#BlogTour -‘Someone Like Me’ by M.R Carey

It’s a day late,but I get to finally upload my part of the Orbit Books, ‘‘Someone Like Me’‘ blog tour, huzzah!

I received a hardback copy courtesy of Orbit Books and Tracy Fenton of Compulsive readers in return  for an honest blogger review and what can I say, except that I loved it. It is also available in audiobook, ebook and paperback format from May 2nd 2019. Huge thanks also to Nazia of Orbit for my paperback copy which is perfect weekednd reading!

This is new-ish ground for M R Carey following his successful Felix Castor series,’The Girl With All The Gifts’, it’s same universe sequel ‘The Boy On The Bridge’ and spooky ghost story ‘Fellside’ -the Audible audiobook read by Finty Williams is a real treat if you haven’t read it, Audible has a 30 day free trial if you wanted to try it out!

‘Someone Like Me’ is the story of Liz Kendall, a Pittsburgh based single mother of 2 children, Zac and Molly, embroiled in a bitter custody situation with her ex partner, Marc.

A row about his returning them late from a weekend visit explodes into violence, and Liz reacts in a way that barely lets Marc get away with his life-you are completely rooting for Liz at this point, she could have so easily been a two dimensional character in a lesser writer’s hands.

And therein lies the skill of MR Carey as he does not make Liz appear pathetic because she is a victim of domestic violence, not does he condone the manner in which Luiz attacks Marc. It is shocking but situationally appropriate. I think most readers can admit to a time when their inner anger bursts out in an uncontrolled manner and you feel both more than, and less than, your normal self.

However, in this story, Liz’ is terrified of how she behaves and a further incident which I will not spoil but again, I was completely on Liz’ side, pushes her to seek out psychiatric help. Keeping her ex at bay with police and court support, she manages to find a psychiatrist which is covered by her health insurance and gives her 6 sessions .

Turning up for her first appointment, she is surprised to see a classmate of her son, Zac, in the waiting room. Fran Watts, a young girl who is struggling to cope with the death of her mother and a shocking childhood incident is alarmed and unhappy that someone she knows is attending the same psychiatrist but more than that, she cannot understand how she can see Liz shimmering in and out of her vision as if there were  of her….

I am trying very hard not to spoil the book in any way , shape or form and have seen ‘Someone Like Me’ described as an updated ‘Jekyll and Hyde’. That would be a simplified comparison that would not do this book justice.

Fran and Liz’ paths intertwine through Zac who is struggling to support his mother, his baby sister and cope with his abusive father . Fran’s coping mechanism is her constant companion, a fox named Lady Jinx who quickly became my favourite character in the story and it becomes a race against time to save Liz, quite literally, from herself.

The story moves at quite a pace and starts off like a psychological thriller unlike any I have read before and then becomes a fantasy but still so steeped in the real world that I had absolutely no problem believing any of this could happen. It’s a beautifully written book with a huge heart and addresses family, love, how complicated life can become and how we create realities in order to protect ourselves and each other.

It was a immersive experience reading it, ‘Someone Like Me’ is one of those books you want to alternately press on every book loving person you know and at the same time keep it for yourself.You’ll want to lend it but also keep an eye on how long that person takes to read it…tick tock…

About the author…

M. R. Carey has been making up stories for most of his life. His novel ‘The Girl With All the Gifts’ was a word-of-mouth bestseller and is now a major motion picture based on his own screenplay. Under the name Mike Carey he has written for both DC and Marvel, including critically acclaimed runs on Lucifer, Hellblazer and X-Men. His creator-owned series ‘The Unwritten’ appeared regularly in the New York Times graphic fiction bestseller list. He also has several previous novels, games, radio plays, and TV and movie screenplays to his credit.

As Mike Carey, he also writes the Felix Castor novels .

Links-https://www.mikecarey.net/

Twitter @michaelcarey191

@orbitbooks

@Tr3cyF3nt0n