Home › review › #BookReview: Hope by Terry Tyler @TerryTyler4

#BookReview: Hope by Terry Tyler @TerryTyler4

Posted on Posted in review Tagged with ,

Hi everyone. Today, I have a book review for you by an author I greatly admire, Terry Tyler. I’ve read both books in this series (Hope and Wasteland) and here’s my review for book one, which could easily fit both books in the series.

About the Book:

‘We haven’t elected a Prime Minister, we’ve elected a lifestyle’.

As the fourth decade of the 21st century looms, new PM Guy Morrissey and his fitness guru wife Mona (hashtag MoMo) are hailed as the motivational couple to get the UK #FitForWork, with Mona promising to ‘change the BMI of the nation’.

Lita Stone is an influential blogger and social media addict, who watches as Guy and Mona’s policies become increasingly ruthless. Unemployment and homelessness are out of control. The solution? Vast new compounds all over the country, to house those who can no longer afford to keep a roof over their heads.

These are the Hope Villages, financed by US corporation Nutricorp.

Lita and her flatmates Nick and Kendall feel safe in their cosy cyberspace world. Unaware of how swiftly bad luck can snowball, they suspect little of the danger that awaits the unfortunate, behind the carefully constructed mirage of Hope.

Terry Tyler’s nineteenth published work is a psychological thriller that weaves through the darker side of online life, as the gap between the haves and the have-nots grows ever wider. Whether or not it will mirror a dystopian future that awaits us, we will have to wait and see.

My Review:

 

I only discovered this author this year, and I’ve fallen in love with her books.

Hope was all the more compelling because I’m reading it at a time in which the UK’s PM is now seen in the news running with his personal trainer. Anti-obesity ads are on the radio all the time … so much so that I just switch off. What’s so different between fiction and real life right now? Not a lot, and that’s freaky. It’s also testament to the powers and prowess of this amazing writer. Whether way in the future, the near future, or now, she hits the nail on the head every time.

While the narrative is well written and mostly error free, I did pick up on a few glitches, such as:

‘then’ instead of ‘than’
‘whose’ instead of ‘who’s’
‘alright’ instead of ‘all right’

And some funny sentences which have some of the characters ‘turn round’ … I’m sure the intention here was to ‘turn around’ instead of into a sperical shape!

And then there were instances of adding extraneous words, as in:

He shrugged (his shoulders) and She nodded (her head). We don’t need the bits in parentheses because they’re self-explanatory.

However, with all that said, these instances were few and minor and didn’t detract from the brilliance of the story enough to lose stars. Whichever way you look at it, from all I’ve read up to now, this writer would have to work hard to get less than a solid five stars from me.

I’m heading straight to the next book in the series and cannot wait to get into it. Terry Tyler has become one of my auto-buy authors.

Even if you don’t usually read dystopian or post-apocalyptic fiction, you’ll love Hope and this series. And, most likely, you’ll enjoy all of her books. Nothing that Ms Tyler has written up to now seems far-fetched because she has a chilling knack of making it all so real and not just possible but entirely likely.

 

***
NOTE ON RATINGS: I consider a 3-star rating a positive review. Picky about which books I give 5 stars to, I reserve this highest rating for the stories I find stunning and which moved me.

5 STARS: IT WAS AMAZING! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! — Highly Recommended.
4 STARS: I WOULD PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER — Go read this book.
3 STARS: IT WAS GOOD! — An okay read. Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it.
2 STARS: I MAY HAVE LIKED A FEW THINGS —Lacking in some areas: writing, characterisation, and/or problematic plot lines.
1 STAR: NOT MY CUP OF TEA —Lots of issues with this book.

I’d love to hear what you think of this review. Thanks for stopping by 🙂

 

If you’re interested, here are the Amazon links: US and UK

23 Comments on “#BookReview: Hope by Terry Tyler @TerryTyler4”

  2. The blurb is rather chilling because this seems to be so possible in our existing world and culture. The gap between the haves and have-nots widens and “solutions” aren’t necessarily compassionate. Congrats to Terry on the great review. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Harmony.

