Un'ultima goccia di sole

by Emma Stonex

Gennaio 1989. In un'ordinaria e gelida mattina d'inverno, Bridget "Birdie" Keller si sveglia con una notizia che in un istante spezza e stravolge la sua normalità: Jimmy Maguire, l'uomo che ha ucciso sua sorella Providence diciotto anni prima, sta per tornare in libertà. È il momento che Birdie stava aspettando e così, lasciati i figli a scuola, parte per Londra con una pistola nella borsa e un solo trovare Maguire e ottenere la sua vendetta. Ma ogni storia può essere raccontata da più punti di vista e, dietro ciò che Birdie ha sempre creduto di sapere, si celano bugie e segreti rimasti a lungo sepolti. È davvero Jimmy l'assassino di Providence? O è forse l'unica persona di cui lei possa realmente fidarsi? E, quando la verità verrà finalmente a galla, lascerà vincere il rancore o riuscirà a scegliere il perdono? Dopo il successo internazionale dei Guardiani del faro, Emma Stonex torna con un nuovo thriller mozzafiato, immerso nella suggestiva e inquietante bellezza delle campagne del Devon. Un mistero travolgente e magnetico, pieno di colpi di scena, che intreccia due vite segnate da un crimine terribile e racconta una storia indimenticabile di amore e vendetta.

Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Fiction, Audiobook, Crime, Mystery Thriller, Adult

348 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2025

About the author

Emma Stonex is a novelist who has written several books under a pseudonym. THE LAMPLIGHTERS is her debut under her own name and has been translated into more than twenty languages. Before becoming a writer, she worked as an editor at a major publishing house. She lives in the Southwest with her family.

Reviews

[Nilufer Ozmekik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emma Stonex, whose The Lamplighters captivated me with its eerie, immersive prose, returns with another psychologically rich thriller—this time diving into the murky depths of vengeance, guilt, and the ghosts of the past. The Sunshine Man opens with a line that immediately seizes your attention: "The week I shot a man clean through the head began like any other..." From there, you’d expect a breakneck, high-tension revenge story, and while the novel delivers on atmosphere and emotional weight, it takes its time getting there.

Birdie Keller, a woman hardened by grief, sets out on a mission to kill Jimmy Maguire, the man who murdered her sister eighteen years earlier. Meanwhile, Jimmy—newly released from prison—senses he’s being hunted, forcing both characters into a tense, psychological dance. Stonex alternates between their perspectives masterfully, peeling back layers of trauma, societal neglect, and the cyclical nature of violence.

Where The Lamplighters thrived in its taut, mysterious pacing, The Sunshine Man leans more into slow-burning character study. The first half meanders at times, with dense introspection that occasionally stalls momentum. I’ll admit, I struggled to stay fully engaged early on, debating between 3 and 4 stars as I read. But Stonex’s sharp observations about class, justice, and the weight of memory gradually pulled me deeper.

The recurring motif of yellow—not as sunshine, but as something faded, jaundiced, ominous—brilliantly underscores the novel’s themes. And while revenge drives the plot, the real tension lies in whether these broken people can escape their pasts. By the final act, the story gains gripping urgency, culminating in a resolution that feels both inevitable and deeply human.

If you go in expecting a fast-paced thriller, you might find the pacing uneven. But if you appreciate nuanced character work and a haunting exploration of guilt and retribution, The Sunshine Man is a rewarding, thought-provoking read. After much deliberation, I’m rounding my 3.5 stars up to 4—it’s not perfect, but it lingers in the mind long after the last page. Stonex remains a writer to watch.

A massive thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Viking for providing me with an early digital copy of The Sunshine Man in exchange for my honest review!

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[Hannah Greendale (Hello, Bookworm) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Went into this expecting a thrilling revenge story. Walked out of it having witnessed a quiet story about overcoming inner demons. (Extended thoughts below) 👇

Part 1 - CHP 01

The week I shot a man clean through the head began like any other.

Meet Bridget (aka "Birdie"), a wife and mother of two. She wakes up, drops her kids at school and leaves a vague note for her husband, then packs a bag and a gun and sets off to find HIM. She's waited eighteen years for this moment.

If you go into this book blind, you won't know who HE is, but you'll know he has something to do with Birdie's sister.

However, the blurb reveals that... HE is Jimmy Maguire, the man who murdered Birdie's sister. And he's just been released from jail.

CHP 03

I wasn't an executioner, I was a mother. The gun would be quick.

Even if our transport broke down, even if the wheels caught fire, even if a comet came hurtling towards Earth and the clouds turned to icy flames, Providence would carry me to him and I would have my opportunity.

^ At first I thought she was personifying providence, but now I realize that Providence is the name of Birdie's sister.

So you may be wondering... how is HE walking around free after what he did. And the answer is... because he was 19 when he killed Providence and deemed to have an "abnormality of mind", so instead of the death penalty he was given special consideration, rehabilitation, and eventual release from jail.

An eye for an eye wouldn't bring her back, but it would make me feel better.

CHP 04
We're getting some backstory here on the Maguire family, and it sounds like the whole barrel of apples was rotten from the start (according to everyone in town), yet Birdie's grandmother ("Gamma") is more forgiving and warm-hearted, which influences young Birdie, who also decides to take pity on the Maguire family.

