MICE by Gordon Reece

Viking
Published by The Penguin Group

ISBN-10: 0670022845
ISBN-13: 978-0670022847
Hardcover: 336 pages

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Shelly has been bullied by girls who used to be her best friends.  Her mother, Elizabeth, was bullied by her husband until he left her for a younger woman, she is now bullied by her employers.  They leave London and retreat to Honeysuckle Cottage in the country.  Elizabeth stills commutes to the same office everyday.  These woman are MICE! Timid, nervous and put everyone before themselves.

They love their life in the country until the eve of Shelly's sixteenth birthday.  Something horrifying will change their lives forever. Maybe they are not mice after all.

My Thoughts

I find myself really on the fence about this book.  It addresses the very common problem these days of bullying.  For the first half of the book I was right there turning pages, feeling the right emotions for what these women were going through.

Then the book took a very dark and even more horrifying turn that what these women had endured.  I found it hard to keep going but I finished the book, hoping beyond home this dark theme would I don't know, magically go away.  It didn't.  I also found the whole premise very unbelievable. I know the author is trying to dramatize the extreme extent bullying can go to, but no, a mother and daughter couldn't turn into the women they created.  If they do I hope and pray they are few and far between.

It is a well written book and the part of the bullied Shelly and how she kept the incidents to herself until they escalated to a point where she was so physically hurt the paramedics had to be called was very well portrayed. Her actions and her thoughts. 

I understand this is a psychological thriller, but to me it's a thriller that goes off the rails.  Maybe young adults will not have the reaction I had as a mother.  I found myself very troubled by the second half of the book and had to wait to write this review and really collect my thoughts.  Yes, there was suspense, yes the were varied psychological aspects at play.  The author just went a little too far for me.  Because I liked the first half and have warned you about the second half I will give it 3 stars.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Viking. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”