What do you think?
Rate this book
All These Perfect Strangers
You don’t have to believe in ghosts for the dead to haunt you.
You don’t have to be a murderer to be guilty.
Within six months of Pen Sheppard starting university, three of her new friends are dead. Only Pen knows the reason why.
College life had seemed like a wonderland of sex, drugs and maybe even love. The perfect place to run away from your past and reinvent yourself. But Pen never can run far enough and when friendships are betrayed, her secrets are revealed. The consequences are deadly.
‘This is about three deaths. Actually more, if you go back far enough. I say deaths, but perhaps all of them were murders. It’s a grey area. Murder, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. So let’s just call them deaths and say I was involved. This story could be told a hundred different ways.’
‘This is a novel of disquieting intimacy and controlled suspense, Aoife Clifford deftly tightening the screws until we share the narrator’s sense of emotional and physical confinement and the unremitting grip of the past.’ - Garry Disher, author of Bitter Wash Road
You don’t have to be a murderer to be guilty.
Within six months of Pen Sheppard starting university, three of her new friends are dead. Only Pen knows the reason why.
College life had seemed like a wonderland of sex, drugs and maybe even love. The perfect place to run away from your past and reinvent yourself. But Pen never can run far enough and when friendships are betrayed, her secrets are revealed. The consequences are deadly.
‘This is about three deaths. Actually more, if you go back far enough. I say deaths, but perhaps all of them were murders. It’s a grey area. Murder, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. So let’s just call them deaths and say I was involved. This story could be told a hundred different ways.’
‘This is a novel of disquieting intimacy and controlled suspense, Aoife Clifford deftly tightening the screws until we share the narrator’s sense of emotional and physical confinement and the unremitting grip of the past.’ - Garry Disher, author of Bitter Wash Road
400 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2016
154 people are currently reading
1348 people want to read
About the author
Aoife Clifford
9 books107 followersAoife Clifford is the author of the novel All These Perfect Strangers, published in Australia and the United Kingdom by Simon & Schuster and by Penguin Random House in the United States.
Born in London of Irish parents, she grew up in New South Wales, studied Arts/Law at the Australian National University, Canberra and now lives in Melbourne.
Aoife has won two premier short story prizes for crime fiction in Australia - the Scarlet Stiletto (2007) and the S.D. Harvey Ned Kelly Award in 2012, among other prizes. She has also been short listed for the UK Crime Association's Debut Dagger. In 2014 she was awarded an Australian Society of Authors mentorship for her novel, All These Perfect Strangers.
(source: Amazon)
Born in London of Irish parents, she grew up in New South Wales, studied Arts/Law at the Australian National University, Canberra and now lives in Melbourne.
Aoife has won two premier short story prizes for crime fiction in Australia - the Scarlet Stiletto (2007) and the S.D. Harvey Ned Kelly Award in 2012, among other prizes. She has also been short listed for the UK Crime Association's Debut Dagger. In 2014 she was awarded an Australian Society of Authors mentorship for her novel, All These Perfect Strangers.
(source: Amazon)
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 418 reviews
June 12, 2017
All These Perfect Strangers by Aoife Clifford is a 2016 Alibi publication.
I read this book in one sitting, mainly because it moves along at such a brisk speed, and because of the untrustworthy protagonist.
Trouble is Pen’s middle name, apparently, since she seems to find it no matter where she goes. Leaving her hometown under a cloud of suspicion, she enrolls in college with a rare scholarship, hoping for a new beginning.
However, she quickly becomes embroiled in the hot mess of her classmates’ lives and a dangerous ‘murder game’ they play.
Before long, Pen once again finds herself closely scrutinized and under the care of a therapist, as she logs down, in a personal diary, the events that led her to this point.
This story is atmospheric, with a sinister tone, that explores the politics of campus life, while creating a twisty murder mystery around three deaths, in which Pen has some connection. This is most effective part of the novel, and is what propels the reader to continue. Is Pen a victim or the perpertrator?
The characters are mostly shallow, and occasionally annoying, and there is plenty of time wasted on the usual college partying lifestyle, which put a damper on the level of suspense. I don’t think the reader was lured into caring for the characters, and frankly, I didn’t, but instead we are drawn into Pen’s narrative, constantly wondering about her past, and her current state of mind, which gives the story more of a rigorous psychological tone.
I would like to say this approach worked, but mostly it left me feeling disconnected from the events that took place, unable to summon any kind of feelings about the whole affair. The story does have some bright spots, but it ultimately fell short of its goal.
However, it is an easy read, something of a mind bender, and was enjoyable enough for a quiet Sunday afternoon read.
*Netgalley
I read this book in one sitting, mainly because it moves along at such a brisk speed, and because of the untrustworthy protagonist.
Trouble is Pen’s middle name, apparently, since she seems to find it no matter where she goes. Leaving her hometown under a cloud of suspicion, she enrolls in college with a rare scholarship, hoping for a new beginning.
However, she quickly becomes embroiled in the hot mess of her classmates’ lives and a dangerous ‘murder game’ they play.
Before long, Pen once again finds herself closely scrutinized and under the care of a therapist, as she logs down, in a personal diary, the events that led her to this point.
This story is atmospheric, with a sinister tone, that explores the politics of campus life, while creating a twisty murder mystery around three deaths, in which Pen has some connection. This is most effective part of the novel, and is what propels the reader to continue. Is Pen a victim or the perpertrator?
The characters are mostly shallow, and occasionally annoying, and there is plenty of time wasted on the usual college partying lifestyle, which put a damper on the level of suspense. I don’t think the reader was lured into caring for the characters, and frankly, I didn’t, but instead we are drawn into Pen’s narrative, constantly wondering about her past, and her current state of mind, which gives the story more of a rigorous psychological tone.
I would like to say this approach worked, but mostly it left me feeling disconnected from the events that took place, unable to summon any kind of feelings about the whole affair. The story does have some bright spots, but it ultimately fell short of its goal.
However, it is an easy read, something of a mind bender, and was enjoyable enough for a quiet Sunday afternoon read.
*Netgalley
September 12, 2017
This book needs to back the fuck down on the intrigue because I spent an entire night foregoing sleep in favour of reading this and was both an emotional and sleep-deprived zombie for days!
June 28, 2016
All These Perfect Strangers is narrated by Penelope Sheppard known as Pen. Pen is an unreliable narrator and as I’m reading I’m asking myself “is any of this true?” She admits that she lies to her Psychiatrist, Frank, and the Police. I assume she is lying to herself as well.
I felt quite disconnected from the story. I couldn’t connect with Pen or really feel anything for the cast of strange characters.
Aoife Clifford’s writing is ethereal as it weaves around events and truths, twisting and turning so we start to doubt what we have just read. Quite often I was questioning myself, “did I get that right?” Pen’s narration manages to twist the readers mind to think her way.
”I’m the victim,” I say. “That’s what this settlement means. That I’m the one who got hurt. That it wasn’t my fault.”
I have to say I didn’t find myself glued to this book. I sought of ploughed my way through it until the last 10% when the pace picked up and we start to get a few answers. The twist took me by surprise and the final explanation made me think although slow at times still very much worth the read.
With my thanks to Simon & Schuster via Netgalley for my copy to read and review.
I felt quite disconnected from the story. I couldn’t connect with Pen or really feel anything for the cast of strange characters.
Aoife Clifford’s writing is ethereal as it weaves around events and truths, twisting and turning so we start to doubt what we have just read. Quite often I was questioning myself, “did I get that right?” Pen’s narration manages to twist the readers mind to think her way.
”I’m the victim,” I say. “That’s what this settlement means. That I’m the one who got hurt. That it wasn’t my fault.”
I have to say I didn’t find myself glued to this book. I sought of ploughed my way through it until the last 10% when the pace picked up and we start to get a few answers. The twist took me by surprise and the final explanation made me think although slow at times still very much worth the read.
With my thanks to Simon & Schuster via Netgalley for my copy to read and review.
May 30, 2016
“I lie to myself all the time. But I never believe me.”
----S.E. Hinton
Aoife Clifford, an Australian author, pens her debut psychological thriller, All These Perfect Strangers that traces the story of a teenager who wraps herself up in the world of deadly and strange murders in her uni life. In this book, this young teenager uncovers herself from being a suspect to a key witness to a victim, while enjoying and experimenting the high and wild road of a uni lifestyle.
Synopsis:
You don’t have to believe in ghosts for the dead to haunt you.
You don’t have to be a murderer to be guilty.
Within six months of Pen Sheppard starting university, three of her new friends are dead. Only Pen knows the reason why.
College life had seemed like a wonderland of sex, drugs and maybe even love. The perfect place to run away from your past and reinvent yourself. But Pen never can run far enough and when friendships are betrayed, her secrets are revealed. The consequences are deadly.
‘This is about three deaths. Actually more, if you go back far enough. I say deaths, but perhaps all of them were murders. It’s a grey area. Murder, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. So let’s just call them deaths and say I was involved. This story could be told a hundred different ways.’