^ I wonder if this will come back in some way. Will Birdie show compassion in the end? Are we meant to assume that she puts a bullet in Jimmy's head, but will it actually be a different man, one of the other Maguires, perhaps? 🤯🔫

CHP 05
👉 Some thoughts now that I'm 60 pages in...

(1) So far this book lacks the playful writing style Stonex demonstrated in The Lamplighters, which I find really disappointing. Is it fair to compare this book to its predecessor instead of letting it be its own thing? Probably not, but I can't help myself because I loved The Lamplighters so much for myriad reasons. 📝

(2) This novel's premise is so similar to Sadie by Courtney Summers that I can't help but compare the two and find this book significantly lacking on all counts.

(3) The prose is very succinct. Very matter of fact and largely unadorned. It gives the narrative a sense of detachment that doesn't serve the characters or the story well.

(4) The most "thrilling" thing to happen in this book so far is Birdie getting off the bus in a rainstorm and forgetting her umbrella. Which is to say that there's very little intrigue and it feels as if nothing is at stake. Like, if Birdie fails in her mission, what changes? Nothing.

(5) The story is oscillating between the present day, with Birdie trying to get to HIM (i.e., Jimmy Maguire), and the past in which a young Birdie learns about the Maguire family and grows up with her little sister Providence. Neither storyline has grabbed me yet, though the arrival of baby Providence was a lovely scene:

"Is she my sister?" I said. But I knew that she was.

I kissed the top of her ear. Her hair was gold. She felt like a warm loaf of bread. In the hem of one of the blankets was a label, on which letters were stitched: GOD'S PROVIDENCE.

"That's what we'll call her," said Gamma.

Part 2 - CHP 06
📝 It seems I spoke too soon about Stonex not exploring varied perspectives in this book, because we've now switched from Birdie's first-person POV to third-person following Jimmy Maguire.

An hour ago, he'd been let out. There must be part of the screws that thought of it like that, how close it ran to unchaining a beast and letting it rampage through the city streets with no way of knowing if it would rip out a man's throat or if it would put on a suit and go to work.

🚨POSSIBLE SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT FORWARD🚨
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CHP 07
🕵️‍♀️ Was I right? Jimmy just insisted that he's innocent of the crime. Says it was a man named Floyd who killed Providence. 🫢

📝 So we're getting a mixed narrative here of third-person POV following Jimmy, along with first-person glimpses of his group sessions in jail, as well as letters he wrote to his daughter Donna.

🔎 TITLE SPOTTED! ☀️

...and there was someone else there too, in my memory, in the field behind Ron - a scarecrow made out of wood. We used to call him the Sunshine Man.

^ Not sure yet why that's significant. 🤔

CHP 09

Providence said I had the sun in me. No one else saw it but her. She said I were always chasing the sun, trying to stay in the warm and the light.

^ Is . . . is Jimmy the Sunshine Man? Still not sure what to make of all this sunshine business. ☀️

CHP 10
Wrapping up Part 2 with the revelation that... Jimmy's mom isn't dead (like he thought), and she's written a letter asking him to come see her. She's got something important for him..

Overall, a largely uneventful Part 2. 🫤

Part III - CHP 11
We've returned to Birdie's perspective.

I couldn't think about my family. They belonged to the mother and wife who burned the toast and packed the school bags and helped with the homework - the woman I sometimes looked at in the mirror and thought, for a second, am I you?

CHP 12
So we're getting some more backstory here, and it's alarming to discover that for a while, Jimmy Maguire lived with Birdie and her family (this was before everything happened).

CHP 13
Oh dear, present day Birdie is now a missing person, with her picture on the news and everything. I keep forgetting that this story takes place in the eighties, before cellphones were widely in use.

There's a strange encounter here with Birdie and a man in a suit. Not sure if this is magical realism (Stonex wouldn't suddenly introduce that halfway through a book, would she?), but he doesn't seem real.

When I looked back, the suited man was gone. A yellow coin sat in the space there had been between us, like a perfect, miniature sun.

^ The sunshine man? ☀️

CHP 14
🚨TW🚨🍇 . . . Young Birdie wakes one night to someone on top of her, assaulting her. It's Ron Maguire, one of Jimmy's brothers. She accuses Jimmy of letting Ron into the house, but Jimmy insists he was asleep:

"Did you let him in?"

[Jimmy] paused, a flake of fish halfway to his mouth. At fourteen, he was every inch the sullen teenager. His expression was blank. How was it possible to wear no feelings on one's face whatsoever?

"Floyd?" he asked.

I didn't know who that was.

"No," I said. "Ron. He was here last night. In my bedroom." The words were knots in my throat, dragged up one by one on a coarse, wet rope.

Oh snap! Birdie accuses Jimmy of attempted SA because she's certain he let Ron into the house but refuses to admit it.

CHP 15
Part 3 concludes with the revelation that... Birdie got pregnant from the 🍇 and secretly had an abortion.

Part 4 - CHP 16
Back to Jimmy's perspective...

He'd wished then, as now, that he had never met her. Far better for her to be alive, and nothing and no one to him, than for him to have known her and she to have died.

🚨 MAJOR POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD 🚨
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CHP 17
🕵️‍♀️ I suspect Floyd isn't a real person.

🔎 Okay, yeah, Floyd is conveniently not around when the others are.

🔎 Yep, and leaves the room when Birdie comes around. Definitely not real.