  4. I’m not familiar with this author but will need to look up her work. I’m a fan of psychological thrillers, though this one sounds different than what I’m used to.

    My publisher and editor once told me “alright” is now accepted, but it I think it has to do with house rules. I still prefer “all right” which is how I always spell it, despite my publishing house accepting the newer spelling as well.

    • I go by the Hart’s Rules (UK authors) and the Chicago Manual of Style (US authors), which both still go with ‘all right’. I guess, these days, it comes down to personal preference too. Although, ‘alright’ seems to be the US way of doing it, not the UK way. I agree with you about house rules. Not all publishers follow the same styles.

      Thanks, Mae 🙂

  5. Thank you for sharing your rating system, Harmony. You’ve given me much to think about. My rating system is briefer, in that I rarely give three stars and never one or two. I typically read well-reviewed authors, so from the start, I’m focused on a strong writer. The few odd books that I might buy because I like the cover, for example, and then discover poor writing, I never finish, don’t bother reviewing, and toss. Pre-Kindle days, I might have been more patient, but those days are long gone. Now it’s just too easy to hit delete. 😀

    • It sure is, Gwen. I, too, am much less tolerant of a badly-written book these days. Glad you like my rating system. Thanks, Gwen 🙂

  6. I tend to read with a more critical eye these days. But of course, I make plenty of mistakes in my own books.

    I’ve heard that many consider “alright” as a proper word these days, but I guess I’m old school. 🙂 I’ve also had to stop and think about who’s vs. whose. At times, I think my brain freezes.

    • I think many of us are that way these days, lols. Thanks for stopping by, Joan 🙂

  7. It’s great to see that you’ve enjoyed HOPE as much as I did. I’ve read four of Terry Tyler’s books (so far!) and I think this one was my favorite. It’s really gripping from beginning to end – beautifully crafted with brilliant storytelling.

    I’m just wondering why you have made such a big deal out of the minimal errors. If this were a case of a book being rife with sloppy mistakes, I could understand it. But Terry’s books are all very “clean” and unfortunately, as hard as we try, errors plague the best of us, even those with traditionally published books.

    I’m not getting why listing the specific errors in this review is remotely necessary. This distracts from your actual review and reads more like a teacher marking a student’s paper. I find this off-putting, especially since you have spelled RECOMMEND incorrectly And I normally would NEVER point this out, but do so only to make a point: We all make mistakes.

    But yes, this is a terrific book!

    • Hi Lisette,
      As I mentioned to Morag below, I raise these issues in my review because I would appreciate knowing if mistakes needed correcting in my own work. And, at the end of the day, they are glitches, and I don’t see why I shouldn’t be allowed to mention them.
      Also, had I taken them that much into account, the number of errors would have lost a star. As it is, I have still awarded a rip-roaring five-star review for this book, as you can see.

      As you’ve pointed out, I did make a spelling mistake in the review. Probably because I’m quite unwell. And I STILL took the time and care to write a review for an author that I admire. As I told her in the private Twitter messages between us in response to this review. And, of course, I don’t sit and edit and proofread every comment online like I would with a book. This is so amusing, because I made this same point in response to a friend’s post recently, that if you’re going to review, you need to make sure you don’t then make mistakes in that review for this very reason. LOLS.

      Thanks for stopping by.

  8. Great review, Harmony:) It’s easy to over look a few minor gliches when the story is great. Sounds intriguing.

    • As its easy to overlook minor glitches in the review (‘reccomend’!!!) when the review is so good…… personally I wouldn’t have been so nitpicking as to list them. Unnecessary.

      • Hi Morag, I disagree completely. As a writer too, I am always so grateful when people take the time and trouble to alert me to issues in an otherwise great book. This allows me to go back and make the necessary changes.

        Thanks for stopping by today.

  9. Excellent review, Harmony. I sometimes picked up errors such as the ones you listed. One author must be tired and had the characters confused. Thank you for sharing.

    • I have to be so careful with names and details these days with the way my brain is lols. Thanks, Mirriam 🙂