Book Review: "The Wake" by Vikki Patis

Thrillers are some of my favourite books to sit there and read for hours on end. They contain engrossing stories with many twists and turns, mixed up identities and strange happenings that would cause the nature of families and friendships within the novels to collapse. I love reading about these secrets that people keep from each other that only come out when they are forced out, found out or happen in a mysterious way to be pulled out during a tense moment. I have to say, this book contains all the logic and tension of the thriller that you love but then, there is a lot more to it than that. There is so much more to the book than that. It is written brilliantly and in a style that is consistent with multiple perspectives. It is an incredible work.

To understand this book, you have to understand the family. Richard Asquith has just died suddenly in a car accident and the family are attending his wake. His first wife, Fearne, is not there but their daughter is and her name is Skye. Skye's girlfriend is Fleur and Skye's little sister also went missing when they were young. It had never been forgotten not even to the day of the funeral. Richard's second wife is Fiona and they have two boys - Felix and Tobias. Felix is engaged to Lexi and they have a son called Leo. Tobias is a camp but depressed man who prefers Skye to his brother. Eleanor is Richard's mistress and apparently there was something being planned when he died on the way to her house. A family friend called James is holding the funeral. James' boyfriend Tom was killed some time ago and that ultimately ties into the story as well. Richard's brother Patrick is also mentioned as present but I am going to leave this one up to you because it is important you understand the inner-workings of their relationship.

The novel brings a lot of secrets out and especially those about Richard's odd behaviour. Not just that, but the fact that there were secrets hid by everyone from everyone: Fiona hid a secret from Skye, Lexi hid a secret from Felix, Patrick hid a secret from Richard and even Skye was hiding secrets from Fleur. When each of these secrets gets turned outwards, there is a moment of panic and realisation but the one thing that I enjoyed most is how every single character in the novel is linked to every single other one by this thin thread of circumstance. Even if they are not blood related, they have some sort of circumstance holding them together.

The novel is told in chapters focusing on each character. We have a chapter on the daughter - Skye. We have a chapter on the daughter-in-law - Lexi. We have a chapter on the mistress - Eleanor. We have a chapter on the celebratory - James. And even on the deceased before he died and at the funeral. These chapters keep moving around, connecting each even back and forth and drawing these invisible lines between character, place, time and situation. Not all of these lines are good and happy, in fact, hardly any of them are. Everyone seems to have been brought together by their mutual feeling of relief and tragedy.

In conclusion, I have to say that I was so happy I found this book and that this is really a different kind of thriller than what I am used to. Normally in thrillers, we have this outer perspective of things happening bit by bit with the occasional flashback. But in this novel we have to look carefully because flashbacks and flash-forwards are everywhere and this actually aligns with the real experience of thought at a funeral - we remember the past of the individual even if it is not wholeheartedly a good one.