Sliding Doors-Sophie's Choice with the Devil controlling events.

I wasn't sure at the start what to make of the compère: Ella. A female, talkative and contemplative Devil. Did she need to be a part of this sorry story? But later, the narrator become a part of the story she tells and this short novel becomes an unforgettable moral quandary.

Perdie makes the difficult decision to leave her abusive husband with their three children, taking them thousands of miles across the country with no plan for when they get there, but knowing it is in their best interest to escape the emotional and potentially physically destructive 'family' life they share. Years later, events lead her to question her judgement: could things not have been better if they had stayed?

With Ella discreetly but gleefully watching events, Perdie might be able to look at that decision, made long ago, and have a chance to alter her children's lives. For the better? That's up for Perdie to decide.

The opposite of a light, fluffy beach read, Idle Hands is dark, distressing, graphic and painful. It's also insightful and a reminder that the past cannot be changed, that choices are not easy and there is no one path to either happiness or the 'right' decision.

Ella is a smart creation. Not a stereotyped Devil, she's an observer, patient and quietly triumphant as she guides us through proceedings and allows Perdie's own choices to bring about her Sophie's Choice of a dilemma.

"See, I'm not so bad. No horns, no pointy red tail. I'm more like one of those Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books. It's not my fault if you keep getting eaten by cannibals or falling into quicksand. There is a way out, after all. Whether or not you take it is always, entirely, up to you."

Even as the story comes to its end, Ella has a final message for us, and it's just as omnipotently self-referential and
shrewd as the rest: "You wanted all this to mean something... But here's the thing: I'm not the teacher, I'm the test."

You won't forget this in a hurry. And yes, be prepared for some very difficult scenes of violence, but also a very sharp moral fantasy you'll be glad to look up from with a deep breath.

With thanks to Netgalley for the advance reading copy.

This book follows Perdie and her three children as they navigate through life after leaving Perdie's abusive husband behind. Narrated by the devil who prefers to be called Ella, it shines a light on perceived pivotal moments and gives us a big kick when years later tragedy strikes again. Would you make a deal with the devil to change a fleeting moment? This book takes you through a rollercoaster of emotions.

**Review**

This was such a fascinating and insightful story! It was so interesting to see how "the devil" would perceive people's actions and the reactions to their choices.

When Purdie decides to leave her abusive husband, little does she know that it will set forth a chain of events that she wishes she could take back. This story is heart wrenching and raw and makes you really think about your choices, not matter how good the intent.

Enter Elle or who most would call "the devil", just in time to "save the day" like Purdie hoped for. Elle prods Purdie, making sure that she is certain that she would trade all of her happiness through the years to change this dire situation. Of course, Purdie says yes... And so comes the "second chance", but is it all Purdie had hoped for?

As "the devil" would say, "Everything happens for a reason. Quite possibly the best lie I ever told".

I highly enjoyed this thought provoking short story. At only 224 pages, I suggest you give it a go!

**Audiobook Review**

I loved, loved, loved Lyssa's narration of this story, she was absolutely perfect. Her voice fit the story so well and you could really feel the seriousness of the situations. No matter who was talking, Lyssa made the story interesting and compelling.

There was not a ton of difference in vocals for different characters, but I don't think they story really called for it with this book.

I will definitely be looking for other books narrated by Lyssa in the future.

I devoured this book from start to finish. It explores how one choice affects a family's future and leaves you guessing which outcome was the "better" one for the characters. Gripping and unique

This the most unusual book I have read in years.  Narrated by the Devil (also known as Ella) it tells the story of Perdie, an abused wife and her family and how the choices she makes affects her future.  Even when she is 'allowed' to potentially change her history, things still don't end happily ever after.  I loved this book. It kept me involved right until the end and I will be looking out for other by the same author.

While this was a very unique book, it did not resonate with me. I found the writing style hard to engage with and the perspective of the devil to be odd. It took effort for me to want to keep reading. However, based on the reviews on Goodreads, there are many that enjoyed this book, so definitely check it out for yourself!

I would like to thank NetGalley & Agora books for the opportunity to read this ARC and provide my review.

