My favourite book of the year! by book reviewer and journalist, Kate Burnie.
It’s no spoiler to say that Detective Ruben Ellis wants to die. He’s lost his wife, and in the most horrific circumstances, his daughter Kayla. The only reason that Ellis has not killed himself is that he has a mission before he takes his own life; and that is to track down the man who kidnapped and murdered his little girl. His partner Zander Malan is not living his best life either. His marriage is about to implode, and he is distraught about losing his wife Angela. His friendship with Ellis is a deep one, born out of mutual respect and the ability to see through each other’s coping mechanisms: if you can say that either men are coping.
Now You Suffer presents itself as a ‘Ruben Ellis thriller’. And it certainly is thrilling, but it’s far more than a thriller. Crocker has proved in his previous novels, Finding Jack, Journey from Darkness, Never Let Go, King, and The Last Road Trip, that he is an author of great skill. His use of language of finding exactly the right word and the right phrase to take his readers along with him is truly astounding.
In Now Your Suffer there are a number of narrative strands, the central one could be said to be one man’s mission to find the man who murdered his little girl, but alongside that is another story about another missing child, a cold case, who is trapped by a monster in a basement. The sheer depravity of what the girl is put through is ghastly, but, and this is an important point, Crocker allows real horror and violence into the book, however it is never gratuitous. And, while violence is never amusing the author handles the most horrific incidents with a sensitivity that is skilful. Comparisons may be odious, but Crocker’s writing and style reminds me of Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie detective series. Odd though it may sound Crocker writes both tragedy and violence with sometimes slightly wry observations, the muted humour does not detract from the tragedy of the story, in fact I found they strengthened it by rooting it in everyday life experiences and made it more believable and real.
Ellis and Malan try to solve their cold case and find answers to the disappearance of other missing children who have all been kidnapped in much the same way as Kayla. Another strand of this complex novel is Melissa Grove, a counsellor who Ellis is forced to visit in order to keep the bosses happy and as a condition of him being able to work on the missing children cases. This is as good a time as ever to discuss the wonderful characterisation in Now You Suffer. Grove has an unorthodox approach to her counselling style. But, then again Ellis is not a conventional client. The strands of narrative are bound together by the relationships that form between the three main characters, and to add to the complexity and readability of Now Your Suffer the book features some intriguing cameo characters including a spider who becomes a terrified little girl’s ‘friend’ as she tries to cope with the horrors visited on her.
In the midst of urgency and the desire for retribution, reconciliation is also a large feature of the novel. Without letting any spoilers through there are a number of people who need to reconcile with others, or in even more complex ways make peace with themselves – or not. There are secrets that will be revealed throughout the narrative that will keep the reader wanting to keep reading just one more page. It certainly had me up into the early hours of the morning, and then re-reading it for the sheer pleasure of making sure I had caught all the allusions and captured all the action.
Without exaggerating this is my book of the year so far. Its humanity and reality glow through the text. It’s also a exegesis of the terrifying power that generational trauma inflicts on each of us, in this case it is mostly extreme, but there are also subtle reflections to be found. And finally there is a twist in the tale that gobsmacked me. I didn’t even have a vague feeling that the story would end the way it did. I also have to say that in a number of places Now You Suffer reduced me to tears, both of sorrow and unexpectedly joy. The great news is that this is the first of a series and Crocker is already working on the second book. I am extremely happy about that.
Detective Ruben Ellis wants to die. The only reason he hasn’t killed
himself is because he first needs to hunt down the man who kidnapped
and murdered his daughter.
Meanwhile, another victim is being held captive in a twisted
underground dystopia. But does Ruben have enough will left to find her
in time? Can his partner, Zander, and his brilliant therapist, Melissa,
help him unravel a mystery as dark and unseen as the gold mines that
run deep beneath the streets of Johannesburg? And will they discover
the mind-bending truth about Thing – the deeply troubled figure in the
basement?
Now You Suffer is a chilling and wholly unforgettable thriller – the
first in bestselling author Gareth Crocker’s riveting new Ruben Ellis
series.
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Mon, 14 Oct 2024 | Review
by: Carlisle Johnson
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