I look in the mirror and all I see is dark and the dark sees me. I see the edge of a man but there aint nothing inside, he's made of dark Its all he is.

^ Both Birdie and Jimmy don't recognize themselves when they look in the mirror. Some nice symmetry there between the "hero" and "villain".

CHP 20
Part 4 concludes with the (not so surprising) revelation that... Floyd isn't a real person. He's just someone Jimmy imagined for himself, like an alter ego that houses all the bad inside him.

Part 5 - CHP 27
☀️ More business about the scarecrow (i.e., the Sunshine Man):

What had they called him? The Sunshine Man. He'd been put up around the time I was born. I recalled his likeness visiting me, at night, in dreams, when I was young, in the land between awake and asleep where I didn't know for sure; he would climb in the window with his teeth and his grin, a smell of rotten daffodils, wearing the face of James or Ron or Kip Maguire, the face of my father, and put his hand on my mouth and I'd wake, terrified, into the dark.

^ I think maybe this is the suited man Birdie saw (so there's maybe a hint of magical realism in this book?).

👉 The Sunshine Man is Birdie's own invisible man, her Floyd, her monster that she needs to overcome.

CHP 29
Birdie is facing off with Jimmy right next to the scarecrow. She just pulled the trigger, and something tells me she shot the scarecrow instead. 🫤 While that'll be more profound symbolically, it'll be a pretty unsatisfying end to the story.

CHP 30
The truth has been revealed, and... she shot the scarecrow instead of Jimmy. 😑

Part 6 - CHP 31
Wft?! Birdie just left the gun there with her fingerprints on it.⁉️ All so... Jimmy can have something to potentially hold against her. So when he doesn't use it to get her in trouble, it serves as a symbol of growth, an opportunity for redemption. **sigh**

Anyway, she fired the shot and returned home, so her partner and children know she's okay.

CHP 32

It had taken him time to get here, to be willing - not fixed but willing, content inside the man he was now, understanding of the fact that a person could change, for bad and for good, and that he was trying, and that was enough.

VERDICT: Not what I expected, but I admire the symmetry Stonex achieves with her two lead characters.

[Mallory · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a an interesting story and a great look at humanity and mental health. It wasn’t quite what I expected, but it was interesting. The narration, especially for Jimmy, was amazing. Really well done. The writing of Jimmy’s story was almost too intense in the insanity for me. I may have enjoyed this one more if I read it, given the great performance it was just too much for me. Both sides were also a little slow for me, and this was more about reflection and past memories than a thriller about revenge. It was ok, but just not quite what I was expecting. I will say the author greatly captured the human experience and mental health. I’ll check more out by this author in the future.

[Karine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stonex has succeeded in writing a haunting novel about family secrets, vengeance and guilt, poverty and greed, but most of all about love and belonging. The plot is merely the vehicle for a character study of two orphans and how they try to carve out a meaningful life without knowing their roots, with - or without - any guidance or support.
It is also a study of our current judicial system where trials and sentences deliver justice by allocating a number of years of detention, relating to the crime committed. Knowing that taking away one’s freedom is the worst punishment possible for a human being, how can we decide what is fair and what is not? Why have we lost the principle of protecting society by sequestering dangerous individuals to the lust for vengeance? Stonex makes a case for compassion, without forgetting the impact on the bereaved.
Eventually, the dark and mysterious cat-and-mouse chase ends where it all began, in a very satisfying way, and I know the characters of Birdie and Jimmy will linger for a long time. I loved The Lamplighters, but I think The Sunshine man is more impactful.
Thank you NetGalley, HarperCollins Canada Audio | HarperCollins Publisher and the author for allowing me to be an early reader. All opinions are my own.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was attracted to this book as soon as I saw the 1980's timeline as well as being about a crime. This book is much more than that. Its emotional, and about family dynamics. Told by 2 POV's that being Birdie in a past timeline and James in the present timeline. It's a thought-provoking book that I won't forget.

[Eva · Rating 3 out of 5]

I realise it's entirely unfair to compare an author's book to their previous work. But when you've loved a book like 'The Lamplighters' as much as I did, it's remarkably hard not to have certain expectations. Unfortunately, it became clear quite early on that 'The Sunshine Man' and I wouldn't get along as well as I'd hoped.

Birdie is on a mission. After eighteen years of waiting, Jimmy Maguire, the man who killed her sister is getting out of prison. Birdie intends to find Jimmy and mete out her own kind of justice. But Birdie and Jimmy have history. A rather murky one, as it turns out.

The story unfolds in two ways. There is the present day, where Birdie is stalking Jimmy like a bird of prey. And both Birdie and Jimmy take the reader back to the past to unravel mysteries and family secrets. Very little of it is pretty. Jimmy, in particular, comes from a bad background. He and his siblings were known in the community, and it wasn't because they were innocent choir boys. Birdie, on the other hand, drew the lottery with her grandmother. But she has problems of her own. Not knowing who her father was, and having a mother who shows zero interest is taking its toll on her. Until, a little sister appears on the doorstep. Things will never be the same again.

There are always two sides to every story. For certain things, it was quite difficult to figure out what was what, and who was telling the truth. Both these characters felt like accomplished liars to me, and neither came across as a reliable narrator. There is mention of a mysterious figure with yellow socks and odd teeth, but to be fair, by the end of the story I still didn't see how they fitted in. Unless I was supposed to think people make it a habit of talking to themselves in a cafe and nobody pays attention? It left me with unanswered questions and I don't like those.