Cassandra Windwalker has created a book that makes you consider all aspects of your life and the reasons for your decisions and in fact the reason for living at all. A true puzzle of a book which is both intriguing and enjoyable glad I didn’t miss this one

Idle Hands is a slow starting offering from Cassondra Windwalker, and honestly I wasn’t sure if I would persevere. Immediately we are introduced to the concept of Good/Evil/Martyrdom and Pleasure from the point of view of our narrator Ella, the Old One, The Devil. I found this quite heavy going on the philosophy front, and wasn’t entirely sure this was what the blurb had led me to expect; nonetheless I persisted.

As we get into the bones of the story - a decision made by Perdie to escape her abusive marriage and start a new life with her children - is where the interest builds. I can’t imagine being in that situation, and so found the wins and losses stemming from this escape to be fascinating and gripping. When a tragic accident allows Perdie the chance to have never left, to see how her life would have otherwise played out, the storytelling really comes on, and the ending is one that has stayed with me since I finished.

Overall a little heavy going with regards the concept of the Devil and what it is he/she wants from us, but the story woven around this idea is well worth the read.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

A really enjoyable book. The characters were well written and the storyline was really thought provoking - what would you do in that situation? Great read.

This book is not quite like anything I’ve read before… it tells the story of Perdie – wife to an abusive husband and mother to three young children – who stands at a crossroads in life, deciding whether it is better to leave her husband and place her children in a financially and socially precarious position, or to stay and try to protect her children from their father as best she can, knowing that it can only be a matter of time before her young son becomes the focus of her husband’s rage.

In this clever plot, we see both outcomes of Perdie’s decision to leave or stay, one after the other, in a Sliding Doors-type alternative narrative. Throughout each timeline are interjections on the family’s situation by Ella, aka “The Devil”. While I can appreciate the intricacies of the plot and the exploration of the human condition, I can’t say I enjoyed this book. While the notion of the ‘grass not always being greener’ is interesting, I found this story to be relentlessly bleak, without much glimmer of hope in either eventuality. This is perhaps the point of the story, but does not make for an enjoyable reading experience. I also found the musings of Ella to be a bit tedious by the end, and thought that the points she was making became a little laboured.

The cover art is fabulous, and the author is obviously very skilled. I totally see why others would love this book, but it was just too unrelenting for me. 3.5 stars rounded down to 3.

My thanks to the author, NetGalley, and the publisher for the arc to review.

This was a dark yet fascinating page turner which had a strong plot and made you think deeply all the way through with its meditations on love, loss and the human condition from the perspective of a very original narrator: the devil (although they don't like to be referred to in that way).
The narration is interwoven with the stories of the characters and actually gave me pause for thought throughout.
With the relatable main character and main subject of the devil's attention, there were so many things to consider but not in an overly taxing way.
The ending was also apt and unexpected yet still unsurprising which sounds confusing but if you read it I think you would understand what I mean.
The only thing I would liked to have seen was a fleshing out of the devil's "fascination" with the main character's son and his "light". I felt like I wanted to see more in terms of that and maybe some direct interaction between the two since the book leads with this fascination.
Overall a worthwhile and highly commendable read.

When Perdie makes the brave decision to leave her abusive husband and take her children half-way across the country, she thinks she is giving them all the best chance of a full and happy life.

But years later, when tragedy strikes, she wonders if it would have been better to stay put and weather her husband's fists for the sake of her children.

What would you do if you were given the opportunity to do it all again? Would you make the same choices?

When Perdie is given the chance to find out, by making a deal with the devil - otherwise known as Ella - she has the opportunity to see if she can really change the course of her family's destiny, or if they are fated to make the same mistakes over and over again.

*****************************************************

Idle Hands poses a really interesting question, that intrigued me from the off. What if you had the chance to do it all again and change the course of your life? Would you? Could you?

In this book, our author, Cassondra Windwalker, not only poses this question, but gives it an original twist by adding the devil to the mix - in this case, going under the rather ordinary name of Ella. Ella lurks in the shadows, looking for the opportune moment to tempt those greedy and dissatisfied humans who stray off the straight and narrow path, offering them a choice deal or two to win herself a few souls.