Pen Sheppard has just began her university life away from her hometown, away from all those dark memories involving her childhood best friend Tracey, and also away from her mother's stupid and non-working and sometimes abusive boyfriends. In short, Pen will have a fresh start in a new place and if lucky, maybe with new friends. Pen is a regular girl until she opens up about her counselling sessions with Dr. Frank and this where Pen confesses that she is constantly lying and choosing to alter the truth about what happened in her past as well as in her uni life. The story sways from the past events in Pen's life to the sometimes to the future events to the present events which is the main story line of the book. In her university, Pen soon befriends a bunch of strange students, Toby, Kesh, Rachel, Leiza, Rogan, Michael and Joad. Among them, Pens becomes inseparable with Toby, Kesh, Rachel mainly, who follow the wildest lifestyle with equally wild parties, deadly drugs, alcohol and sex and for Pen she might be falling for the cute perfect guy named Rogan. And as their lives started to get wilder, so the unidentified hit man on the campus also on loose, started making innocent, naive and provocative women his targets to physical harm. Unfortunately, the physical injuries soon turned into deaths when Pen's friends started dropping dead, Pen tangles herself yet into yet another nightmare with deaths that she thought she got away from it when she began her uni life. Pen also weaves her past story in her diary where she mentions about a murder that made her the prime suspect and then a key witness who testimonies against Tracey. So will Pen get away from the murders or will she become a victim to the hands of the serial killer lurking on the campus or is she lying about killer?
Yes all throughout the book, the story will arise so many curious questions mainly due to the protagonists confession that she is lying and that she has the power to alter the truth. Sometimes Pen looks like the killer and sometimes everyone other than Pen look like the killer and sometimes someone apart from these characters look like the killer. What is the actual story behind Pen's past will claw and haunt the readers until the big revelation. I've never read anything before that left me thoroughly confused, curious and puzzled as the story developed further with the twists and the suspense.
Hence hats off to the author for concocting such a thought-provoking and highly intriguing book that has so many layers and twists to keep the readers engaged. The author's writing style is simply amazing, and somewhat exquisite and is laced with suspense. The narrative is of Pen's POV that is often confusing and at times tiring to read word by word, unfortunately this tiring and confusing voice is so addictive that it will force the readers to stick to the story to know the "whodunit". The pacing varies from being slow to medium to fast but most of the time it is stable and the readers can easily deal with the flow of the story.
The characters are quite well-developed, although the readers will only get to know Pen from inside out. Pen justifies her role as well as her striking voice will make the readers's hearts warm up to her. Pen is lying, curious, and flawed escapist who has a "bad girl" reputation from her hometown and she might not be ready to let that reputation go even in her university. Pen narrates the story through writing a diary on her counselor, Dr. Frank's suggestion, but when she meets him face-to-face, she never opens up about herself or about her stories honestly, hence she writes it all down. The rest of the supporting characters are also quite well-etched out but them again, we get to know them through Pen's POV.
The author captures the life on campus, especially for the first year students quite vividly with both the feelings and the raging hormones dealing into wild parities till dawn, sex and drugs. The author arrests the inviting feelings of the first years students that they get when they see and hear anything and everything.
The mystery part is tightly wrapped under layers of misdirection and twists that will keep the readers anticipating and questioning the characters as well as the story till the very climax which is kind of unpredictable and very shocking and definitely it holds the power to blow the minds of many readers. As for me, I kept on turning the pages of this book, only to find myself to be wrong and thoroughly surprised with the revelation. And I bet not only the regular crime fiction or thriller readers will find it compelling but will also enthrall the minds of other genre readers too.
Verdict: Here comes an extremely dark, twisted and tantalizing as well as addictive psycho thriller that is an absolute must-read.
Courtesy: Thanks to the publisher for providing me with an ARC of the book for review purpose.
----S.E. Hinton
Aoife Clifford, an Australian author, pens her debut psychological thriller, All These Perfect Strangers that traces the story of a teenager who wraps herself up in the world of deadly and strange murders in her uni life. In this book, this young teenager uncovers herself from being a suspect to a key witness to a victim, while enjoying and experimenting the high and wild road of a uni lifestyle.
Synopsis:
You don’t have to believe in ghosts for the dead to haunt you.
You don’t have to be a murderer to be guilty.
Within six months of Pen Sheppard starting university, three of her new friends are dead. Only Pen knows the reason why.
College life had seemed like a wonderland of sex, drugs and maybe even love. The perfect place to run away from your past and reinvent yourself. But Pen never can run far enough and when friendships are betrayed, her secrets are revealed. The consequences are deadly.
‘This is about three deaths. Actually more, if you go back far enough. I say deaths, but perhaps all of them were murders. It’s a grey area. Murder, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. So let’s just call them deaths and say I was involved. This story could be told a hundred different ways.’
Pen Sheppard has just began her university life away from her hometown, away from all those dark memories involving her childhood best friend Tracey, and also away from her mother's stupid and non-working and sometimes abusive boyfriends. In short, Pen will have a fresh start in a new place and if lucky, maybe with new friends. Pen is a regular girl until she opens up about her counselling sessions with Dr. Frank and this where Pen confesses that she is constantly lying and choosing to alter the truth about what happened in her past as well as in her uni life. The story sways from the past events in Pen's life to the sometimes to the future events to the present events which is the main story line of the book. In her university, Pen soon befriends a bunch of strange students, Toby, Kesh, Rachel, Leiza, Rogan, Michael and Joad. Among them, Pens becomes inseparable with Toby, Kesh, Rachel mainly, who follow the wildest lifestyle with equally wild parties, deadly drugs, alcohol and sex and for Pen she might be falling for the cute perfect guy named Rogan. And as their lives started to get wilder, so the unidentified hit man on the campus also on loose, started making innocent, naive and provocative women his targets to physical harm. Unfortunately, the physical injuries soon turned into deaths when Pen's friends started dropping dead, Pen tangles herself yet into yet another nightmare with deaths that she thought she got away from it when she began her uni life. Pen also weaves her past story in her diary where she mentions about a murder that made her the prime suspect and then a key witness who testimonies against Tracey. So will Pen get away from the murders or will she become a victim to the hands of the serial killer lurking on the campus or is she lying about killer?
Yes all throughout the book, the story will arise so many curious questions mainly due to the protagonists confession that she is lying and that she has the power to alter the truth. Sometimes Pen looks like the killer and sometimes everyone other than Pen look like the killer and sometimes someone apart from these characters look like the killer. What is the actual story behind Pen's past will claw and haunt the readers until the big revelation. I've never read anything before that left me thoroughly confused, curious and puzzled as the story developed further with the twists and the suspense.
Hence hats off to the author for concocting such a thought-provoking and highly intriguing book that has so many layers and twists to keep the readers engaged. The author's writing style is simply amazing, and somewhat exquisite and is laced with suspense. The narrative is of Pen's POV that is often confusing and at times tiring to read word by word, unfortunately this tiring and confusing voice is so addictive that it will force the readers to stick to the story to know the "whodunit". The pacing varies from being slow to medium to fast but most of the time it is stable and the readers can easily deal with the flow of the story.
The characters are quite well-developed, although the readers will only get to know Pen from inside out. Pen justifies her role as well as her striking voice will make the readers's hearts warm up to her. Pen is lying, curious, and flawed escapist who has a "bad girl" reputation from her hometown and she might not be ready to let that reputation go even in her university. Pen narrates the story through writing a diary on her counselor, Dr. Frank's suggestion, but when she meets him face-to-face, she never opens up about herself or about her stories honestly, hence she writes it all down. The rest of the supporting characters are also quite well-etched out but them again, we get to know them through Pen's POV.
The author captures the life on campus, especially for the first year students quite vividly with both the feelings and the raging hormones dealing into wild parities till dawn, sex and drugs. The author arrests the inviting feelings of the first years students that they get when they see and hear anything and everything.
The mystery part is tightly wrapped under layers of misdirection and twists that will keep the readers anticipating and questioning the characters as well as the story till the very climax which is kind of unpredictable and very shocking and definitely it holds the power to blow the minds of many readers. As for me, I kept on turning the pages of this book, only to find myself to be wrong and thoroughly surprised with the revelation. And I bet not only the regular crime fiction or thriller readers will find it compelling but will also enthrall the minds of other genre readers too.
Verdict: Here comes an extremely dark, twisted and tantalizing as well as addictive psycho thriller that is an absolute must-read.
Courtesy: Thanks to the publisher for providing me with an ARC of the book for review purpose.
June 17, 2016
Pen Sheppard was feeling nervous about starting college – she wasn’t sorry to leave the small town and her mother though; the trauma of the past was propelling her forward. Pen was determined this new life would be a new beginning – she would keep her past a secret; no one needed to know.
