Review by Stacey O’Carroll
Author: Brooke Hardwick
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
RRP: $32.99
Release Date: 4 September 2024
“Join us on Rathlin Island. The only inhabited island in Northern Ireland, this is where Kings find their courage. The question is, will you?”
What could be more inspiring than escaping our familiar surroundings to a writers’ retreat on a remote island in Northern Ireland? Void of the city hustle and constant onslaught of technology, sitting down to write in a quiet house filled with over a century of history sounds like a writer’s dream. But in Brooke Hardwick’s debut Gothic thriller, The Fog, Kate and her fellow writing retreat attendees find the dream becomes a twisted nightmare faster than they can type their next sentence.
“The building looks dark and imposing from the road, a creeper smothering the stone, the leafless vine casting a net across its facade.”
After the unexpected breakdown of her marriage and being haunted by memories she can’t make sense of, protagonist Kate decides to leave London for the Rathlin writing retreat. She hopes the retreat will inspire her writing and provide the space she needs to find the answers she seeks. While the strange techniques of the retreat’s director become increasingly disturbing, Kate starts to see the truth of the past. But are the triggered memories real, or is her mind being manipulated by the absurd activities they are required to participate in? The more disturbing the flashbacks, the faster Kate needs to find the answers if she is to make it off the island alive.
“The truth is, I’m not fine — I’m broken. I can’t write, can’t sleep, can’t stop crying.”
Hardwick drops the reader into the eerie and unsettling location with such skill the reader instantly forgets The Fog is her debut novel. The unnerving first-person narrative allows the story to unfold through the eyes of the protagonist and creates an uneasiness from the first page. Harwick’s style ensures the reader experiences the retreat and revelations alongside Kate. Her use of an unreliable narrator helps to weave an unsettling atmosphere and evoke questions in the reader. Alongside Kate, the reader starts to question the protagonist’s memories and experiences. Did these things really happen to her? Has she slipped into some sort of psychotic episode? Is Kate even on Rathlin Island? These techniques, along with crisp and haunting details that evoke a bitterly cold and unforgiving landscape, create a terrifying story that will linger like a fog across the Irish Channel.
Secondary characters can often appear in stories as two-dimensional forgettable additions only there to move the story forward. However, Hardwick has crafted each character so intricately and with a complexity that makes each of them not only believable but also pertinent to the story. From the over-the-top Ruby to the confusing Cormac to the carefree bar staff, each character walks through the island and evocatively off the page.
“Most importantly — Cormac doesn’t know what I’ve done.”
With a style reminiscent of classic Gothic novels Wuthering Heights and Rebecca, Hardwick’s The Fog is an engrossing psychological thriller touching on important topics (which I will not reveal to avoid unnecessary spoilers). The story kept me guessing right up to the surprising twist, which was only let down by an unnecessary addition (no spoilers here) and what felt like a rushed ending. The ending, for me, let down an otherwise clever and twisty novel. If this is Hardwick’s debut, I eagerly await her future novels. The Fog is for lovers of Gothic and psychological thrillers that keep you deep in the…well, fog.
(Read our interview with Brooke Hardwick)