreats all around her and is abused (figuratively and literally) by others in turn. This culminates in
In sum, Paulina seems to me to be an interesting attempt at a divisive, anti-hero style character but one that doesn't quite work. I feel the lack of coherence in her character and the mislabelling of the novel as a murder mystery prevents this rising to the level of a good novel; but others may well disagree and it is certainly a highly provocative read even if not, for me, a particularly good one.
Instead, we get a two-timeline novel - half the mother's story coming to terms with her grief and finding out the killer from the local police, half the daughter's final days - neither of which really covers the murder (or identification of the killer) itself. It meant I read to the end of the book waiting for a catharsis or resolution that did not come, the book never really coalescing into something that made architectural sense. I finished the book not even sure whether the murderer's identity was confirmed or not, something that perhaps in a different book I would have thought was deliberate (the mother wasn't sure, no one really knew or cared etc as a deliberate plot point) but this seems a stretch here.
As for what we do have - the tale of mental health issues and addiction (the daughter) and grief (the mother) - there are genuinely touching moments scattered throughout and the first half of the book had me pretty well engaged. The mother's story in particular - as she navigates her relatives and the islanders, is emotionally engaging and likely a tough read for anyone who's been dealing with grief.
The daughter's side of the story is much trickier. The author, Laura Elizabeth Woollett, has (I believe) made the daring attempt to have her protagonist Paulina highly dislikable and damaged. She mistreats all around her and is abused (figuratively and literally) by others in turn. This culminates in
Spoiler
some very graphic sexual assault scenes that were deeply challenging to read. These were, of course, disturbing which shouldn't be to their discredit; my issue with some of these scenes is rather that Paulina is almost 'victim blamed', appearing overly complicit in events. Again, it is unclear whether the framing of all this is a daring writerly choice - as a kind of satire on how poorly society treats sexual assault victims - or (as it felt to me) a poorly-written episode with extremely uneven tone and unclear intention.In sum, Paulina seems to me to be an interesting attempt at a divisive, anti-hero style character but one that doesn't quite work. I feel the lack of coherence in her character and the mislabelling of the novel as a murder mystery prevents this rising to the level of a good novel; but others may well disagree and it is certainly a highly provocative read even if not, for me, a particularly good one.
fasmina's review
5.0
What a literary crime thriller! This is a book that will make you gasp for some air because it was dark, twisty and thrilling.
The Newcomer is a thriller which is loosely based on a true crime (although I didn’t know this at the start). Set in the fictional island Fairfolk, this is the story of a mother, who is finding answers to the murder of her daughter. Paulina isn’t perfect. She is far from perfection. She moves to Fairfolk from Sydney, an island with its close-knit community. On the day she turns 29, during the Easter break, her mother, Judy comes to visit. With time and with no any messages from her daughter, she tries to track her down and comes to the reality of her death. In a close community with everyone’s life interwoven with everybody else’s, every person we meet is a suspect.
The book flows in alternating chapters, Judy’s quest to finding answers and Paulina’s before her death.
Although the book didn’t come up with some trigger warnings, this book is raw, dark and at times very disturbing. Judy’s emotional wreckage is too raw and deeply upsetting. Paulina is shown from the start as a character who is far from perfection. Her attitude and her relationship with her mother are few points in which she fails to score as a likeable human. But with the pages turning, we get to see the true nature of Paulina and what led to her being the least-likeable person.
We should give a round of applause to the author for her portrayal of Paulina. Even if she is a highly flawed character, she drew the reader towards the victim which needs to be appreciated. There are some dark themes such as rape, abuse, self-hate and sexual violence. Also her portrayal of the motherly character was raw, yet moving and empathetic.
The Newcomer is a thriller which is loosely based on a true crime (although I didn’t know this at the start). Set in the fictional island Fairfolk, this is the story of a mother, who is finding answers to the murder of her daughter. Paulina isn’t perfect. She is far from perfection. She moves to Fairfolk from Sydney, an island with its close-knit community. On the day she turns 29, during the Easter break, her mother, Judy comes to visit. With time and with no any messages from her daughter, she tries to track her down and comes to the reality of her death. In a close community with everyone’s life interwoven with everybody else’s, every person we meet is a suspect.