As Pen settled into College life, she started making friends with other students. Toby as one of the older students was the co-ordinator of Scullin Hall where Pen was housed; then there was Leiza, Rachel, Michael, Joad and Kesh – all with varying personalities – some she felt an affinity to, some she didn’t. But with the start of the semester came the parties; and with the parties came more. Much more…
Within a matter of weeks one of the students was dead – then another. One was an accident – one wasn’t. But were they? And the attacks on campus were becoming worse – was anyone safe? Who was to blame? What was to blame? There was a mixture of drugs and sex rippling through the campus – had things just escalated out of control? Pen was full of fear; fear for herself, fear for her friends – but as she began to discover the secrets and lies that were rife through the halls, she had no idea who to trust or what she would do…
Narrated by Pen, All These Perfect Strangers is Aussie author Aoife Clifford’s debut novel – it switches backward and forward between Pen’s time with Frank, her psychiatrist, and her time at the College when lives started to unravel. Slowly what happened is revealed by the words written in a diary by Pen which she is supposed to share with Frank. Gripping and intense, it’s a quick, easy read with the life of the students extreme and full on. (Not much work being done there!) The ending was very strange! For lovers of psychological thrillers, I think this one would fit the bill – I therefore have no hesitation in recommending All These Perfect Strangers highly.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy to read in exchange for my honest review.
As Pen settled into College life, she started making friends with other students. Toby as one of the older students was the co-ordinator of Scullin Hall where Pen was housed; then there was Leiza, Rachel, Michael, Joad and Kesh – all with varying personalities – some she felt an affinity to, some she didn’t. But with the start of the semester came the parties; and with the parties came more. Much more…
Within a matter of weeks one of the students was dead – then another. One was an accident – one wasn’t. But were they? And the attacks on campus were becoming worse – was anyone safe? Who was to blame? What was to blame? There was a mixture of drugs and sex rippling through the campus – had things just escalated out of control? Pen was full of fear; fear for herself, fear for her friends – but as she began to discover the secrets and lies that were rife through the halls, she had no idea who to trust or what she would do…
Narrated by Pen, All These Perfect Strangers is Aussie author Aoife Clifford’s debut novel – it switches backward and forward between Pen’s time with Frank, her psychiatrist, and her time at the College when lives started to unravel. Slowly what happened is revealed by the words written in a diary by Pen which she is supposed to share with Frank. Gripping and intense, it’s a quick, easy read with the life of the students extreme and full on. (Not much work being done there!) The ending was very strange! For lovers of psychological thrillers, I think this one would fit the bill – I therefore have no hesitation in recommending All These Perfect Strangers highly.
With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy to read in exchange for my honest review.
February 8, 2017
5★ for a terrific debut novel from an Aussie author whose future work I look forward to. I love her style.
At one point she mentions a secretary distracted by her new computer. “It’s a light grey beehive of a box that hums all the time. I can tell she’s a bit on edge by the way she presses a key and then pulls her hand back as if it’s got teeth.”
Pen Sheppard is an Aussie teen sitting outside her psychiatrist’s office waiting for an appointment she doesn’t want to keep. She just wants him to write a report about her pain and suffering so she can file a claim, get out of there, and get on with her life.
It’s not going to be quite that simple. Frank, the psychiatrist (who seems a likeable bloke) insists she needs some follow-up after dropping out of treatment a couple of years earlier. Just write some notes to make it easier, then he’ll do a report.
Pen has somehow been involved in three odd deaths, the first when she was only 15, which led her to Frank in the beginning. We don’t learn details until much later, but we know she’s THE bad girl in a small country town and unlikely to shed the reputation. . . ever.
“This is a town that spends its life peering out from behind the curtains at other people’s business.”
There are no identifying place names, and that sentiment is universal--this could take place anywhere in Australia.
Her mother is a battler with dreadful taste in men, at least one who preyed on Pen, which has made Pen wary and defensive. But she’s more keen than nervous to travel to a strange city to start studying at a university to which she’s won a scholarship (bursary), the first ever granted.
She is warmly welcomed by the Master of the school who tells her that “University is an excellent place to reinvent oneself”.
Less inviting is the flyer she finds in her room warning everyone about an attacker with a screwdriver. No worries.
“I was used to my mother’s gun-loving boyfriends. A screwdriver didn’t even seem like the person was trying.”
This is uni and the first freedom from parents some kids have experienced, and feelings run high, as they do, and kids get a bit wild, as they do, including the usual sex, drugs and rock and roll. Nothing over-the-top . . . until there is another misadventure in which she may be implicated.
She’s really not sure who is who, but “Being amongst strangers was exactly what I had wanted and it’s definitely what I got.”
We are taken back and forth between her conversations with Frank, her memories of life with her best friend and Mum (and Mum’s boyfriends), and her first year at uni. The author uses chapters, italics, dialogue and internal monologue so skilfully that I never felt lost or confused, although I know Pen was! It seemed quite appropriate to have past memories crop up in later situations.
Pen’s voice is perfect, varying between bold and brazen and frightened. She’s as much a victim of hormones and teen-aged angst as anyone her age, and she’s very good at rationalising things to suit what she so desperately wants to believe is the truth.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a review copy of this wonderful first novel.
**Quotations are from the advanced review copy so possibly subject to change.
At one point she mentions a secretary distracted by her new computer. “It’s a light grey beehive of a box that hums all the time. I can tell she’s a bit on edge by the way she presses a key and then pulls her hand back as if it’s got teeth.”
Pen Sheppard is an Aussie teen sitting outside her psychiatrist’s office waiting for an appointment she doesn’t want to keep. She just wants him to write a report about her pain and suffering so she can file a claim, get out of there, and get on with her life.
It’s not going to be quite that simple. Frank, the psychiatrist (who seems a likeable bloke) insists she needs some follow-up after dropping out of treatment a couple of years earlier. Just write some notes to make it easier, then he’ll do a report.
Pen has somehow been involved in three odd deaths, the first when she was only 15, which led her to Frank in the beginning. We don’t learn details until much later, but we know she’s THE bad girl in a small country town and unlikely to shed the reputation. . . ever.
“This is a town that spends its life peering out from behind the curtains at other people’s business.”
There are no identifying place names, and that sentiment is universal--this could take place anywhere in Australia.
Her mother is a battler with dreadful taste in men, at least one who preyed on Pen, which has made Pen wary and defensive. But she’s more keen than nervous to travel to a strange city to start studying at a university to which she’s won a scholarship (bursary), the first ever granted.
She is warmly welcomed by the Master of the school who tells her that “University is an excellent place to reinvent oneself”.
Less inviting is the flyer she finds in her room warning everyone about an attacker with a screwdriver. No worries.
“I was used to my mother’s gun-loving boyfriends. A screwdriver didn’t even seem like the person was trying.”
This is uni and the first freedom from parents some kids have experienced, and feelings run high, as they do, and kids get a bit wild, as they do, including the usual sex, drugs and rock and roll. Nothing over-the-top . . . until there is another misadventure in which she may be implicated.
She’s really not sure who is who, but “Being amongst strangers was exactly what I had wanted and it’s definitely what I got.”
We are taken back and forth between her conversations with Frank, her memories of life with her best friend and Mum (and Mum’s boyfriends), and her first year at uni. The author uses chapters, italics, dialogue and internal monologue so skilfully that I never felt lost or confused, although I know Pen was! It seemed quite appropriate to have past memories crop up in later situations.
Pen’s voice is perfect, varying between bold and brazen and frightened. She’s as much a victim of hormones and teen-aged angst as anyone her age, and she’s very good at rationalising things to suit what she so desperately wants to believe is the truth.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a review copy of this wonderful first novel.
**Quotations are from the advanced review copy so possibly subject to change.
July 10, 2016
All These Perfect Strangers was an interesting read for me, someone who loves twisty pyschological thrillers (which this was, it does really do what it says on the tin for the most part) but prefers them when they add a little something into the mix. In the case of Aoife Clifford’s telling that would be an intriguing look at the subtleties of guilt and innocence – both in feeling and in reality.
Our main character Pen has left behind her small town, where she is somewhat of a pariah, hoping to start anew in a location where nobody knows her and she can escape the assumptions and gossip that have plagued her for a long time. However death seems to follow Pen around and it seems she cannot escape fate. But is it fate? Is she catalyst or cause? Guilty or innocent?
It is a fascinating concept and Ms Clifford gets it across in the form of a diary written by Pen for her psychiatrist – we get to read it all, he gets the parts she wants to tell him. So she tells her story about what happened at home, what happened at college and her part in it. This is not a novel that tries to hide things or come up with some big twist – the twist is all embedded into the narrative already, it is in the heart of the main protagonist who may or may not be telling the whole truth.
I liked that about it – It was a clever little take on an oft done tale in an overcrowded genre and was very addictive, I read it in two sittings. I very much appreciated the way it lead you to the beautifully placed little ending and overall if you are a fan of this type of novel you will find this, I think, an adroit and immersive read.
Recommended
Our main character Pen has left behind her small town, where she is somewhat of a pariah, hoping to start anew in a location where nobody knows her and she can escape the assumptions and gossip that have plagued her for a long time. However death seems to follow Pen around and it seems she cannot escape fate. But is it fate? Is she catalyst or cause? Guilty or innocent?
It is a fascinating concept and Ms Clifford gets it across in the form of a diary written by Pen for her psychiatrist – we get to read it all, he gets the parts she wants to tell him. So she tells her story about what happened at home, what happened at college and her part in it. This is not a novel that tries to hide things or come up with some big twist – the twist is all embedded into the narrative already, it is in the heart of the main protagonist who may or may not be telling the whole truth.
I liked that about it – It was a clever little take on an oft done tale in an overcrowded genre and was very addictive, I read it in two sittings. I very much appreciated the way it lead you to the beautifully placed little ending and overall if you are a fan of this type of novel you will find this, I think, an adroit and immersive read.