I must admit that the first part of 'The Sunshine Man' was a struggle for me. There were many moments where I contemplated throwing in the towel but my stubborn streak won out. The slow pace didn't help but more than that, Jimmy's chapters threw me off entirely and broke the flow of the story. There are diary entries that are full of "__g" because apparently using the actual cuss wasn't appropriate? I don't know. All I know is it was ridiculously annoying.

However, I'm glad I stuck it out. The second half of the story was much better, as the pieces start to come together and the truth unfolds. In hindsight, a lot of it is rather sad. Things could have been so much different. But once events were set in motion there was just no going back.

'The Sunshine' man is a story of love, grief, revenge, and redemption. It is a complex, character driven tale with great psychological insight. Yet, for me also a mixed bag where some parts worked better than others.

[Lorna · Rating 2 out of 5]

The tag line for this book caught my attention, and I was excited to read it.

The story seemed to flip flop from Birdie in real time, Birdie's childhood, James in real time, James' childhood (often same tale repeated from different perspective) and James' time in prison.
Usually I'm a fine of multiple perspectives and dual(+) timelines, but this wasn't executed well.

The story was a bit flat, and the ending honestly just felt like I'd wasted five days reading this. I was actually really cross when I finished it.

What was done very well was the "Floyd" part of the story.

Also, not sure if this is a NetGalley* thing or this author thing but ----ing instead of swearing was very annoying!

*received an advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for a review

[OutlawPoet · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF 20%.

It put me to sleep. Literally. At my desk. It was deeply embarrassing.

[Lee Hill · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m not taking the time to give a synopsis. I think my cat was trying to tell me something when I caught him chewing this book. It’s a definite no for me. At no point did I enjoy it, it was hard going throughout. One other note, either swear or don’t, the lines are _____ing off putting and annoying as ______.

[Robert Goodman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emma Stonex’s first novel The Lamplighters put a new spin on a true story. Her follow up, The Sunshine Man, is not quite based on a true story but is based on real places and real events. As with her first book she captures the atmosphere and the people to bring these places and events to tragically life.
The Sunshine Man opens in 1989. Bridie wakes up one morning and makes her preparations to kill a man. That man, Jimmy Maguire, was sent to prison eighteen years before for killing her sister and is being released that day. Despite her marriage and two children, Bridie is determined to leave and kill Jimmy in revenge. She takes a gun, leaves a note and sets out to find Jimmy. Meanwhile, Jimmy, who claimed the murder was the work of his friend Floyd, is met from the prison by a grown daughter who he hardly knows who drives him around the country to see his family and visit old haunts.
Stonex is doing a lot in this novel. Through her two main characters she charts a pair of hardscabble, tough childhoods in a depressed part of the UK. Bridie was abandoned by her mother and raised by her grandmother, while Jimmy was part of a poor family with a bad reputation, always hassled by police and almost forced into a life of crime. But Stonex also explores Jimmy’s time in prison, and in particular, the work at HM Prison Grendon, an experimental psychiatric prison established to treat mentally ill patients. And then there are the overarching humanistic considerations of revenge, dealing with grief and tragedy, forgiveness and redemption all baked in.
While there is tragedy baked into the premise of this book, it is also in many ways optimistic. Stonex is ultimately interested in the way we can overcome our pasts, and in doing so, change and move into the future. Taken all together, The Sunshine Man is another resonant, atmospheric novel with plenty for readers to think about.

[booksinmybag · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unsettling in that ‘Emma Stonex’ way.
It draws you in from the opening line and before I knew it I’d read more than half of it!

What Stonex did really well in ‘The Lamplighters’ was write from multiple perspectives with distinct voices to develop her story and she’s done it again here. It would have been a much different experience just reading Birdie’s perspective but because we get James’s too we’re able to form our own conclusions of what happened.

The colour yellow pervades this whole book and takes on a sinister edge, think more yellow teeth than sunny happy yellow despite the title. It’s a gripping and chilling experience.

[Halle Kirby · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at halfway unfortunately.

The Sunshine Man is a mystery, suspenseful thriller set in the 1950’s-1990’s in rural Devon and London.

Went into this novel really keen as I was super interested by the plot, I always love a mystery thriller and finally a book set in Devon! Sadly the multiple POV and time travelling just upset the flow of the book and made it really difficult to form any deep emotion. The book felt flat and one dimensional, a lot of the sections read very rushed. I was looking forward to seeing where it was going but I just got bored :(

Also the -ing in place of f-ing or any real swearing was very weird!

[Chapters & Chives · Rating 3 out of 5]

The narrators of the audiobook of The Sunshine Man do an amazing job at capturing the cadences, accents, and mental state of the main characters Jimmy and Birdie. I was particularly blown away by Edward Rowe's performance in portraying the resentful and broken mental state of Jimmy, a man consistently scapegoated by others and never really given much of a break in life.

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins Publishers for the gifted ALC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

This novel provides an in-depth exploration of both Jimmy and Birdie's inner minds and character, which is the type of book I typically love. I just found that the inner monologue of the characters took away from the plot, such as preventing any suspense from building up or allowing for a satisfactory build up towards a climax. About a third of the way through the book I found the plot became very slow and repetitive, which led to me losing attention or attachment to the story. The storyline has so much potential; it just didn't come together in a satisfactory way by the end (at least for me).

