Day: December 17, 2021

The Stepson, a new psych thriller from Jane Renshaw, has a lot going for it, but there are a few things that almost derailed it for me.

Let’s start with the good.

I like how the author crafted the story. There are unreliable narrators, which makes it difficult to know who is telling the truth at any given time.

There are two timelines and each of them has a main narrator, although other characters chime in as well.

Maggie (in the past) is unreliable due to her personal history. Lulu (in the present) is similar. Although with Lulu, the reader gets that information more from Lulu’s own perceptions of herself than from actual occurrences.

And then there is Nick.

He is the center point of the entire novel, both past, and present. Is he a victim? Is he a brilliant sociopath? The reader is never quite sure.

The author does a good job, especially in the “past” scenes of sowing a seed of doubt. Is Maggie overreactive, or is Nick really creepy?

As events come to a head in both timelines, Nick’s character becomes much clearer. All questions are answered at the end.

I also think that the ending is very satisfying. Definitely one of the best ones I have read recently.

Now to the bad.  

It feels more like a first novel. I have read and liked stories from this author before (Watch Over Me, No Place Like Home, The Child Who Never Was). Unless this is a re-write/re-edit of an earlier novel, I know that is not the case.

But the writing is not sharp, and there are several areas that need editing. At times, the writing is very elementary – verging on lazy.

For example, there is excessive use of “wee” as an adjective (wee bastard, wee coffee shop, wee smile). At one point, I started counting the usage and gave up when I passed 100 after a few chapters.

I get that it is common usage, and establishes character, but this is excessive by any measure. And it is frankly annoying.

All of that being said, if a reader can get past the writing and focus on the story itself, they will find that The Stepson is a decent psych thriller with a satisfying ending.  

Author Bio 

As a child, Jane spent a lot of time in elaborate Lego worlds populated by tiny plastic animals and people. Crime levels were high, especially after the Dragon brothers set themselves up as vets and started murdering the animals in their ‘care’. (They got away with it by propping the victims up with Plasticine and pretending they were still alive…)

As an adult, she is still playing in imaginary worlds and putting her characters through hell – but now she can call it ‘writing’ and convince herself that she is doing something sensible. In real life, she has a PhD in genetics and copy-edits scientific and medical journals.Jane writes psychological thrillers. The Stepson will be her fourth novel published with Inkubator Books.