Recommended
August 24, 2016
This is one of my least favorite books I have read in a long. It's a debut book from a young Australian writer about a young woman who gets caught up in not one but two murders. I found it to be a mish mash of an author trying to be suspenseful but it just didn't work for me.
Pen is off to college on a full scholarship and happy to be leaving her small town past behind her. She was involved in a murder when she was 15 with her best friend and the entire town hates her. Details are leaked throughout the entire story and when the true outcome of this murder is revealed it comes as no surprise.
As she enjoys the partying at school she runs into an odd assortment of people, discovers a drug smuggling ring, makes friends with the head of the college and becomes involved in school life. Attacks occur on female students by a "Screwdriver Man" and people become afraid. Dead bodies start turning up and Pen finds herself involved.
As I waded this meandering story, I just was so tired and wanted it over. There are no real likable characters and the big unveiling at the end was a foregone conclusion. I can explain it no other way than to say it was tiresome. There are too many good books out there to waste time on this one.
Thanks to Net Galley for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.
Pen is off to college on a full scholarship and happy to be leaving her small town past behind her. She was involved in a murder when she was 15 with her best friend and the entire town hates her. Details are leaked throughout the entire story and when the true outcome of this murder is revealed it comes as no surprise.
As she enjoys the partying at school she runs into an odd assortment of people, discovers a drug smuggling ring, makes friends with the head of the college and becomes involved in school life. Attacks occur on female students by a "Screwdriver Man" and people become afraid. Dead bodies start turning up and Pen finds herself involved.
As I waded this meandering story, I just was so tired and wanted it over. There are no real likable characters and the big unveiling at the end was a foregone conclusion. I can explain it no other way than to say it was tiresome. There are too many good books out there to waste time on this one.
Thanks to Net Galley for a copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.
May 1, 2016
This was a good debut crime thriller involving some troubled young students in a University campus where certain activities and occupations get out of control and have them worried about consequences.
When the body of a young girl student is found police get involved and certain other students come under closer scrutiny...one in particular...dredging up past histories and threatening to incriminate them.
Guilty, or just guilty by association? These are questions we keep asking ourselves as the story progresses, never really sure who is a perpetrator, a victim of chance, or just a rogue crooked individual.
Tensions are high on the campus as some of the female fraternity start to lobby for better security, though they seem to garner little support for their cause.
When another body is soon discovered things start to get serious and fingers start pointing.
And so it goes, backwards and forwards between connecting stories past and present until the dots are all joined at the end...or are they?
The story didn't grab me the way I was expecting it to, I think I was expecting something altogether different going by the reviews I had read.
The story itself was good and I have no qualms about that, just my perception of it was changed because I had (admittedly) preconceived ideas about it due to all the hype...my fault...so I was expecting something more edge of your seat and nail biting.
I definitely wouldn't shelve this as a psychological thriller, a crime/thriller/mystery yes...also I would shelve it as Young Adult.
'A court of law will never find you innocent...just not guilty'.
I will look out for more future writing from this author all the same.
3★s
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy to read and review.
March 25, 2016
Pen Sheppard is looking forward to starting University. She has won a bursary to live in college on campus and is looking forward to escaping her small rural town and studying law. Something very bad happened to Pen and her best friend Tracey when they were 15, leaving Tracey behind bars and Pen seeing a psychologist. Now she’s looking forward to a new start in a new town full of ‘all these perfect strangers’ with the chance to re-invent herself. However, the story opens with Pen back at the psychologist’s waiting room following several unexplained deaths at the college.
In this debut novel, Aiofe Clifford has created a slow burner with the story flipping backwards and forwards as Pen’s time at college is narrated alongside her later visits to the psychologist and the accounts that she writes for him in her diary. The suspense is ramped up slowly as the events of the past are gradually unveiled, although Pen is an unreliable narrator and the truth is not always clear. Everyone has their secrets and the truth and lies become confused and intertwined. Clifford brilliantly captures what it is like to be young and free, living in college, making new friends, navigating the rules for sex, alcohol and drugs, enjoying campus parties and somehow fitting in a bit of study. It’s hard to feel sympathy for Pen as she invents her own version of the truth and she comes across as an uncaring and self-centred friend. In the end some of Pen’s secrets start to unravel, but her future is left a little ambiguous. Overall, this was a gripping psychological thriller and a very good debut novel from an exciting new Aussie writer.
With thanks to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for a copy of the book to read and review
February 25, 2016
All These Perfect Strangers is a book that just didn't convey any suspense to me. There are a lot of moments that should be suspenseful, but just didn't come across that way.
The beginning grabbed me - "This is about three deaths. Actually more, if you go back far enough. I say deaths, but perhaps all of them were murders. It’s a grey area. Murder...." But the remainder of the book failed to live up to the start.
I don't mind flashbacks, but to me, these were unwieldy and didn't always seem to fit where they were inserted.
Pen Sheppard seems to have spent most of her life running .......either from or towards something.
Running away from her past, and a mother she is ashamed of, Pen heads for University and hopefully a life of obscurity, a life where she can reinvent herself, become the person she wants to be.
Yet within six months, three of her new friends are dead. And only Pen knows the reason why.
Sorry, but not a book I would recommend.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the gift of an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The beginning grabbed me - "This is about three deaths. Actually more, if you go back far enough. I say deaths, but perhaps all of them were murders. It’s a grey area. Murder...." But the remainder of the book failed to live up to the start.
I don't mind flashbacks, but to me, these were unwieldy and didn't always seem to fit where they were inserted.
Pen Sheppard seems to have spent most of her life running .......either from or towards something.
Running away from her past, and a mother she is ashamed of, Pen heads for University and hopefully a life of obscurity, a life where she can reinvent herself, become the person she wants to be.
Yet within six months, three of her new friends are dead. And only Pen knows the reason why.
Sorry, but not a book I would recommend.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the gift of an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
March 20, 2016
3 1/2 stars
My View:
Things don’t go wrong in an instant. There isn’t one single moment when the world suddenly splits in two. Rather, it begins with a minute crack, and then another and another, until they join together, getting bigger and wider and all the time you keep fooling yourself that this can still be fixed. That you can fill them in and everything will return to normal.” p.130
These statements sum up this book perfectly; as tiny cracks make themselves known flaws appear in personalities, in personal histories, in retelling of events. I really like the device of the diary to tell parts of the dual timeline stories. The trouble is Pen Sheppard is such an unreliable narrator that we never quite know if we are being shown the truth or a version of the truth, Aoife Clifford has baited her hook well, as a reader we just want to know what the mystery is in Pen’s home town, we are hooked.
The narrative rolls on, more dead bodies are found, the plot twists and turns and we understand a little more about why Pen acts the way she does, how trust is an issue, why she thinks her truth is dangerous. And dangerous it is! There were a few surprises that I didn’t see coming.
However I felt the ending let me and Aoife Clifford down. I won’t share any spoilers but will say that the ending left so much unsaid, so many loose ends, and so much history that needed righting (and writing). Maybe it is a sign of my investment in the book but I wanted more from this ending – justice was not served, so many details needed revealing to the police, so much information the reader had needed to be shared. I don’t like being left hanging. Maybe a novella is in the pipeline that will tidy the ending up?
Regardless of my dissatisfaction with the ending of this book it is a good debut, Aoife Clifford is an author to look out for.
My View:
Things don’t go wrong in an instant. There isn’t one single moment when the world suddenly splits in two. Rather, it begins with a minute crack, and then another and another, until they join together, getting bigger and wider and all the time you keep fooling yourself that this can still be fixed. That you can fill them in and everything will return to normal.” p.130
These statements sum up this book perfectly; as tiny cracks make themselves known flaws appear in personalities, in personal histories, in retelling of events. I really like the device of the diary to tell parts of the dual timeline stories. The trouble is Pen Sheppard is such an unreliable narrator that we never quite know if we are being shown the truth or a version of the truth, Aoife Clifford has baited her hook well, as a reader we just want to know what the mystery is in Pen’s home town, we are hooked.
The narrative rolls on, more dead bodies are found, the plot twists and turns and we understand a little more about why Pen acts the way she does, how trust is an issue, why she thinks her truth is dangerous. And dangerous it is! There were a few surprises that I didn’t see coming.
However I felt the ending let me and Aoife Clifford down. I won’t share any spoilers but will say that the ending left so much unsaid, so many loose ends, and so much history that needed righting (and writing). Maybe it is a sign of my investment in the book but I wanted more from this ending – justice was not served, so many details needed revealing to the police, so much information the reader had needed to be shared. I don’t like being left hanging. Maybe a novella is in the pipeline that will tidy the ending up?
Regardless of my dissatisfaction with the ending of this book it is a good debut, Aoife Clifford is an author to look out for.
September 2, 2017
This is about three deaths. Actually more, if you go back far enough. I say deaths, but perhaps all of them were murders. It's a grey area. Murder, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. So let's just call them deaths and say I was involved. This story could be told a hundred different ways.Within six months of Pen Sheppard starting university, three of her new friends are dead. Only Pen knows the reason why.