[Buchdoktor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Als James/Jimmy Maguire nach 18 Jahren aus dem Gefängnis entlassen wird, packt Bridget/Birdie Keller ihre Waffe ein und bittet ihre Schwiegermutter Wilma, für ein paar Tage ihre Kinder zu versorgen. James soll als Jugendlicher Birdies Schwester Providence Doyle ermordet haben, hat die Tat aber nie gestanden und im Gerichtsprozess keine Reue gezeugt. Das Urteil fiel wegen Totschlag und Jimmys Unfähigkeit zu Gefühlen. Birdie ist entschlossen, den Mann auszulöschen, weder Haft noch Therapie genügen ihrer Überzeugung nach als Reaktion auf die brutale Tat. Als sie vor der Haftanstalt auf Jimmys Entlassung wartet, muss sie verblüfft feststellen, dass er von einer dunkelhaarigen, sehr jungen Frau abgeholt wird.

Emma Stonex‘ Figuren waren einander in der Kindheit vertraut. Jimmy wuchs mit vier Brüdern auf, „die Maguires“ waren eine berüchtigte Bande, denen jede Untat spontan zugetraut wurde. Da seine Mutter Maeve sich nie mütterlich verhielt und er sich der Vaterschaft des „Mister“ im Haushalt nie sicher war, teilt er mit Birdie und Providence das Schicksal verwaister Kinder. Die Schwestern waren von ihrer Mutter wie ein Gepäckstück bei ihrer Großmutter abgestellt worden – und Birdie hatte zu ihrer Schwester eine besonders enge Beziehung. Oma Violet/Gamma betreut ihre Enkelinnen beinahe klischeehaft, überzeugt, Kinder müssten umsorgt und beschützt werden.

Jeweils aus der Ichperspektive berichten Jägerin und Gejagter aus ihrer Kindheit. Ergänzt wird diese Sicht durch nicht abgeschickte Briefe Jimmys, den Blick einer neutralen Erzählstimme und der denkbaren Perspektive der jungen Donna. Jimmys Geschichte erzählt von seiner Haft in drei Strafanstalten; beide Figuren leben jeweils mit einer persönlichen und einer öffentlichen Version der Ereignisse. Stellt sich die Frage, ob es eine weitere Version gibt und wie damals die überraschend enge Beziehung zwischen den Maguires und den Doyles entstand, die die Tat rückblickend besonders verwerflich erscheinen lässt. Die episodenhaft erzählten Ereignisse zwischen 1963 und 1989 wirken sprachlich karg und lassen vermuten, dass auch Jimmys Verhör und Gerichtsverfahren sprachlich eher schlicht ausgefallen sind.

Fazit
In Emma Stonex‘ „Sunshine Man“ geht es um Sozialwaisen, deren Wege sich auf fatale Art kreuzen, um die Frage, welchen Einfluss Haft und Therapie auf die Unfähigkeit haben, moralische Werte zu erkennen, und nicht zuletzt darum, wie ein Gerichtsverfahren Angehörigen einer ermordeten Person das Abschließen mit der Tat ermöglicht. Ihrem Thema nähert sich Stonex episodenhaft, zwischen sich widersprechenden Versionen der Tat wechselnd. Ein erschütternder, sozialkritischer Roman, dessen entscheidende Szenen sicher nicht zufällig am Ende der Thatcher-Ära spielen.

[Indieflower · Rating 2 out of 5]

Netgalley arc.

I loved The Lamplighters so I had high hopes for this, the premise and the opening chapters were so intriguing, but unfortunately after that I found it really hard going.
The story couldn't hold my interest enough to juggle with dual timelines from several different perspectives. Though I mostly enjoyed Birdie's chapters, the male character's were like a stream of consciousness, and all the expletives - of which there were many - were redacted for some reason (most of the letters missing, f_____g etc 🤷🏻‍♀️🤔) which I found jarring, my brain did a little stuttery fart every time I encountered one and it took me out of the narrative. Added to this was the way his accent was written, I don't usually find written accents problematic, but coupled with the weird censoring it was too much.
The ending wasn't worth the struggle, I wish I'd thrown in the towel, 2 stars.

[Guy Hamilton · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was without doubt one of the most irritating books I have read.Told from 2 viewpoints, the avenger and the murderer or perhaps not but I lost the will to read on.The redacting of swear words with just an ing or ed inserted became so irritating especially as the ex con /muderer entire vocabulary consisted it seemed of swear words.It all seemed to me ridiculous and annoying and totally ruined the narrative.Anyhow as numerous chapters are the muderer's point of view and memories this was continuous.
I got to chapter 9 and gave up.
here is an example (para 1 chapter 9)
You want an example of getting ---ed?I can talk about getting ----ed.Not once not twice, many ---ing times, and lately I've got to thinking ---- me.
Anyhow that is as far as I got.

[Wal.li · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gerechtigkeit?