The book flows in alternating chapters, Judy’s quest to finding answers and Paulina’s before her death.
Although the book didn’t come up with some trigger warnings, this book is raw, dark and at times very disturbing. Judy’s emotional wreckage is too raw and deeply upsetting. Paulina is shown from the start as a character who is far from perfection. Her attitude and her relationship with her mother are few points in which she fails to score as a likeable human. But with the pages turning, we get to see the true nature of Paulina and what led to her being the least-likeable person.
We should give a round of applause to the author for her portrayal of Paulina. Even if she is a highly flawed character, she drew the reader towards the victim which needs to be appreciated. There are some dark themes such as rape, abuse, self-hate and sexual violence. Also her portrayal of the motherly character was raw, yet moving and empathetic.
jaclyn_sixminutesforme's review
4.0
Having loved BEAUTIFUL REVOLUTIONARY, I was super keen to read this latest release by Woollett. Like that book, it was the crime-narrative lean to the blurb that caught my attention—yet ultimately it was the characterisation and nuanced social commentary that have left the lasting impression on me.
What took me a while to fall in step with was that I wasn’t just following a whodunit story—we follow a murder, a particularly horrific one at that, but it isn’t the search for the killer that kept me turning the pages. Nor is it the angle Woollett steers her reader towards considering. I was really struck by wanting to hear more about Paulina and her mother, the dialogue Paulina uses with her mum is angsty and petulant and disrespectful, while her mother only ever returns words of kindness and support. Admittedly Paulina was a difficult character to feel for initially—she is (seemingly) self destructive and rash and has a temper to say the least. But we keep hearing from Paulina for the entire book—she keeps agency in her narrative in ways that have defied her in other parts of her life. We see her vulnerability as well as her “recklessness”—her behaviour isn’t entirely her own though, she lives with an eating disorder and sexual traumas inflicted on her by multiple men. She is alone on an island with a community fiercely protective of locals (and vehemently anti-“mainies”) and she is amidst precarious emotional moments during the narrative.
Yet Woollett never pathologises Paulina, she affords her complexity and an attention to detail that make her story truly heartbreaking. The violence of men, and the continued nature of this particularly in intimate settings, is difficult to read because it cuts to the core of Paulina’s trauma. Knowing how her narrative ends at the very beginning of the book draws her journey to this point into sharp focus, the story thus becoming one of her life and it’s impact rather than the “who” of the person ultimately ending it.
This was clever and entertaining, and I really enjoyed the researched nods that inspired the setting particularly.
Many thanks to Scribe for sending me a copy to read—I’ve since purchased a copy to send to a friend in lockdown, and I think she’ll love this too!
What took me a while to fall in step with was that I wasn’t just following a whodunit story—we follow a murder, a particularly horrific one at that, but it isn’t the search for the killer that kept me turning the pages. Nor is it the angle Woollett steers her reader towards considering. I was really struck by wanting to hear more about Paulina and her mother, the dialogue Paulina uses with her mum is angsty and petulant and disrespectful, while her mother only ever returns words of kindness and support. Admittedly Paulina was a difficult character to feel for initially—she is (seemingly) self destructive and rash and has a temper to say the least. But we keep hearing from Paulina for the entire book—she keeps agency in her narrative in ways that have defied her in other parts of her life. We see her vulnerability as well as her “recklessness”—her behaviour isn’t entirely her own though, she lives with an eating disorder and sexual traumas inflicted on her by multiple men. She is alone on an island with a community fiercely protective of locals (and vehemently anti-“mainies”) and she is amidst precarious emotional moments during the narrative.
Yet Woollett never pathologises Paulina, she affords her complexity and an attention to detail that make her story truly heartbreaking. The violence of men, and the continued nature of this particularly in intimate settings, is difficult to read because it cuts to the core of Paulina’s trauma. Knowing how her narrative ends at the very beginning of the book draws her journey to this point into sharp focus, the story thus becoming one of her life and it’s impact rather than the “who” of the person ultimately ending it.
This was clever and entertaining, and I really enjoyed the researched nods that inspired the setting particularly.
