The Returners - Gemma Malley

"You know that feeling. That unnerving sense of being followed? The watching. The waiting. Will Hodge has that feeling. He has that feeling every single day.

Will may be many thing - friendless, unhappy, a loner - but he isn't paranoid. People are following him and they claim to know him. He can't remember them, at least not at first. And when he does, he doesn't like what he remembers.

Will discovers that he has a past far deeper than most, and the struggle to break free of the powerful hold history has on him may well become a struggle for life over death."    

This book has such an interesting premise. Its about the Returners. People who come back reincarnated over and over again. They serve a purpose, to remember the lives they have lived. I read it in a day, that's normal for me, but I still gobbled it up faster then most. I loved the whole mystery of the book. Strange people are following our hero around and they all have ‘weird’ eyes. The book drew you in and I really liked how it unfolded.

I really grew to have a soft spot for our hero, Will. I love how Malley wrote him. He was gritty and real. He was frightened, unsure, manipulated and confused and really frustrating for me at times. I felt every emotion through her writing.

The whole premise is frighteningly plausible. The idea that the world is about to bear witness to another holocaust is a tough topic to think about. The fact that Malley sets this in 2016 around issues that are already discussed in politics now makes this book a whole lot more realistic than many of the dystopian fantasies I’ve read lately.

The ending. Wow. The battle between Will's two personalities go right up to the very last page. Although I would like to read more about Will and what the overall outcome of the situation will be, I think the power of this book is the message it conveys. It would be nowhere near as powerful if some things weren’t left to the imagination.

Now, to explain the message without spoiling it too much, I’m going to share some of my favourite quotes:

“The dividing lines were not between people. They rarely are. They are between political stances, ideologies, beliefs.”

“Humans may progress…They may think that they are moving forward because they have invented clever machines and because they can control the land and sea. But man’s capacity to inflict and endure pain is constant. Man’s desire for power, to beat down competition – it hasn’t changes in the slightest.”

“Human nature is what it is. Driven by desire for material things, for love, for conquest, for knowledge. The best and worst come out of this desire.”

I would suggest 13+ age rating. Large political ideas are discussed. The horrors of the past described in gritty detail. Depression, murder, suicide, alcoholism and physical abuse are all included in the story.