However, Perdie is not the usual prey of Ella as she does not yearn for sex, money or a rock and roll lifestyle. In fact, Ella has to bide her time for a number of years before the opportunity presents to snare Perdie and trap her into a deal that bodes ill - a chance to go back and make a different choice at a significant crossroads in her life. Instead of deciding to leave her abusive husband eight years ago, Perdie gets the chance to see what her life would have been like if she had stayed with him. I think we can all agree that this is unlikely to give us a fairytale ending, especially as the chance is offered by none other than the devil, but no spoilers in this review!

There are some interesting concepts explored in this book - not least the nature of the devil and evil - but the dominating theme of abuse makes for some tough reading. I found Perdie's choices problematic, and wondered how realistic her decision to live with an abusive husband rather than remove herself and her children from danger actually was? Would someone who had had the courage and determination to make that difficult choice really return to the violence that they had escaped? The life she chose, and her justifications gave me rather a bad taste in my mouth - especially the implication that she was complicit in the abuse her husband subjected her to. This made me very uncomfortable.

Beware! This is not a book for the faint-hearted or anyone who finds these subjects triggering, because all your buttons will be pushed! But having said all this, there are some intriguing pivotal moments and imagery, that give pause for thought in these pages. I particularly enjoyed the scene where Ella is holding the hand of one of the characters as they fade from life and the angel of death is holding their other hand and gathering up their soul - while the both studiously ignore each other - and some of the musings on the nature of human kind are very thought provoking. There is also something rather compelling in the notion of the circular nature of the fates of the characters. There is definitely scope for another outing for the sardonic Ella, should Cassondra choose to write more, as her brand of devilry is certainly an unusual and intriguing one!

Huge thanks to the fab Peyton at Agora Books for inviting me to read 'Idle Hands', which is out on July 23rd in paperback.

*There are trigger warnings for domestic violence and survivors of trauma in this book*

The beginning I found a little disconnected, why was this italicised narrator forshadowing doom , kind of like the Greek Chorus in plays where they would provide the bridging gap between audience and actors, so it took a while for me to get the gist that this was 'Ella' or 'the devil' as the puppet master of the protagonists fate.

Or is she?

How many of the decisions that we make are truly concrete and can we ever go back and change them? Is it an inability to deal with the consequences of our actions which leads to the situation as described in 'Idle hands', where the choice to leave an abusive relationship has far reaching repercussions? Or is it that Perdie was unsatisfied, having done the best that she could, not having the reward that merited her running away from her husband, Matt?

In a society where the single parent , especially the woman, is seen as a failure, and the support networks established to help victims of abuse are paltry at best, this is morally the right decision to make, to leave, so when Perdie is punished via the use of her young son's future actions, she makes a deal with the devil to go back, stay and see if things turn out differently.

This is where I had difficulty in trusting the story, as it were. No life changing decision is ever done quickly or willingly, and abdicating your choices and responsibilities for them to an outside entity such as Ella, to me, robs Perdie of her agency. Up till that point she had made a difficult choice to leave. She has thought this through, her children were at the forefront of her mind and later , she is convinced that the overheard conversation that she had with her friend at the very beginning of the book has planted the seeds for her son's future.

Without giving away any spoilers, this is a moral and ethical dilemma in which a woman painted into a corner begs for the chance to go back and change things. But as we all know from fiction and the movies, alter one thing from the past and it does not guarentee that what you replace it with will be any better...in fact it might even be worse.

This was an intriguing, one shot read where you devour the book whole, then ruminate on it in a 'what would you do in this situation' type of mind game. It takes a fundamental issue of domestic violence and applies a 'what if...' narrative that opens up possibilities for alternate endings. However, the commentary on the social perspective on the perpetrators of abuse, and the treatment of those victims really rams home hard. Until that fundamental sea change and blame culture changes, any decisions made by those trying to leave will be held up for judgement

This was a delicious surprise.
Even though the blurb tells you it's going to be something innovative, I still didn't expect it to be so different, so peculiar. The writing is really good and the plot, although nothing completely new, has the supernatural spin that makes this one book I imagine will be a lot talked after the release.

I wished it were longer, that we could see more alternatives, but perhaps this was better, to let us withing for more instead of tired of it.