Many thanks to Scribe for sending me a copy to read—I’ve since purchased a copy to send to a friend in lockdown, and I think she’ll love this too!
brookesbookstagram's review
2.0
TW: murder, eating disorders, self harm, suicide themes, sexual assault, family violence, mental health, alcohol abuse.
I really struggled to connect with all the characters and the plot of this book. The story switches between timelines, before and after 29 year old Paulina Novak was murdered the day before her 30th birthday on Fairfolk Island, after she relocated there at age 28 for a fresh start.
Paulina struggled with her mental health and on a whim, relocated to this island where she was considered a "mainie" a mainland Australian, who was very flirtatious and had her own rules about her relationships with those on the island, including drinking daily, sleeping around with the locals and demanding attention from others. Paulina was regularly suicidal, and this was evident throughout her phone conversations with her supportive mother, Judy, so when she was found, Judy assumed she had acted upon her thoughts.
I still am very confused by the disjointed nature of the book, of the timeline and why certain characters were introduced at all. I feel a big disconnect and struggled throughout the last 100 pages, questioning why the book followed the direction of Judy's life afterwards and the relevance of it to Paulina's life.
I would've preferred more of a backstory outlining Paulina's mental health and desire to relocate, and more about what happened to her on the night of the murder, because honestly, I still couldn't tell you what happened. This book felt rushed, and so much information was thrown at me, that it became overwhelming. I enjoyed being made uncomfortable by the way that Paulina was written and portrayed, because inevitably, mental health, thrill seeking and impulsive behaviour are not pretty and I felt that the author was able to capture how flawed and unwell Paulina was, which at times made her a very unlikeable protagonist.
2.5 stars. Thank you to Scribe for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I really struggled to connect with all the characters and the plot of this book. The story switches between timelines, before and after 29 year old Paulina Novak was murdered the day before her 30th birthday on Fairfolk Island, after she relocated there at age 28 for a fresh start.
Paulina struggled with her mental health and on a whim, relocated to this island where she was considered a "mainie" a mainland Australian, who was very flirtatious and had her own rules about her relationships with those on the island, including drinking daily, sleeping around with the locals and demanding attention from others. Paulina was regularly suicidal, and this was evident throughout her phone conversations with her supportive mother, Judy, so when she was found, Judy assumed she had acted upon her thoughts.
I still am very confused by the disjointed nature of the book, of the timeline and why certain characters were introduced at all. I feel a big disconnect and struggled throughout the last 100 pages, questioning why the book followed the direction of Judy's life afterwards and the relevance of it to Paulina's life.
I would've preferred more of a backstory outlining Paulina's mental health and desire to relocate, and more about what happened to her on the night of the murder, because honestly, I still couldn't tell you what happened. This book felt rushed, and so much information was thrown at me, that it became overwhelming. I enjoyed being made uncomfortable by the way that Paulina was written and portrayed, because inevitably, mental health, thrill seeking and impulsive behaviour are not pretty and I felt that the author was able to capture how flawed and unwell Paulina was, which at times made her a very unlikeable protagonist.
2.5 stars. Thank you to Scribe for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
ormondebooks's review
2.0
Set on a tiny Australian island in the South Pacific ocean, this is a thriller based on the death of a hard drinking, party girl called Paulina. Paulina, who is just turning 30, has swapped a boring office job in Sydney for island life. Based on Norfolk Island, the island she now calls home is known for its pine trees, sandy beaches and jagged cliffs. Paulina has a serious drink problem and also a tendency to meet the very worst types of men, cue the stereotypes! She picks up occasional work in the local restaurant and store. When she is found bludgeoned to death, every man on the island becomes a potential suspect. Paulina, despite being the victim, is the central character in this novel about her own murder. The narrative switches from Paulina before she died, to that of her mother, Judy Novak, who is determined to find out who murdered her daughter.