Der Mann, der ihre Schwester ermordet hat, wird nach achtzehn Jahren aus der Haft entlassen. Das ist doch irgendwie nicht gerecht. Ihre Schwester ist für immer tot und der kann nochmal von vorne beginnen. Birdie Keller hat deshalb beschlossen, dem Leben des Täters ein Ende zu setzten. Zwar denkt sie auch an ihre eigene Familie, sie hat geheiratet und zwei Kinder bekommen. Aber der Gedanke an Rache ist ihr im Moment wichtiger. Sie verfolgt Jimmy Maguire nachdem er die Anstalt verlassen hat. Er macht sich auf den Weg nach Devon, wo alles begann.

Die Vergangenheit hat Birdie Keller nie losgelassen. Oberflächlich betrachtet hat sie ein gutes Leben. Doch den Gedanken an ihre Schwester kann und will sie nicht verdrängen. Providence war wie eine Lichtgestalt und ihre kleine Schwester. Und kleine Schwestern sollten eben nicht auf so grausame Art zu Tode kommen. So lange der Täter in Gewahrsam war, konnte Birdie ihr Leben leben. Doch nun kommen die Erinnerungen mit geballter Kraft wieder. Auf dem Weg zu ihrem Ziel erinnert sie sich an ihre Kindheit, an Providence und auch an Jimmy, von den Maguires, die alle ihren Ruf hatten.

Dass das Hörbuch von Tessa Mittelstaedt und Timo Wesschnur vorgetragen wird, gibt ihm etwas Eigenes und gibt den Zuhörern und Zuhörerinnen einen besonderen Einblick in die Gedanken- und Gefühlswelt der Hauptpersonen.

Der Beginn des Romans: „Die Woche, in der ich einem Mann in den Kopf schoss, fing ganz normal an.“ weckt die Aufmerksamkeit und auch Neugier. Wie kommt sie denn auf die Idee? Ist das wirklich so gemeint? Die Antwort erhält man natürlich erst zum Schluss. Bis dahin kann man sich in die Innenwelten von Birdie Keller und Jimmy Maguire begeben und erfahren, dass nicht immer alles so ist, wie man auf den ersten Blick annehmen würde. Fast etwas widerwillig empfindet man Verständnis. Ob man allem so folgen möchte, kann man selbst entscheiden. Ob dieser unbedingte Rachegedanke nachvollziehbar ist, ist so eine Sache. Allerdings ist man auch nicht in Birdies Lage, zum Glück. Dennoch ist diese vielschichtige Geschichte, die aus zwei Perspektiven vorgetragen wird, sehr hörenswert.

Dass ein wenig düstere Cover spiegelt die irgendwie die zwiespältigen Gedanken der handelnden Personen wieder.

[Courtney Autumn · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ✨️

“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘵 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳. . .”

Yowza... talk about an opening line!

Despite the exhilarating tone of that first sentence, I do want to begin this review by saying I think this book has been slightly marketed wrong and that's why there's mixed reviews so far. If you go in expecting the "taut, electrifying thriller," which that opener appears to validate, you're probably going to be disappointed. This was much more psychological leaning.

While it may not be a fast-paced, popcorn thriller revenge story, it still delivers as an atmospheric slow burning character study. By alternating their perspectives, both in the past and the present, Stonex creates a hauntingly introspective dance between Birdie and Jimmy. Stonex deftly explores the murky depths of vengeance, guilt, and retribution through two characters who are two sides of the same coin. As more layers are revealed exposing past traumas and long buried memories, you begin to see that maybe some things aren't quite as they appear.

Though the initial first half of the novel veers at times into meandering territory, there's a gradual shift in gears for the second. Revenge remains in the front seat driving the plot, but the growing tension to overcome their own inner demons is the fuel that propels everything forward. The final destination feels fitting and full circle for these characters. This may not have been the riveting read that I initially expected, but it was thought-provoking with deeply nuanced characters that I won't easily forget.

🎙 Meg Salter and Edward Rowe co-narrate. Both deliver an outstanding performance and convey the many intricacies and emotions of Birdie and Jimmy. I loved being able to pair my book with the audio for this one!

✨️ Thank you Viking for my gifted copy & NG for my ALC! Out now!

[Stacey Reads It All · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The week I shot a man clean through the head began like any other . . .”

That opening line! I love how it immediately grabs you. This had an eerie, atmospheric tension that unfolds gradually, which is great if you like psychological mysteries, but it did test my patience in parts with the pacing being such a slow burn.

That said, the audiobook itself is excellent. Meg Salter and Edward Rowe do a fantastic job bringing the characters to life — their voices are clear, distinct, and add real depth to the story. The overall quality of the narration makes it much easier to get through the slower sections.

A haunting, well-told story that’s worth sticking with, even if the pacing is deliberately slow. 3.5 stars rounded to 4.

Thank you to HarperCollins Canada Audio and NetGalley for the ARC.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed Emma Stonex first book, The Lamplighters, more but I loved reading about Birdies childhood in The Sunshine Man. Another great book.

[Adam Timlett · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are two sneaky twists in this book and both of them made me like it even more

[Rhiannon Williams · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh, I really disliked this book. 

One of the quotes on the back describes it as a literary thriller - but a thriller should have some kind of excitement / action / suspense (which this didn't), and literary implies well written. There's a skill to writing well, and throwing in some pretentious descriptions doesn't do it. I should have paid heed to the alarm bells that rang when on page ONE we had both ""he smelt .. of gently scorched wood and the inside of the biscuit tin" and " (the snow on the birdbath) was rounded off like a wedding cake." Good job I persevered though or I would have missed the gem on page 350: "My fingers looked disembodied in the dark, like noble women's hands in caliginous paintings." Someone got a bit overzealous with the thesaurus (or AI) methinks (and yes I had to look up what caliginous means).

