Group review: The main characters, a mother and daughter, are convincing and unusual. Grace and Jenny communicate as ‘half’ ghosts with practiced banter, alongside justified frustration and distress.

Nothing in this book is predictable. The main themes of family, friendship and helplessness are used to maintain the suspense until the end. There is an indication of family abuse, but this is not fully investigated. Grace’s husband Michael and their son, Adam, do not share a close relationship. There is more than a hint of jealousy when Adam and his sister, Jenny, target their father to gain his attention, looking for signs of love and approval. Grace and Michael’s marriage lacks passionate commitment, but it endures. Their family tragedy seems to strengthen their attachment to each other: “You kissed me and the sum of our marriage was greater than the differences.”

The ending is significant and appropriate. One of our readers would like to have known more about the survivors’ fates and who would get into the most trouble for what happened.

The average mark was 7 out of 10.