I really, really did not like this book. There was nothing appealing about any of the characters. Paulina was very two-dimensional and lacked both empathy and depth. I’m not a prude but I found the language was gratuitously coarse and vulgar. The book was about 100 pages too long. There was a lot of banter between Paulina and her friends that offered very little by way of plot development. It was all very grim and very slooooow with zero suspense. I love a good thriller that keeps the reader hooked, but unfortunately this is not one of them. I got bored ¾ of the way through and sped-read to the end. This book may appeal to many, but just not to me. I wish the author the very best with her publication.
Many thanks to @netgalley and @scribe_uk for this e-book in return for my honest opinion
I really, really did not like this book. There was nothing appealing about any of the characters. Paulina was very two-dimensional and lacked both empathy and depth. I’m not a prude but I found the language was gratuitously coarse and vulgar. The book was about 100 pages too long. There was a lot of banter between Paulina and her friends that offered very little by way of plot development. It was all very grim and very slooooow with zero suspense. I love a good thriller that keeps the reader hooked, but unfortunately this is not one of them. I got bored ¾ of the way through and sped-read to the end. This book may appeal to many, but just not to me. I wish the author the very best with her publication.
Many thanks to @netgalley and @scribe_uk for this e-book in return for my honest opinion
tasmanian_bibliophile's review
4.0
‘Just like grief, waiting had stages.’
On the Pacific Island of Fairfolk, Judy Novak waits for her daughter Paulina. They were to have lunch together. But twenty-nine-year-old Paulina never turns up. Judy is worried. Paulina, troubled and moody, has threatened to take her own life before. Where is she?
Paulina’s body is discovered. She was murdered. Why, and by whom?
As the investigation unfolds and the story moves between past and present, we learn more about Paulina and her move to Fairfolk Island. Paulina was looking for a fresh start but was unable to move out of her pattern of volatile relationships, fuelled by excessive alcohol and an eating disorder. When drunk, Paulina did not care who she offended, sober she could not always make amends. And, as she lurched from one crisis to the next, she managed to offend plenty of Fairfolk Islanders.
Dead or alive, Paulina is the centre of this novel. She is disruptive, self-destructive, utterly self-absorbed. But she should never have been murdered. Judy has some issues of her own to deal with, but she is determined to find out who killed Paulina and to ensure that she is not forgotten.
This novel made me uneasy as it captured and held my attention. While Paulina’s premature death (given her self-destructive behaviour) seemed almost inevitable, her murder was shocking. But it leads me into that uncomfortable space where sometimes the behaviour of the victim is scrutinised more closely than that of the murderer. And what about those left behind?
While I wanted to know who murdered Paulina, it was her life rather than her death that has stayed with me. And Judy’s struggle to understand and to try to find her own place in a world without Paulina. This is an uncomfortable novel to read. There are few likeable characters and no neat endings.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Scribe UK for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
On the Pacific Island of Fairfolk, Judy Novak waits for her daughter Paulina. They were to have lunch together. But twenty-nine-year-old Paulina never turns up. Judy is worried. Paulina, troubled and moody, has threatened to take her own life before. Where is she?
Paulina’s body is discovered. She was murdered. Why, and by whom?
As the investigation unfolds and the story moves between past and present, we learn more about Paulina and her move to Fairfolk Island. Paulina was looking for a fresh start but was unable to move out of her pattern of volatile relationships, fuelled by excessive alcohol and an eating disorder. When drunk, Paulina did not care who she offended, sober she could not always make amends. And, as she lurched from one crisis to the next, she managed to offend plenty of Fairfolk Islanders.
Dead or alive, Paulina is the centre of this novel. She is disruptive, self-destructive, utterly self-absorbed. But she should never have been murdered. Judy has some issues of her own to deal with, but she is determined to find out who killed Paulina and to ensure that she is not forgotten.
This novel made me uneasy as it captured and held my attention. While Paulina’s premature death (given her self-destructive behaviour) seemed almost inevitable, her murder was shocking. But it leads me into that uncomfortable space where sometimes the behaviour of the victim is scrutinised more closely than that of the murderer. And what about those left behind?
While I wanted to know who murdered Paulina, it was her life rather than her death that has stayed with me. And Judy’s struggle to understand and to try to find her own place in a world without Paulina. This is an uncomfortable novel to read. There are few likeable characters and no neat endings.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Scribe UK for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith