Review of KINDLE Ebook The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North #Brainfluffbookreview #TheSuddenAppearanceofHopebookreview

My name is Hope Arden, and you won’t know who I am. We’ve met before – a thousand times. But I am the girl the world forgets. It started when I was sixteen years old. A slow declining, an isolation, one piece at a time. A father forgetting to drive me to school. A mother setting the table for three, not four. A teacher who forgets to chase my missing homework. A friend who looks straight through me and sees a stranger. No matter what I do, the words I say, the people I hurt, the crimes I commit – you will never remember who I am. That makes my life tricky. But it also makes me dangerous . . .

And that’s the premise – yes, I know. Absolutely fantastic idea. I thought that I was in for another adventure along the lines of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. The character is telling us the story from the inside out in first person viewpoint, which is always a plus for me and, as ever, North extends the situation so that I had a visceral experience of what it is to be completely forgotten. After a moment. The heartbreak of having your own family no longer recognising you, losing all your friends and unable to progress within school or hold down a job because you don’t have the paperwork is well explored.

There is also an excellent plot around the amazing new app called Perfection, which helps users to maximise their happiness and abilities to succeed in today’s modern world – however, there’s a catch… I was on my way to giving this book a solid 10 out of 10 about three-quarters of the way in. And then somehow I was having difficulty in keeping focused on the writing. Now, it might well be me – but I really don’t think so. I like North’s writing, and I’m used to her pacing, which is definitely on the leisurely side, but somehow I became slightly disconnected with the story and couldn’t quite fully re-bond with it again.

That said, I don’t want you to go away with the idea that this isn’t a good read. After all, I have given it an eight. And if I had the choice to go back and pick this one up again – I would do it in a heartbeat. Recommended for fans of intelligent, nuanced near future adventures peopled with three-dimensional characters.
8/10