I am definitely going to read more from this author.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Perdie is a busy mum protecting her three children from an abusive husband. This main story is punctuated by narration from 'Ella' aka the Devil. These jolts of sharp philosophical observation and debate about the flaws of humanity are thought provoking to say the least. I found myself drawn into the family tableau and reading on to see how the inclusion of Ella would impact the main characters. This was intriguing, a kind of 'sliding doors' or 'butterfly effect' version of a novel. which made it a very addictive read, I raced through the pages.
Many thanks to Agora Books and NetGalley for the chance to review.

I really enjoyed the tale of Perdie and her children and her struggles to start over and find a new normality for her family. The options available to her were well explored and sympathetically written about with lots of raw emotion, soul searching and difficulties along the way.
However, I found that the narrating "devil" really didn't add anything to the story and in fact interrupted the flow in a couple of places to the detriment of the "readability".
Overall an excellent read that is extremely well written without need of the narrating devil device!

For the longest time, Perdie has wanted to take her three children and escape from her abusive husband. When she finally builds up the courage to set herself free, tragedy strikes, leaving Perdie wondering if the choice she made to leave has led them to this moment. How different would things be if she was given the opportunity to take it all back and stay?

In a dark and twisted tale, we are taken on a journey told from both Perdie and the Devil's (also known as Ella because "the devil" is too unimaginative) point of view. At first, I found Ella's narrative quite distracting. It didn't add much to the story and I simply wanted to focus solely on Perdie's story. However, when the two began to cross paths (literally, at one point), I was struck at how much Ella offered answers to questions we might have had ourselves about destiny and things always happening for a reason. Windwalker's writing of Ella's point of view is almost lyrical and it got to the point where I almost craved to know what she thought about Perdie's and the children's decisions. She was almost taunting them, pushing them to do exactly what she wanted, and I loved it.

The book is split into different key parts, however, for a book with little over 200 pages, I felt this caused there to be a lack of depth, especially in the first half. Of course, with the subject of domestic abuse, I felt for all these characters, but it was more so the situation rather than each person. In fact, my favourite character Reilly only appeared for a short amount of time. If we had been given more insight into Perdie's life after she makes her decision, I might have nudged the rating up to five stars.

Above all, this book is unlike any other I have read in a long time. Its unique take on the devil and how each choice we make has a consequence is one that definitely pulled at my heartstrings. The voice of Ella in the background often made me question how much freedom we truly have when it comes to paving our paths. No matter which way we go, there will always be a catch.

TW: Domestic violence.

After years of suffering at the hands of her abusive husband, Perdie makes the decision to run away with her three children and start a new life, before her husband has a chance to hurt his kids as well. After some struggle, they finally find the safety and love they’ve been missing. But when a tragic accident occurs, Perdie finds herself questioning what would have happened if she hadn’t made the decision to leave all those years ago. When offered the chance, can she change the past and avoid the loss of the thing she loves most? Do individual decisions really have the power to change the future?

I was attracted to this book by the advertising angle of Ella, aka the devil, who narrates the story. (My name is Ella, so I’m sure you can understand why this was appealing). The story is told in a regular narrative style, but with interjections where Ella comments on Perdie’s actions or makes observations about human nature, and her own personal goals. This was a very effective way of presenting the plot, because it added some relief and extra meaning to what is otherwise quite a bleak story.

After the first chapter or so, I doubted that I was going to particularly enjoy this book, but I was very wrong. It centres around the question of “what if?”, and how our decisions influence events that unfold in the future, or if they even do at all. Does going one way at a crossroads ensure happiness or misery later in life, or are similar events destined to happen no matter what choices we make? These questions are laid out in a very thought-provoking way, and Windwalker’s take on a devil-figure whose goals we humans has severely misunderstood was really interesting.

Absolutely beautiful. Haunting and heart wrenching this story will linger with you long after the last page. Don't we all question ourselves in the choices that we make? Follow Perdie as she struggles with guilt, with grief as she tries to do what's best for her family. Happy reading!

Whoops, this book has been published already! Told in a rapturous voice from The Devil herself, Windwalker makes keen observations about motherhood and the consequences of hard choices.