Things don't go wrong in an instant. There isn't one single moment when the world suddenly splits in two. Rather, it begins with a minute crack, and then another and another, until they join together, getting bigger and wider and all the time you keep fooling yourself that this can still be fixed. That you can fill them in and everything will return to normal.The Academic Night was the beginning. A hairline fracture, a fissure too small for Frank to notice. But I can hardly blame him; at the time I didn't see it either.College life had seemed like a wonderland of sex, drugs and maybe even love.
Looking up into his eyes, I wanted to shrink the world so it was only as large as the two of us, ask him if this could be love, but he was already moving his head, turning his eyes south to calculate the bare minimum of clothes that needed to be shed. We ended up having sex on that roof, minimal moving, fumbling, functional, rubber-infused sex.Full of perfect strangers, it felt like the ideal place for Pen to shed the confines of her small home town and reinvent herself. But the darkness of her past clings tight, and when the killings begin and friendships are betrayed, Pen’s secrets are revealed. The consequences are deadly.
Sometimes, other people pay the price for you trying to do the right thing.
The rest of this review can be found HERE!
August 3, 2017
4.5 ish stars.
I flew through this book, read it in one day and almost in one sitting.
This book is a suspenseful, thriller-mystery but then reads in some parts almost like a lighthearted contemporary YA novel. I've seen some reviews saying the general life-at-uni parts were unnecessary, but I found this juxtaposition of genres really worked for me. I loved it.
Penelope 'Pen' Sheppard has returned home from university after only six months; she has returned to a town that despises her for something that happened 3 years ago, involving her best friend Tracey- 'murderer', they call her. She thought going to university would mean getting away and starting over. But six months later she is back at home and back in therapy and three more people are dead. Only she knows what happened and why.
Told partially in the present (Pen in her small town, attending therapy and meetings with her lawyer) and partially in flashbacks through the diary she writes for therapy (mostly to her days at uni, and some of her and Tracey three years earlier) this is a book that will keep you turning the pages (or, tapping the screen of your Kindle, as I did)!
I flew through this book, read it in one day and almost in one sitting.
This book is a suspenseful, thriller-mystery but then reads in some parts almost like a lighthearted contemporary YA novel. I've seen some reviews saying the general life-at-uni parts were unnecessary, but I found this juxtaposition of genres really worked for me. I loved it.
Penelope 'Pen' Sheppard has returned home from university after only six months; she has returned to a town that despises her for something that happened 3 years ago, involving her best friend Tracey- 'murderer', they call her. She thought going to university would mean getting away and starting over. But six months later she is back at home and back in therapy and three more people are dead. Only she knows what happened and why.
Told partially in the present (Pen in her small town, attending therapy and meetings with her lawyer) and partially in flashbacks through the diary she writes for therapy (mostly to her days at uni, and some of her and Tracey three years earlier) this is a book that will keep you turning the pages (or, tapping the screen of your Kindle, as I did)!
August 24, 2016
Rating: 1/5
(I received a free copy from the publisher, Alibi, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.)
***Minor spoilers***
Penelope, nicknamed Pen, has been through a lot these past few years. She was involved in a court case a few years ago centred around her best friend, the prime suspect. The pieces of that court case come together as the novel goes on. She's now off to college, though, but it hasn't been the fantastic experience she wanted. In fact, it's been pretty much the opposite, since several of her acquaintances there have been killed. Pen is wondering why all these people are being killed by someone people on campus are dubbing "Screwdriver Man," since it appears the cause of death was a screwdriver. She also attempts to hide her own unintentional involvement in one of the deaths.
To start off, the timeline of this story is a bit confusing. In the present, Pen is going to a therapist so that they can write a letter stating that whatever happened at college messed her up, so that her lawyer can get her money from the college. This therapist is also the person who treated Pen for the court case several years ago. At therapy, she brings a journal which details what happened at college. However, the version she gives to her therapist is different from what actually happened, with some stuff altered or excluded. So basically, we read about what actually happened to her at college and then after we experience that, we go back to the present where Pen presents a certain version in therapy. It's quite confusing, especially because the whole college thing was only a few months prior to the present. It would've been easier to understand if it was dated back to a year ago or more so that it's more clear what happened when.
On top of the weird confusing format, I didn't like how much information was withheld from the reader. Sometimes withholding information helps build a suspense factor as the reader begins to itch wanting to know what's going on, but it didn't work here. There was just too much stuff I didn't know. The text kept alluding to whatever happened in the court case a few years ago, and saying that now people hate her, but as a reader we don't even know what happened. At least if the author was going to not tell us until literally the very last chapter of the book, it would be nice if it wasn't mentioned in every chapter. It just kept annoying me that this thing kept being mentioned with no explanation of what happened.
The characters were also quite stiff. I didn't find Pen relatable at all and at times it was hard to keep up with her huge string of lies. She was lying to everyone around her and even to herself, so it was hard to discern what the actual truth was. I didn't find the rest of the characters very great either. There wasn't one person who I found likeable. I get that you have to make some characters not likeable, but put at least one supporting character in who's kind and/or relatable so that if we don't like the protagonist there's someone else to like as well. Everyone was just a cut and dry stereotype. The mom who brings home a new boyfriend every other week, the mom's boyfriend who likes to assault the daughter, the college feminist who is a bit of a misandrist, and the list goes on.
Overall, I didn't like this book at all. All the information being hidden was aggravating, the timeline felt awkward, and I didn't like a single one of the characters. Also, there are several hints given in the present that partially says who is responsible for all the things that happened at college, so some of the suspense factor that could've been present was removed. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who's looking for an interesting mystery read. I just found it too annoying and confusing to enjoy.
(I received a free copy from the publisher, Alibi, via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.)
***Minor spoilers***
Penelope, nicknamed Pen, has been through a lot these past few years. She was involved in a court case a few years ago centred around her best friend, the prime suspect. The pieces of that court case come together as the novel goes on. She's now off to college, though, but it hasn't been the fantastic experience she wanted. In fact, it's been pretty much the opposite, since several of her acquaintances there have been killed. Pen is wondering why all these people are being killed by someone people on campus are dubbing "Screwdriver Man," since it appears the cause of death was a screwdriver. She also attempts to hide her own unintentional involvement in one of the deaths.
To start off, the timeline of this story is a bit confusing. In the present, Pen is going to a therapist so that they can write a letter stating that whatever happened at college messed her up, so that her lawyer can get her money from the college. This therapist is also the person who treated Pen for the court case several years ago. At therapy, she brings a journal which details what happened at college. However, the version she gives to her therapist is different from what actually happened, with some stuff altered or excluded. So basically, we read about what actually happened to her at college and then after we experience that, we go back to the present where Pen presents a certain version in therapy. It's quite confusing, especially because the whole college thing was only a few months prior to the present. It would've been easier to understand if it was dated back to a year ago or more so that it's more clear what happened when.
On top of the weird confusing format, I didn't like how much information was withheld from the reader. Sometimes withholding information helps build a suspense factor as the reader begins to itch wanting to know what's going on, but it didn't work here. There was just too much stuff I didn't know. The text kept alluding to whatever happened in the court case a few years ago, and saying that now people hate her, but as a reader we don't even know what happened. At least if the author was going to not tell us until literally the very last chapter of the book, it would be nice if it wasn't mentioned in every chapter. It just kept annoying me that this thing kept being mentioned with no explanation of what happened.
The characters were also quite stiff. I didn't find Pen relatable at all and at times it was hard to keep up with her huge string of lies. She was lying to everyone around her and even to herself, so it was hard to discern what the actual truth was. I didn't find the rest of the characters very great either. There wasn't one person who I found likeable. I get that you have to make some characters not likeable, but put at least one supporting character in who's kind and/or relatable so that if we don't like the protagonist there's someone else to like as well. Everyone was just a cut and dry stereotype. The mom who brings home a new boyfriend every other week, the mom's boyfriend who likes to assault the daughter, the college feminist who is a bit of a misandrist, and the list goes on.
Overall, I didn't like this book at all. All the information being hidden was aggravating, the timeline felt awkward, and I didn't like a single one of the characters. Also, there are several hints given in the present that partially says who is responsible for all the things that happened at college, so some of the suspense factor that could've been present was removed. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who's looking for an interesting mystery read. I just found it too annoying and confusing to enjoy.
July 21, 2016
I felt a bit out of my element as I am far removed from college life and the book would likely be better appreciated by those in their 20’s as they could better relate. But still, I felt it was a good effort and the dark story held my interest. The character of Pen, shedding her old life after leaving home and going away to college is a well-drawn character, albeit an unlikeable one. We learn more about her in flashbacks. After three of her new friends die, the questions begin. Is Pen a suspect? A victim? At the very least, trouble seems to have followed her. Interactions with her psychiatrist and police had me questioning and looking for clues. This was a decent psychological debut by Aussie author Aoife Clifford. Her story unpeeling secrets and lies, culminated with a twist.
Thanks to Random House Alibi for providing an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to Random House Alibi for providing an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
November 22, 2015
Book provided by NetGalley for an honest review.
I’m always excited to read an Aussie author’s debut book and full kudos to Aoife Clifford on the release of her first novel.
