Strange Sally Diamond

I picked up this book at the B&N’s Blind Date With a Book display. I loved the entire concept of selecting a mystery book based on a one-sentence teaser. Especially because they were lovingly wrapped by hand and the handwriting must have taken good effort (if they used the cursive it would have been even more attractive). As a public relations professional I think this marketing technique is brilliant, tapping into the book lovers’ serendipitous desire to be surprised with something new.

Most of the books on that display sounded like romantic literature (not my cup of tea, I only look into it sardonically as food for my satire). But there was something about this one that pulled me to it. It must have been the media connection… Wouldn’t you be drawn to it?

I unwrapped it immediately after I got home. I read the blurbs and the young Irish author's bio. It seemed like something I would be interested in.

And then I opened the book and it was all in a 9-point font! Well, maybe 10 but still impossible for me to manage without my readers. I still hate using them (started only about a year ago) and when did they decide to print books in such a small font? I understand saving the trees and packing text onto the page, but it was a little too much.

When I finally started reading it a couple of days later I was immediately drawn in by the main character, Sally Diamond, who indeed sounded strange in her telling her own story. Autistic? Socially awkward? It took me awhile to figure out that her detachment and emotion-free narration was a result of a horrific childhood trauma that had been suppressed in her memory rather than worked through.

I have read enough books and watched documentaries and listened to true crime podcasts about various narcissistic sociopaths and pedophiles to figure out where the story was going. I have also met enough narcissists in real life to immediately recognize abusive and destructive patterns in the described behavior. I even have written a couple of stories about them here: Inventing Anna and Fake It Till You Make It. And still, Liz Nugent packed the book with enough twists to make it shockingly dark and horrific. To what depths of depravity can humans go? You will find out if you read the book.

I was also fascinated with the structure of the novel: starting in Part 2, it runs in parallel timelines of the two main characters who inevitably converge. You are kept on edge by the expectation and guessing of how and where they will meet and what will come out of it. To me, that expectation and curiosity was the main driving force of the plot. The COVID-19 pandemic is a strong force in the background as well, so as a reader you can relate to those relatively fresh painful memories, making the book strikingly current. The fact that it is set in Ireland and New Zealand also added to my fascination: I visited Ireland in 2013 and could easily picture the scenery, and New Zealand is on my bucket list.

It is not a happy ending book. For the two main characters, it is quite sad and frustrating, although Nugent leaves the door open for Sally to re-enter the happier life she'd been able to achieve with the help of a therapist. As an optimist, I want to hope that she pulls herself out of the downward spiral and goes through that door. I also liked the fact that the book ends with the third character willfully breaking the cycle of generational trauma and abuse. That's where the main hope resides.

I highly recommend the book to readers who are interested in twisted minds and psychology of sociopaths. Every one of them is different in one's own making and craziness, so there will be no shortage of stories on that front. I enjoyed this novel with its novel approach to tackling the story and elegant but quite straightforward writing.