Did not expect the ending! ( )

Publisher’s synopsis
One fatal crash. Two colliding worlds. Three wrecked lives.
School teacher Ben is driving on the motorway, on his usual commute to work.
A day like any other…
Except for one man who, in a final despairing act, jumps in front of Ben’s car, turning the teacher’s world upside down in a single horrifying instant…
Wracked with guilt and desperate to clear his conscience, he develops a friendship with Alice, the dead man’s wife, and her 7-year-old son Max.
But as he tries to escape the trauma of the wreckage, could he go too far in trying to make amends?

I was asked to review the audio version of this story and have to admit to feeling some apprehension because my only previous experience of an audiobook had been something of a disaster as I'd found the narrator’s voice so boring that I found myself nodding off mid-sentence far too often! However, from the start of this one I realised that the experience of listening would be very different because the voices of the two main characters, Alice (Emilia Fox) and Ben (Jack Hawkins), pulled me in immediately, enabling me to immediately build up a picture of them and to engage with the rapidly evolving story. Kobna Holdbrook-Smith was equally convincing in his evocation of Adam, whose voice isn’t heard until very late in the book but then had the effect of forcing me to reassess everything I thought I knew about him and his relationship with Alice.
The majority of this rather dark, tension-filled story is told from the alternating points of view of Ben and Alice. Through their reflections on the events which had led to the intersecting of their lives in such a catastrophic way, their developing relationship and the increasingly close relationship Ben establishes with seven-year-old Max, the complex nature of their interactions begins to emerge. It soon becomes clear that Alice’s husband, Adam, had struggled with suicidal thoughts for many years and in her early interactions with Ben, she sought to reassure him that the accident was not his fault, even though she was finding his sudden presence in her life somewhat intrusive and incomprehensible. Their alternating voices immediately enabled me to experience, in an almost visceral way, the characters’ very different reactions to the same events and, right from the start, made me constantly question their motivations and expectations. It’s no exaggeration to say that I found myself almost constantly wrong-footed, a sense of disquiet which continued to the very last page!
The portrayals of these two flawed, often disagreeable but totally convincing characters, were excellent and even when I found myself becoming impatient with what felt like some unreasonable reactions and questionable decision-making, I was, nevertheless, able to understand what was compelling their behaviour. I was impressed with the very effective ways in which the author slowly, but relentlessly, intensified the tension in the developing story. Throughout there was an insistent sense of menace in the narration and there were moments, when the story would take yet another dark turn, when it began to feel almost unbearable to remain with the tension … but it proved equally impossible not to continue to listen!
The co-dependency of Alice and Ben’s relationship was very convincingly captured and demonstrated how easy it is for two vulnerable, psychologically damaged people to be drawn together at times of crisis. It’s difficult to go into too much detail without introducing spoilers, but I think that the author showed an impressive depth of understanding about the nature of obsession, obsessive and coercive behaviour and used this to very good effective to explore his characters’ reactions to one another.
Mental illness, bipolar disorder, suicide, trauma, bereavement, grief, loss, obsessional behaviour, abuse are some of the many issues explored in a sensitive and psychologically-convincing way in this story and for this reason I think it would make an excellent choice for book groups. It is now more than three weeks since I finished listening but I find myself continuing to reflect on some of the thought-provoking elements of the story … and I remain in awe of the chilling nature of the final twist, conveyed via the final sentence!
The brilliance of the author’s control over his character and plot development is demonstrated throughout his story-telling and feels even more impressive when one remembers that this is a debut novel. It is a very visual story, one which I could easily imagine being adapted to the small screen.
With my thanks to NB (literary magazine) for offering me the opportunity to review an audio version of this psychological thriller and I feel pleased that I’m able to be write so positively about it. However, much as I enjoyed it, my first love will always be curling up on a sofa with the weight of a “real” book in my hands … in fact I’m now feeling tempted to buy a copy of The Wreckage so that I can discover what extra depths I’ll discover via the printed word! ( )