#ThrowbackThursday: The Closer I Get by Paul Burston @PaulBurston @OrendaBooks #TheCloserIGet #Review #Throwback

You can imagine the school girl like excited howl that escaped my mouth when I opened the unexpected bookish package from Orenda Books that held two highly anticipated July releases, one of which was the newest novel from Paul Burston. The Closer I Get is a sharp psychological thriller was published and available for your reading pleasure on the 11th of July, if you haven’t read it, where have you been? You can order the paperback here or if you’re more of a kindle reader, you can purchase The Closer I Get today, as well as other Orenda Books here.

Paul Burston was born in York, raised in South Wales and now divides his time between London and Hastings. His books include ‘Shameless’ (shortlisted for the State of Britain Award 2001), ‘Lovers and Losers’ (shortlisted for the Stonewall Award 2007) and ‘The Black Path’ (long listed for the Guardian’s Not The Booker Prize, 2016)

Visit his website at www.paulburston.com

You can follow Paul on Twitter @PaulBurston

Tom is a successful author, but he’s struggling to finish his novel. His main distraction is an online admirer, Evie, who simply won’t leave him alone.
Evie is smart, well read and unstable; she lives with her father and her social-media friendships are not only her escape, but everything she has.
When she’s hit with a restraining order, her world is turned upside down, and Tom is free to live his life again, to concentrate on writing.
But things aren’t really adding up. For Tom is distracted but also addicted to his online relationships, and when they take a darker, more menacing turn, he feels powerless to change things. Because maybe he needs Evie more than he’s letting on.

I recently took this literary beauty to Scotland, amongst all family time I didn’t get to greedily devour this dark and twisty thriller, but I got to snack on it one delicious bite at a time. That was until I couldn’t take the teasing anymore and gulped the last third down during a five hour journey home, battling through the travel sickness. It was worth every tummy turn! The Closer I Get is a contemporary psychological thriller that will leave the reader stunned from how real the narrative is.

We all do it, we overshare on social media, we form technological based relationships with others from behind a screen, but what would you do if a person who you thought was innocent enough turned out to be a full on Annie Wilkes stalker on you? Well this is the S-Show that Tom’s life has become and it’s chilling! The narrative is dual; from Tom and Evie’s point of view. This type of dual storyline allows the reader to delve deeper into the individual characters – life, thoughts and mental capacity, you’re able to see both sides of the story – predator and prey. Immediately you realise how dark and twisted Evie’s mindset is, which sets the heart racing at 100 mph as your prepares to mind prepares to be blown away (which it absolutely will be MANY TIMES!), as you sympathise with the author whose life is becoming suffocated.

Paul Burton has a super power, that is the ability to unsettle a reader using his words alone. He’s created three dimensional characterization with a background, friends / family, faults, hang-ups and habits that make them identifiable to the reader, rather than just a boring cardboard cut out of a character. The storyline is well thought out and executed. I can’t fault it.

I found this read to be both compelling and compulsive in nature, with a truly terrifying dialogue that will have you on full alert at the edge of your seat, make sure you lock all doors and windows, make a cuppa because The Closer I Get will leave you glued to your seat until the final page, and maybe a while after. The themes woven into the dialogue will satisfy the readers need for a contorted roller-coaster ride of a book. A brilliantly addictive page turner that every thriller addict / fan / book reader needs this July!!