Anyway ... I'll try not to get too hung up on the "plot" and move on to unreliable narrators. I'm not a great fan of these, but I appreciate they have some value when woven subtly into a storyline. Here *spoiler alert* we were hit over the head with not just one, but several of them!  Once I twigged just how extremely "unreliable" one of them was, it meant all subsequent pages from their point of view (and there were a lot of pages) were rendered meaningless tedious drivel. In its favour, it did make getting to the end of the book quicker as I ran my eye over those pages rather scantily.

A selection of my other irritations:

- One of the main characters did a lot of swearing and in the text this was all replaced by a line -------- is this some "technique" or would the book have got an X rating if it included an actual swear word? It was very irritating and made those passages actually a bit hard to read.

- I understand why you might want to try and write dialect / vernacular as it sounds, but it has to be well done. Again this just irritated me - particularly for some reason writing "yew" every time for "you". 

- What was it with the "scarecrow"? A man-sized board (advertising oil ...) in the middle of a remote field that stood untouched for 40+ years? It felt like it had been introduced into the story to make the ending work.

- Likewise all the references to yellow and "golden" felt clumsy and contrived.

- No one who owns / plays the piano (least of all someone who's good enough to study music at a London college) puts their piano in a leaky porch where the rain drips onto the keys. (I'm also failing to imagine a small 2 bedroom terraced house that has a porch big enough for a piano.)

- No one starts to learn how to play the piano by being "shown the basic chords".

- Quite possibly my most important point - Back in those olden days when the book is based, you didn't unwrap a sherbet lemon. They were weighed out from a jar and put in a paper bag whereupon they all stuck to each other and the bag. To eat one, you had to unstick it from its friends and then suck off and spit out the bits of paper bag that were still stuck to it.

- But I think the crowning glory goes to the "reading". Quite randomly in the middle of the book (pages 233 and 234) we find out that the main character has been reading in prison - a book a week. He mainly liked novels - Hardy, Dickens and Robert Louis Stevenson apparently. He read Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird and A Passage to India. I felt like these pages had been accidentally copied and pasted from another book, so totally out of kilter were they with the entire rest of the book and how this character was portrayed.

OK that's me done.

[Theresa Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Sunshine Man by Emma Stonex was a highly anticipated read for me. I loved The Lamp Lighters, her debut, and this one was just as gripping.

Within The Sunshine Man, Stonex explores the notion of self-fulfilling prophecies within the context of a person coming from a ‘bad family’, and beyond this, is redemption possible, or even deserved. Over and over, she challenges the reader to consider cause and effect, to empathise when you would be more inclined to judge.

‘It’d struck him then what had been missing in prison – no, not in prison, but the whole way along, the whole bloody show right from the start of his life – it was this feeling of mattering to someone, of being remembered by someone, of someone knowing his name and bothering to keep it in his mind, of caring about who he was and what he could be and what made him distinct from the next man along, of giving him identity that wasn’t a number or a statistic or a reason why he’d failed, of reminding him he was human, or had started off as human…’

As the novel moves to its inevitable conclusion and the truth of the events of the past comes to light, I was gripped by the story, and also, I’ll be honest, somewhat terrified.

‘Does he ever think about her? Out there living his, does she ever trouble him? Not her death. Her life. When we went to meet her that last time and she were playing piano in the rain. The porch roof had a leak and water came down on the piano.’

I did a hybrid read of this one, and I highly recommend the audiobook. It has a dual narration, and the tension of the narrative was conveyed to the point where my son asked me if I was okay because I was looking a bit shell-shocked. Five stars to this one.

Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.

[Sharon Chambers · Rating 1 out of 5]

Won this ARC from Goodreads. Book is advertised as an "electrifying thriller about a woman determined to avenge her sister's murder"...and it's not.

A very slow quiet read about a man confronting the ghosts of his past...and the sister that blames herself for her sister's murder.

So much back story....every detail of their lives before the murder is lived out on the pages. It just drags on and on. Finally 10 or so pages from the end you get to the "confrontation"....that doesn't really happen. There is no climax....no finality...no closure. It's just over and everyone goes on about their lives.

I was so disappointed in this book. It's nothing like they advertised.

[Jaylaw90 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this on audible and also had the book to read . An enjoyable and engaging story, but very strange to have all of the swear words, removed from the written copy, such as, ‘ the f———- man and his f——— drink, yet all are present on the audible version. Much preferred the audiobook, as more authentic than the semi censored book. I have never seen a book printed like this before.

[Bree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captivating story, I loved everything about it.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmmm, trying to figure out why 2 stars. Not one endearing character in the book - even the angelic victim. Being in the heads of Birdie, Jimmy & Floyd was unpleasant and a tad boring.

[Ray Palen · Rating 4 out of 5]

U.K. author Emma Stonex follows up her international bestseller THE LAMPLIGHTERS with a top-notch literary thriller filled with complex, believable characters entitled THE SUNSHINE MAN.