However, this book just didn’t grab me; YA and NA readers might disagree but I’ve read better in this genre, such as “Luckiest Girl Alive” and “Try Not to Breathe”.
There were pages and pages of dialogue where nothing happened and unfortunately I didn’t connect enough with Pen to care what happened in her history. The ‘in-set’ doing Law at university sounded more American than Australian and I kept trying to get a sense of where it was set.
The characters were convincing, interesting and relatable, I’m sure I met most of them in some form at university. I think this would be the ideal book for the NA reader to sink their teeth into.
I’m always excited to read an Aussie author’s debut book and full kudos to Aoife Clifford on the release of her first novel.
However, this book just didn’t grab me; YA and NA readers might disagree but I’ve read better in this genre, such as “Luckiest Girl Alive” and “Try Not to Breathe”.
There were pages and pages of dialogue where nothing happened and unfortunately I didn’t connect enough with Pen to care what happened in her history. The ‘in-set’ doing Law at university sounded more American than Australian and I kept trying to get a sense of where it was set.
The characters were convincing, interesting and relatable, I’m sure I met most of them in some form at university. I think this would be the ideal book for the NA reader to sink their teeth into.
Read
February 27, 2016 ARC kindly provided via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
DNF at 37%
Just couldn't get into this one. The blurb passage for the novel is great and I think it's a great idea for a storyline but I just don't find myself getting involved in the story.
I'm probably among the few who aren't into this book, as I've seen heaps of good ratings on Goodreads, but this ones just not for me.
DNF at 37%
Just couldn't get into this one. The blurb passage for the novel is great and I think it's a great idea for a storyline but I just don't find myself getting involved in the story.
I'm probably among the few who aren't into this book, as I've seen heaps of good ratings on Goodreads, but this ones just not for me.
February 6, 2016
I really wanted to like this book. Australian noir set at a university?!?! Yes please! But it's painfully plotted, devoid of any believable characters and has some of the clunkiest dialogue I've read. Admittedly crime is not totally my thing but Luckiest Girl Alive showed me that it could be. Sadly, this book was a disappointment for me.
March 14, 2016
‘This story could be told a hundred different ways.’
Somewhere in Australia, Pen Sheppard goes to university. The perfect place, perhaps, to escape from a small-town past. To reinvent yourself and make a new future. But within six months, three of her new friends are dead. What is Pen’s involvement in these deaths? What is the truth about Pen’s past? And just how reliable in Pen as a narrator?
‘This is about three deaths. Actually more, if you go back far enough. I say deaths, but perhaps all of them were murders. It’s a grey area. Murder, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. So let’s just call them deaths and say I was involved.’
The story unfolds in a number of ways: partly through a journal Pen is keeping for her therapist, partly through direct narrative. Pen moves between past and present, between her hometown and the university. We know that she is filtering what she writes for the therapist – the journal is intended as a means to an end, not as documenting a journey of self-discovery. Pen is trying to escape. But why, and from what?
University life seems perfect to start with: new friends, new experiences, freed from the past. But as Pen discovers, the past cannot be so easily abandoned. I found this novel absorbing. Many of the characters seemed real as did a number of the situations. I started to care about some of these characters. I wanted to know the truth.
I read this book comparatively slowly, resisting an impulse to read quickly to the end. Ms Clifford’s writing drew me in, but I needed time to absorb Pen’s story, to allow the atmosphere to build and to wonder about some of the other different ways in which it could be told.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster (Australia) for providing me with a free electronic copy of this novel for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Somewhere in Australia, Pen Sheppard goes to university. The perfect place, perhaps, to escape from a small-town past. To reinvent yourself and make a new future. But within six months, three of her new friends are dead. What is Pen’s involvement in these deaths? What is the truth about Pen’s past? And just how reliable in Pen as a narrator?
‘This is about three deaths. Actually more, if you go back far enough. I say deaths, but perhaps all of them were murders. It’s a grey area. Murder, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. So let’s just call them deaths and say I was involved.’
The story unfolds in a number of ways: partly through a journal Pen is keeping for her therapist, partly through direct narrative. Pen moves between past and present, between her hometown and the university. We know that she is filtering what she writes for the therapist – the journal is intended as a means to an end, not as documenting a journey of self-discovery. Pen is trying to escape. But why, and from what?
University life seems perfect to start with: new friends, new experiences, freed from the past. But as Pen discovers, the past cannot be so easily abandoned. I found this novel absorbing. Many of the characters seemed real as did a number of the situations. I started to care about some of these characters. I wanted to know the truth.
I read this book comparatively slowly, resisting an impulse to read quickly to the end. Ms Clifford’s writing drew me in, but I needed time to absorb Pen’s story, to allow the atmosphere to build and to wonder about some of the other different ways in which it could be told.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster (Australia) for providing me with a free electronic copy of this novel for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
July 12, 2016
I had to DNF this one. It wasn't just that I didn't like Pen, the unreliable narrator, but that I also didn't like any of the people she met. I didn't feel compelled to find out what happened to anyone, instead I felt annoyed at all of them.
So I stopped reading. There are so many books, and not nearly enough time to read all the ones I want to read. I threw this one back.
So I stopped reading. There are so many books, and not nearly enough time to read all the ones I want to read. I threw this one back.
April 30, 2020
Setting: Australia; 1987-1990. As the story opens, Penelope (Pen) Sheppard narrates the story as she arrives for her first term at university to study law, the university's first ever bursary student. She needs to get away from the small Australian town where her mother has a string of useless boyfriends and everyone knows everyone. More to the point, everyone has their own opinion about Pen and the incident as 15 year olds when she and her best friend Tracey were involved in the death of a policeman - Tracey got the blame but many in town still regard Pen as the guilty party, including Tracey's family.
So Pen's escape to university is a new start for her and she eventually begins to make connections with several of her fellow students. But when a number of female students are attacked on campus, Pen begins to wonder if bad things follow her wherever she goes. Although set in a pre-internet and social media era, her past can still be discovered with perseverance and, when one of the students does so, Pen worries that her story will come back to haunt her. When the attacks become murders, Pen is distraught but clearly involved in the lives of the victims and we come to see her as an unreliable narrator, both about events at university and those in her past with Tracey....
An intriguing read which, whilst never totally gripping me, was still good enough to keep me reading and I completed it in a bit over two days. I had decided who the murderer was at a fairly early stage and was proved to be right but hadn't expected the ending, where the reader is left to decide for themselves what does, and should, happen to Pen. Would certainly read more by this author - 8/10.
So Pen's escape to university is a new start for her and she eventually begins to make connections with several of her fellow students. But when a number of female students are attacked on campus, Pen begins to wonder if bad things follow her wherever she goes. Although set in a pre-internet and social media era, her past can still be discovered with perseverance and, when one of the students does so, Pen worries that her story will come back to haunt her. When the attacks become murders, Pen is distraught but clearly involved in the lives of the victims and we come to see her as an unreliable narrator, both about events at university and those in her past with Tracey....
An intriguing read which, whilst never totally gripping me, was still good enough to keep me reading and I completed it in a bit over two days. I had decided who the murderer was at a fairly early stage and was proved to be right but hadn't expected the ending, where the reader is left to decide for themselves what does, and should, happen to Pen. Would certainly read more by this author - 8/10.
March 8, 2024
Schade, ich mochte den sparsamen Stil und die Exposition. Aber sobald auch mal was aufgelöst werden muss, funktioniert es nicht mehr. In der zweiten Hälfte sind ein paar unmotivierte "vielleicht wird es ja verfilmt"-Szenen: die Protagonistin muss mit einer Taschenlampe in ein dunkles Gebäude, die Protagonistin muss durch den Wald laufen. Gegen Ende kommen zwei Auflöse- und Erklärszenen, und beide sind langweilige Zusammenfassungen langweiliger Plot-Ideen ("der Mörder war Mr. Dingenskirchen in der Bibliothek mit einer Heckenschere"). Der eigentliche Schluss ist dann wieder ganz gut. Es wirkt ein bisschen wie das Ergebnis von Unentschlossenheit: Will ich Psychologie und Uneindeutigkeit und Literaturpreise? Oder einen College-Slasher schreiben und die Filmrechte verkaufen?
May 16, 2019
Australian Crime! (TW rape/ past suicide mentioned/ past child and domestic abuse mentions)
This was a page-turner for me, where the main character, Pen, keeps her cards close to the vest even from the reader. You know she was previously a part of a trial, everyone blames her for something, and her best friend no longer speaks to her. But the why and what happened are only slowly revealed as she’s trying to start her life over at University. Except tensions are high at her new school with a recent attack on a student, and Pen’s new friend feels more like an enemy sometimes, and then people start to die… This one works for fans of past and present mysteries where you don’t know who you can, or should, trust.
--from Book Riot's Unusual Suspects newsletter: https://link.bookriot.com/view/56a820...
This was a page-turner for me, where the main character, Pen, keeps her cards close to the vest even from the reader. You know she was previously a part of a trial, everyone blames her for something, and her best friend no longer speaks to her. But the why and what happened are only slowly revealed as she’s trying to start her life over at University. Except tensions are high at her new school with a recent attack on a student, and Pen’s new friend feels more like an enemy sometimes, and then people start to die… This one works for fans of past and present mysteries where you don’t know who you can, or should, trust.
