The Poison Tree, by Erin Kelly (REVIEW) — Decadence & Obsession in London, One Fateful Summer
What lengths will we go to for our friends and our family?
What behaviors will we—can we—put up with... and when do they suddenly become “too much”?
How do we know if love borders on obsession... and are we capable of realizing when it crosses the line, blithely sailing past what might only later be recognized as the point of no return?
Why do we make the choices we do... and how do we justify living with their consequences?
Erin Kelly ponders such questions in her engrossing psychological suspense debut, The Poison Tree.
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She’d made friends quickly and become roommates with them.
Her studies were going brilliantly.
And she had a boyfriend (even if he was a bit dull).
Everything began to change in her fourth year, though.
Her boyfriend broke up with her.
Then, her roommates informed her that they’d made summer plans to go abroad... without her.
And just like that, Karen’s life seems very glum.
But a chance meeting with Biba Capel—the most exotic creature Karen has ever seen—turns everything around again.
Beautiful, bohemian Biba hires her for a translating gig and invites Karen to move into her family home in Highgate.
Despite its impressive London address, the house is falling apart... yet somehow, it doesn’t matter, because Biba is there, along with her brother and their friends, and the decay seems fitting for long, lazy days fueled by drugs and wine.
But Karen’s summer of bliss comes to a screeching halt when a sequence of events ends in a shocking tragedy... and the dreadful knowledge that nothing will ever be the same again.
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The Poison Tree takes its own sweet time telling Karen’s tale... which can be challenging.
Kelly leisurely shows us Karen’s world through Karen’s eyes, and in so doing we gradually understand why everything that happens later was inevitable.
The constant back-and-forth interweaving of past and present—which the author does masterfully—will probably put some people off.
Others may not appreciate that the author never looks down on the hippie culture of her characters, but focusses on their decisions and the outcomes of their actions.
But that’s what makes this one so interesting, for me—the suspense, the uncertainty, the puzzle pieces that need putting together.
In The Poison Tree, it’s the characters (and their reasons) which drive the story. Even if you know (or think you know) the what, who, when, or how, there’s still the why to worry about... and the why is the most fascinating part of all, because it explains, better than anything else, who we really are.
By the end of The Poison Tree, we have a handle on the motivations of all the characters... and maybe a bit more about our own, too.
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