It opens with a chilling statement from one of our narrators, Birdie Keller: ‘The week I shot a man clean through the head began like any other.’ It will not be until the end of this tense novel that readers learn and fully understand the implications of that statement. Let us just say that Birdie Keller is a middle-aged woman on a mission. She had been waiting eighteen long years to find out that Jimmy Maguire was being released from prison. You see, he was the man convicted of killing her younger sister, Providence, in a traumatic event from which she has never recovered.

Since this is partially a novel of grief and guilt, it is perfect to state that the eighteen years have not softened Birdie’s heart one iota and she literally walks away from her family in pursuit of Maguire to confront him and end her grieving in a way that the penal system could not do to her satisfaction. Birdie took a gun with her, even though she admits to herself that she had never fired one in her entire life. She watches James Maguire walk out of the prison where he was most recently being held and then continues to follow him until the proper moment.

The novel switches narration between Birdie and James Maguire in addition to traveling back in time to their childhoods which were surprisingly intersected for a brief time. Birdie and her much younger sister were being raised by their Grandmother or ‘Gamma’ as their mother had all but completely abandoned them. It was long rumored that the Maguire boys were no good by the citizens of their town, but Gamma takes a shine to young James who was friends with Providence and allowed him to live in their home. The events that will lead to his ultimate expulsion are primarily Birdie’s fault, although she thought she was protecting Providence. Readers will feel for James Maguire and continue to do so when the narrative covering his stay in various prisons shows that he considered himself innocent of the crime of which he was convicted. In fact, he knows the older boy who was truly guilty of the murder but could not get anybody to listen to him. It seems the same troubles that followed him from childhood continued through his trial as everyone had just made up their minds that all the Maguire’s were no good.

James is picked up by his daughter, Donna, who he stayed in contact with and wants to keep connected to. They behave like the two strangers they are to each other during their unsteady moments together, but both are trying to make it work. What drives this novel is the fact that readers are allowed to see both sides of the story, something which neither primary character every had the opportunity to and must sit idly by waiting for the inevitable confrontation to come between them which does not look like it will end well.

When that moment does arrive, it is cleverly plotted to take place at the same field where James allegedly murdered Providence. Once we finally have the moment between Birdie and James, be prepared to read somewhere quiet because even the dropping of a pin might make you jump out of your seat. Stonex does such a stellar job creating these complex characters and then putting them on opposite tracks that are set up to meet head-on in a personal collision that cannot possibly end without any casualties.

What really stood out for me in THE SUNSHINE MAN was the ‘way with words’ author Emma Stonex has. This is a true piece of literary fiction written and plotted in such a way that allows the reader to truly feel and understand the emotions and motives of the characters involved in the conflict here. I also loved the use of symbolism in this novel and the imagery of the scarecrow in the field where the murder took place being compared to the Sunshine Man from the Yellowfields Seed Oil advertisements was brilliant and really stuck with me.


Reviewed by Ray Palen for Book Reporter

[Lindsey Z · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

This is a true character study of two people: Bridget (Birdie) whose sister was murdered and Jimmy, the man who murdered Birdie's sister (or so she thinks). Once Jimmy is released from serving his term in prison, Birdie commits to a plan to confront him and shoot him. She says on page one, "The week I shot a man clean through the head..." which sets up the plot of the book and her journey to find Jimmy after his release and kill him.

Of course, it's not as simple as that.

We also get Jimmy's perspective, and his very stylized and rough voice & perspective take some time to get used to. He's not lived an easy life and has turned to crime time and time again as a way to cope, to fit in, to seek agency over his fate.

The writing is slowly paced, and the unfolding of the narrative requires patience from its reader. Once I acclimated to the two narrators, I settled into a comfortable place with the book and what it was trying to say about second chances, about belonging, about fierce love and loyalty. The Sunshine Man is more on the side of literary fiction with a side of mystery than thriller (I have no idea why it's tagged as such; it's really not a thriller like at all). Emma Stonex has a lot of depth and inventiveness in her writing skills, both in the voices on the page and in some of the narrative twists/surprises along the way.

A plodding yet astute look into two people whose lives are inextricably linked. While I can't say that I enjoyed either of these two characters, I did appreciate Stonex's narrative project and her investigation of the ways in which our childhoods shape who we are as adults, the impacts of the juvenile justice system, and the lengths people are willing to go (sometimes tragically) to feel loved and to show love.

Thanks to NetGalley and Viking for access to an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Scott Baxter · Rating 2 out of 5]

The publisher calls Emma Stonex’s novel The Sunshine Man “a tense, spellbinding page-turner.” It does start with a good first sentence.

The week I shot a man clean through the head began like any other.

Unfortunately, I found it difficult to care about the plot or the characters. Among other issues, Stonex waits until the third chapter to actually start the story. And, even then, I did not find it engaging.

As far as the language, I did not find any obvious clunkers like paint the town red or shooting fish in a barrel. However, the avoidance of cliche is not the same as great prose. The prose is solid enough, but I did not notice any sentences worth memorizing. Here is an example:

I had never shot a gun before. Fired a gun, whatever it is you say. I didn’t like violence, for obvious reasons. I couldn’t watch horror films or TV hospital shows and the sight of blood made me faint. I wasn’t an executioner, I was a mother. The gun would be quick.

At least in my opinion, there are better thrillers available at your local public library than The Sunshine Man.

Thanks to the publisher for providing a free copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

epub. 320 pgs. 28 October 2025. Publishing 11 November 2025.

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