--from Book Riot's Unusual Suspects newsletter: https://link.bookriot.com/view/56a820...
March 1, 2016
We meet Penelope (Pen) Sheppard when she returns (to her hometown and) to the psychiatrist she hasn't visited for a couple of years. And it takes some time to find out why she visited Dr Frank Hennessy for a year off and on when she was 15.
She's there now after an incident at University and before he'll write a report to assist Pen in seeking compensation he asks her to write down her experiences and read through them during their sessions.
Really only seeing the process as a means to an ends, Pen does as requested, but finds that the diary she starts keeping becomes like a lifeline to her recent past and to her future.
The novel's set in 1990 which is a similar era to my own time at University and I very much related to life in a residential college on a University campus. Everything from the college 'shop' to formal dinners to wine (or vodka) mixed with red cordial brought my own Uni and college years to mind.
I really enjoyed Clifford's characters. Pen is flawed, but a wonderful narrator and it's really hard not to like her. I noted some other comments from readers wondering how trustworthy she is / was. I believe she was honest with us (her diary). Less so with others... of course.
I didn't see the events of the very end coming, but I wasn't a huge fan.
I don't mind a book ended in a way that's shocking or sad or unfair, but this just left me hanging. Indeed I re-read the last few pages several times to make sure I didn't miss something that would give me a sense of where Clifford wanted to take it.
This was easily a 4-star read for me. Perhaps 4.5 though might have been a 5 with a slightly different ending. It would be a great read for bookclubs as there's a lot to debate in this wonderful debut.
Read the full review in my blog: http://www.debbish.com/books-literatu...
____
SPOILER!!!! Do not read any further if you haven't read the book!
As an aside, why didn't Pen say she and Michael were fighting on the roof and he fell off? She was obviously injured and there was evidence of his involvement in several of the crimes. It would have negated any suspicion around the direction of his fall.
She's there now after an incident at University and before he'll write a report to assist Pen in seeking compensation he asks her to write down her experiences and read through them during their sessions.
Really only seeing the process as a means to an ends, Pen does as requested, but finds that the diary she starts keeping becomes like a lifeline to her recent past and to her future.
The novel's set in 1990 which is a similar era to my own time at University and I very much related to life in a residential college on a University campus. Everything from the college 'shop' to formal dinners to wine (or vodka) mixed with red cordial brought my own Uni and college years to mind.
I really enjoyed Clifford's characters. Pen is flawed, but a wonderful narrator and it's really hard not to like her. I noted some other comments from readers wondering how trustworthy she is / was. I believe she was honest with us (her diary). Less so with others... of course.
I didn't see the events of the very end coming, but I wasn't a huge fan.
I don't mind a book ended in a way that's shocking or sad or unfair, but this just left me hanging. Indeed I re-read the last few pages several times to make sure I didn't miss something that would give me a sense of where Clifford wanted to take it.
This was easily a 4-star read for me. Perhaps 4.5 though might have been a 5 with a slightly different ending. It would be a great read for bookclubs as there's a lot to debate in this wonderful debut.
Read the full review in my blog: http://www.debbish.com/books-literatu...
____
SPOILER!!!! Do not read any further if you haven't read the book!
As an aside, why didn't Pen say she and Michael were fighting on the roof and he fell off? She was obviously injured and there was evidence of his involvement in several of the crimes. It would have negated any suspicion around the direction of his fall.
June 23, 2019
All These Perfect Strangers is a gut-wrenching piece of brilliance.
It’s also a fascinating study in how we define “telling the truth,” and how two parties armed with the same set of facts can see a series of events as two different stories with different conclusions.
This book has a lot of moving parts (just how I like it), all of which come together in the end to explain how a single tragedy set off a horrifying series of events.
Pen is one of the most interesting characters I’ve encountered in quite some time. Despite the fact that we have nothing in common, I felt for her, related to her.
I’m a touch perturbed by reviewers referring to her as an Unreliable Narrator. Is she? Or is her truth just too awful to be believed?
Despite the improbably high body count, this story is a near-flawless suspense novel, perfect for fans of Tana French and Donna Tartt.
It’s also a fascinating study in how we define “telling the truth,” and how two parties armed with the same set of facts can see a series of events as two different stories with different conclusions.
This book has a lot of moving parts (just how I like it), all of which come together in the end to explain how a single tragedy set off a horrifying series of events.
Pen is one of the most interesting characters I’ve encountered in quite some time. Despite the fact that we have nothing in common, I felt for her, related to her.
I’m a touch perturbed by reviewers referring to her as an Unreliable Narrator. Is she? Or is her truth just too awful to be believed?
Despite the improbably high body count, this story is a near-flawless suspense novel, perfect for fans of Tana French and Donna Tartt.
March 11, 2016
In 2013 Aoife Clifford was awarded an Australian Society of Author's mentorship to help bring this debut novel - ALL THESE PERFECT STRANGERS - to fruition. To be fair to those who have read it and are finding the idea that this is a debut novel hard to believe, she has form. Shortlisted for the UK Crime Writers Association Debut Dagger, Clifford won the Ned Kelly / S.D. Harvey Short Story Award and a Sisters in Crime Scarlet Stiletto. What she has now produced is an assured, clever and profoundly disconcerting psychological thriller.
In the manner of all slow burner, tightly controlled psychological suspense novels, ALL THESE PERFECT STRANGERS is beautifully crafted. Told from Pen's viewpoint it combines the tantalising prospect of an unreliable narrator, or a past too dreadful to be revealed. By taking the reader straight into the life and mind of young Pen Sheppard as she is about to leave her small hometown, her difficult mother and a fraught childhood behind, heading for University and life within the walls of a typical residential college, the reader is immediately dragged straight into a relationship with this character. And it's discomforting to know so little about somebody, and yet be so intimately involved.
The narrative itself switches between the present of life in the College as she sets out to build a new life, start again, move on from a secret that nobody needs to know about and the alternative present of her "other life" where she is under the care of a psychiatrist - dealing with something from her University days that possibly has longer term and more deep seated elements behind it. As she tentatively makes friends, and the group settle into life in College, they party and they get to know each other - exactly as you'd expect from people this age. Then things implode with a series of attacks on the campus, and a dead student who may or may not have succumbed to a dreadful accident.
An exploration of truth, and presentation, ALL THESE PERFECT STRANGERS really does throw harsh lights on the perception of teenage life. The hesitancy with which the truth of Penn's background is revealed matches beautifully with her personality. The shakiness of the quickly formed friendships is as revealing as the way that edifices start to crumble. The good and bad start to reveal themselves (and it's not all bad), all of which exactly as you'd expect of a group of "perfect strangers" thrust into close proximity, the tension heightened by the threat of an unknown attacker. In this instance even the use of "perfect" in the title is exquisitely nuanced. Are they "perfect" people or will they always be "perfect strangers", is what you see really what you get, or are the persona's they have all constructed as deep and difficult as that which Pen hides behind?
It is a slow burner though, and you may start out profoundly confused about what's going on and why, but it is a very short trip from there to not able to put it down territory. As you'd expect from something this complex, layered, and confronting not everything is wrapped up in a neat bow, as it most definitely should never be. There's so much in ALL THESE PERFECT STRANGERS that is open to interpretation that it's only right that the reader is likely to be left with as many questions as answers.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/revie...
In the manner of all slow burner, tightly controlled psychological suspense novels, ALL THESE PERFECT STRANGERS is beautifully crafted. Told from Pen's viewpoint it combines the tantalising prospect of an unreliable narrator, or a past too dreadful to be revealed. By taking the reader straight into the life and mind of young Pen Sheppard as she is about to leave her small hometown, her difficult mother and a fraught childhood behind, heading for University and life within the walls of a typical residential college, the reader is immediately dragged straight into a relationship with this character. And it's discomforting to know so little about somebody, and yet be so intimately involved.
The narrative itself switches between the present of life in the College as she sets out to build a new life, start again, move on from a secret that nobody needs to know about and the alternative present of her "other life" where she is under the care of a psychiatrist - dealing with something from her University days that possibly has longer term and more deep seated elements behind it. As she tentatively makes friends, and the group settle into life in College, they party and they get to know each other - exactly as you'd expect from people this age. Then things implode with a series of attacks on the campus, and a dead student who may or may not have succumbed to a dreadful accident.
An exploration of truth, and presentation, ALL THESE PERFECT STRANGERS really does throw harsh lights on the perception of teenage life. The hesitancy with which the truth of Penn's background is revealed matches beautifully with her personality. The shakiness of the quickly formed friendships is as revealing as the way that edifices start to crumble. The good and bad start to reveal themselves (and it's not all bad), all of which exactly as you'd expect of a group of "perfect strangers" thrust into close proximity, the tension heightened by the threat of an unknown attacker. In this instance even the use of "perfect" in the title is exquisitely nuanced. Are they "perfect" people or will they always be "perfect strangers", is what you see really what you get, or are the persona's they have all constructed as deep and difficult as that which Pen hides behind?
