Blueeyedboy: the second in a trilogy of dark, chilling and witty psychological thrillers from bestselling author Joanne Harris

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Engrossing psychological thriller...a novel of unusual complexity...Harris, best known for Chocolat , again shows her skill and versatility' -- Mail on Sunday

If you’re studying this book as part of a readers’ group, here are a few resources to help you get started. Note: questions do contain spoilers, so read the book first if you want to avoid them... You're reading this online. I'm writing this on a computer. I could tell you that my name's Louise, that I'm twenty-two, fully sighted, I'm slim, blonde, blue-eyed and love to play sports. Actually only one of these facts is correct, but how could you know truth from fiction? The book is cleverly written. A trail of clues is left dotted about, but they often seem incidental and only later does their relevance become apparent. None of the major characters, however, are particularly likeable, in fact rather the reverse. BB is irritating, self obsessed and covert even in his on-line persona. One can feel a bit more sympathy for Albertine, but even she does not seem like an innocent blameless victim. Everyone has their own selfish, and sometimes perverse motives. Unfortunately, this can make it difficult to really care about what happens to any of the characters in the book. But the idea behind the story, of the lies and stories made up by the on-line personas and their stark contrast to the reality that is gradually revealed, is an interesting one, and if you like Joanne Harris's books, then you'll like this one.Imagine she’d lived a normal life: a house, a son, a husband, a job in an indie bookshop. Not a very happy life, but a normal, boring, suburban life in a busy part of London. The format of the novel was great - through private and public entries into an online journal, the reader is able to piece together a fractured, horrible tale. Change the plan you will roll onto at any time during your trial by visiting the “Settings & Account” section. What happens at the end of my trial? I got impatient to read blueeyedboy. You sort of expect Joanne Harris' work to show up in charity shops in short notice: I've found most of the rest of her work there, in my charity shop binges, after all. But I got tired of waiting, and didn't want to wait until Christmas, so I actually bought it for the Kindle app on my phone. That made it very convenient to read a chapter here and there -- even two chapters while I waited for Delta Maid to get off the stage so Seth Lakeman would come on! -- so that meant I read this quite fast, but in snatches, whenever it was convenient... Without doubt, my favourite holiday read ! I'm still not entirely sure what happened or who is who, but mesmerizing ! And Ma, what a disgusting mother she is.

Some of it is planning, but a book, to me, has to remain organic. If I plan too rigidly I tend to find the plot starts to overwhelm the characters and the characters start to serve the plot. That is death to a book, so I tend to like a general trajectory, and I fill in the details as I go along.I was initially captured by the blurb of this novel. I've never read anything else by Joanne Harris, and found myself loving the psychological thrill behind the brief description. Imagine if she’d lived a normal life: a house, a son, a husband, a job in an indie bookshop. Not a very happy life, but a normal, boring, suburban life in a busy part of London. Like an actor, I don’t feel myself possessed by characters. I can take off the clothes at the end of the day, and say, ‘right, that’s you done’.”

I’m a Joanne Harris’ fan, I’ve read and enjoyed many of her books so I was surprised I didn’t like this novel more. Her books are now published in over 50 countries and have won a number of British and international awards. In 2013 she was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List. Another attribute that Monarch calls out is the fact that it is “Private & Exclusive. Monarch is only available to members and not to the general public. Like-minded members will be able to work towards their fitness and health goals without distraction.” You may also opt to downgrade to Standard Digital, a robust journalistic offering that fulfils many user’s needs. Compare Standard and Premium Digital here. It is with a sigh and a heavy heart that I write this review, as (as I said) I am a huge Joanne Harris fan but this book felt like such a departure from her other books that I love so much – even Gentlemen and Players which is also classed as a thriller but which I loved (it was very plot driven and had humour as well as some great charaters and twists).

🍪 Privacy & Transparency

I have a friend who spends most of her life online. She’s in a wheelchair and cannot speak. The internet is her window on the world. In the street, she is a victim in a wheelchair, but online she is ebullient, funny and kind of flirtatious. It’s an interesting new personality. Before her stroke she was a quiet, timid person.” blueeyedboy is dark, and not feel-good at all. The theme of food is there, but twisted, where before it's always seemed like a kind of good magic, in Harris' work -- although again, I can see a theme continuing, like the smell of oranges from Five Quarters of the Orange. I was assured blueeyedboy was a big departure from Joanne Harris' usual. I really don't think so: her writing style bleeds through into the characters, and whenever she writes in first person or third person limited, her style bleeds through. There's something about it -- a hint of flavour, perhaps (appropriate, to be a synaesthete commenting on this book!), something in the phrasing... Anyway, that seemed typically her, and the darkness, the twisted relationships... I can see where in the rest of the work they come from.

For her next novel, Harris intends to please the fans who found Blueeyedboy a bit too hot to handle. Why is BB so attracted to Emily? What does he see in her? Do you think he identifies with her? Or does he want to be like her?Okos, csavaros, bonyolult. Nyomokban St. Oswaldot is tartalmaz, de inkább sok minden mást. Fikció és valóság mezsgyéjén egyensúlyoz, átverésekkel és fantáziákkal, színes-szagos szavakkal. Még a mesei elem sem marad ki: a három fiútestvér... És a tragédia. Pardon, tragédiÁK.