It is a slow burner though, and you may start out profoundly confused about what's going on and why, but it is a very short trip from there to not able to put it down territory. As you'd expect from something this complex, layered, and confronting not everything is wrapped up in a neat bow, as it most definitely should never be. There's so much in ALL THESE PERFECT STRANGERS that is open to interpretation that it's only right that the reader is likely to be left with as many questions as answers.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/revie...
August 6, 2016
None of us ever pick up a book with the expectations of disliking it, nor do most of us enjoy writing negative reviews. But it happens, and this is one of those instances for me.
I'll start with a positive note: I love the premise for this story. The author writes well, as far as engaging sentences and showing action.
Sadly, my enjoyment stops there.
So much of this book didn't work for me. I'll start with the most glaring irritation. This story is told in three different timelines, all from Pen's perspective. We have the present timeline, which turns out to be a very small part of the story. Then we have the recent past, in which we spend a whole lot of time. This takes place during Pen's first year of college. And then we have the more distant past, in which we visit her teen, pre-college years. These timelines are jumbled together and the story winds up feeling disjointed.
I almost gave up at the beginning, and perhaps I should have so I wouldn't be writing this uncomfortable review. We spend an inordinate amount of time doing nothing but hanging out at college, watching young adults interact, talk about each other, drink, and have sex. No one studies. Ever. There was no suspense here, and not even much of interest going on. These young adults were mostly rude to each other, and they were not particularly likable.
It took me a while to figure out that this part is a flashback of sorts, as Pen tells her story to herself as she works out what to tell her psychologist in the story's present timeline.
The plot's execution took what could have been a dark, suspenseful story and dragged us around to the point where the eventual unveiling was anticlimactic. A point exists in which a tantalizing detail is held out as suspense for so long that the constant alluding to that detail becomes an annoyance. This book far surpassed that point.
Then we have the characters, who are lacking a spark of life. Here we have a bunch of college kids, with murders happening all around them, yet no one seems particularly disturbed by this. Pen herself is the quintessential unreliable character. She lies to her friends, to her mother, to her psychologist, to the police, and to herself. Her constant lies, combined with the jumbled timelines and dragged out attempt at suspense left me wondering what, if anything, was real in this story.
The major twist toward the end didn't surprise me much at all, because of the way the particular character stood out throughout.
The ending isn't a complete ending. We're left to conjecture and assumptions as to how the rest of the story played out.
Overall, the story is a confusing accumulation of events that left me feeling disconnected from any emotion or suspense.
*I was provided with an advance ebook copy by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.*
I'll start with a positive note: I love the premise for this story. The author writes well, as far as engaging sentences and showing action.
Sadly, my enjoyment stops there.
So much of this book didn't work for me. I'll start with the most glaring irritation. This story is told in three different timelines, all from Pen's perspective. We have the present timeline, which turns out to be a very small part of the story. Then we have the recent past, in which we spend a whole lot of time. This takes place during Pen's first year of college. And then we have the more distant past, in which we visit her teen, pre-college years. These timelines are jumbled together and the story winds up feeling disjointed.
I almost gave up at the beginning, and perhaps I should have so I wouldn't be writing this uncomfortable review. We spend an inordinate amount of time doing nothing but hanging out at college, watching young adults interact, talk about each other, drink, and have sex. No one studies. Ever. There was no suspense here, and not even much of interest going on. These young adults were mostly rude to each other, and they were not particularly likable.
It took me a while to figure out that this part is a flashback of sorts, as Pen tells her story to herself as she works out what to tell her psychologist in the story's present timeline.
The plot's execution took what could have been a dark, suspenseful story and dragged us around to the point where the eventual unveiling was anticlimactic. A point exists in which a tantalizing detail is held out as suspense for so long that the constant alluding to that detail becomes an annoyance. This book far surpassed that point.
Then we have the characters, who are lacking a spark of life. Here we have a bunch of college kids, with murders happening all around them, yet no one seems particularly disturbed by this. Pen herself is the quintessential unreliable character. She lies to her friends, to her mother, to her psychologist, to the police, and to herself. Her constant lies, combined with the jumbled timelines and dragged out attempt at suspense left me wondering what, if anything, was real in this story.
The major twist toward the end didn't surprise me much at all, because of the way the particular character stood out throughout.
The ending isn't a complete ending. We're left to conjecture and assumptions as to how the rest of the story played out.
Overall, the story is a confusing accumulation of events that left me feeling disconnected from any emotion or suspense.
*I was provided with an advance ebook copy by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.*
July 7, 2016
“This is about three deaths. Actually more, if you go back far enough. I say deaths but perhaps all of them were murders. It’s a gray area. Murder, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. So let’s just call them deaths and say I was involved. This story could be told a hundred different ways.”
All These Perfect Strangers by Aoife Clifford tells the story of Pen (Penelope), a young girl who has just left home to begin college. But something has happened in her past, something grave, not revealed in the beginning of the story. Then, during her first few months at school, something cataclysmic happens, and Pen is back home, meeting with her former psychiatrist who is trying to get her to tell everything that happened. The story is told from Pen's perspective, the psychiatrist had asked her to write down everything, so the story is her diary of the events. But Pen has secrets, both from the earlier incident and from what happened at college--she is determined to reveal only what suits her and her "story."
"I wonder if this could be a way I can tell my story and be silent as well. Could I write down 'the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth'? That phrase isn’t in my Criminal Law book. I expect it’s in the evidence textbook, which you don’t need until your final year. Telling the whole truth means more than just an absence of lies. It means revealing all the secrets you know. I didn’t tell the whole truth when I was sixteen and went to court. I haven’t told the whole truth about what happened at uni. Perhaps I could tell it this once and then never again. Write it down but read out only the parts I want Frank to hear."
Overall, this was a good read, but somewhere around 3/4 into the book I got tired of the story and found myself not even caring anymore about the characters, the mysteries or the secrets. But then it picked up again all the way to the end. I'd rate this 3.5-4 stars; much of it was excellent reading.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing for a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.
All These Perfect Strangers by Aoife Clifford tells the story of Pen (Penelope), a young girl who has just left home to begin college. But something has happened in her past, something grave, not revealed in the beginning of the story. Then, during her first few months at school, something cataclysmic happens, and Pen is back home, meeting with her former psychiatrist who is trying to get her to tell everything that happened. The story is told from Pen's perspective, the psychiatrist had asked her to write down everything, so the story is her diary of the events. But Pen has secrets, both from the earlier incident and from what happened at college--she is determined to reveal only what suits her and her "story."
"I wonder if this could be a way I can tell my story and be silent as well. Could I write down 'the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth'? That phrase isn’t in my Criminal Law book. I expect it’s in the evidence textbook, which you don’t need until your final year. Telling the whole truth means more than just an absence of lies. It means revealing all the secrets you know. I didn’t tell the whole truth when I was sixteen and went to court. I haven’t told the whole truth about what happened at uni. Perhaps I could tell it this once and then never again. Write it down but read out only the parts I want Frank to hear."
Overall, this was a good read, but somewhere around 3/4 into the book I got tired of the story and found myself not even caring anymore about the characters, the mysteries or the secrets. But then it picked up again all the way to the end. I'd rate this 3.5-4 stars; much of it was excellent reading.
Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing for a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.
August 16, 2017
I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
3 stars. All These Perfect Strangers comes out of the gate swinging. ‘This is about three deaths. Actually more, if you go back far enough. I say deaths, but perhaps all of them were murders. It’s a grey area. Murder, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. So let’s just call them deaths and say I was involved. This story could be told a hundred different ways.’ But in the end, it is just not as gripping as opening paragraph.
Pen is an unreliable narrator and you are immediately questioning what is true and what is not. She says herself that she is a liar. I don't mind this in a novel, but for some reason, the story just didn't grab me the way that I expect. I felt like it really dragged out and picked up in the last 10%.
There weren't any twists and turns that I couldn't see coming and in the end I felt like the ending was a disappointment. I don't need everything to be wrapped up in a nice bow at the end to enjoy a book, but it seemed like there was too much filler in the middle and then the ending felt rushed and left a lot unsaid. Not to mention that I had just about everything figured out anyway, so getting to the end was sort of a let down that I was actually right.
All in all, I think I would pass on this book. It just wasn't doing anything for me.
3 stars. All These Perfect Strangers comes out of the gate swinging. ‘This is about three deaths. Actually more, if you go back far enough. I say deaths, but perhaps all of them were murders. It’s a grey area. Murder, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. So let’s just call them deaths and say I was involved. This story could be told a hundred different ways.’ But in the end, it is just not as gripping as opening paragraph.
Pen is an unreliable narrator and you are immediately questioning what is true and what is not. She says herself that she is a liar. I don't mind this in a novel, but for some reason, the story just didn't grab me the way that I expect. I felt like it really dragged out and picked up in the last 10%.
There weren't any twists and turns that I couldn't see coming and in the end I felt like the ending was a disappointment. I don't need everything to be wrapped up in a nice bow at the end to enjoy a book, but it seemed like there was too much filler in the middle and then the ending felt rushed and left a lot unsaid. Not to mention that I had just about everything figured out anyway, so getting to the end was sort of a let down that I was actually right.
All in all, I think I would pass on this book. It just wasn't doing anything for me.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 418 reviews