I was so excited to read this, as I have seen so much hype surrounding this book. However, I felt that there where so many plot holes that the story just felt flat for me. It had a lot of potential that it didn't quite fulfil.

Strange Sally Diamond is the quirkiest book that I have read this year. That is a big statement being that I am 154 books in but I really believe that no other story has disarmed me as much as this one has.

It focuses on our eponymous character - Sally Diamond - and how she is rather an odd duck. A square peg in a round hole. Sally has been sheltered from the "normal" world but due to unforeseen events now has to confront a society that is very confusing and one that Sally doesn't know all the rules for.

Strange Sally Diamond is a brilliant story which when you scratch the surface isn't just about fitting in or conforming but is a story about nature versus nurture. Are we made to be a certain way by our experiences or are these things completely beyond our control?

Strange Sally Diamond is a fascinating read and one that I will be gifting to a lot of people.

Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent is available now.

For more information regarding Liz Nugent (@lizzienugent) please visit www.liznugent.com.

For more information regarding Penguin (@PenguinUKBooks) please visit www.penguin.co.uk.

I am a huge fan of Liz Nugent and I was delighted to get the opportunity to read her newest book Strange Sally Diamond. This was of the most gripping and disturbing books I have ever read. I read it over the course of a day as I simply couldn’t put it down. I can’t wait to read more from the author in the future.

This was a fascinating book, unlike anything I’ve ever read before. It was refreshing to read such a unique book with a brilliant protagonist with a voice that was clear and developed. I think the author hit the nail on the head with the personality and it was easy to imagine what Sally was like.

The writing, however, could get monotonous. Although it fitted the protagonist’s personality and manner, it made the book a little harder to get through.

Unfortunately, despite the things I loved, it got too dark for me. This is no reflection on the book itself. I just wasn’t personally able to make it to the end, as it made me too uncomfortable. However, I also think this could be a positive for some people, as it was so realistic and in depth. Especially people who like their fiction dark.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher, for a chance to read and review this book.

A fast paced intruiging read, I read it very quickly over a couple of nights.
I have read a couple of Liz Nugents books and this was the most disturbing, it’s not a light hearted read and covers a difficult subject matter.
I have been thinking about Strange Sally Diamond long after finishing the book.

Sally Diamond does not understand why people are making a big deal out of her following her father’s instructions of putting him out with the bins when he died. Why would he say it if she wasn’t supposed to do it? From the blurb, we know that Sally’s actions lead to a police investigation and media coverage, leading to revelations that Sally was unprepared for. 

As we’ve come to expect from Nugent, Strange Sally Diamond questions whether the horrible and disturbing things people do result from nature or nurture. These questions are never fully answered because there are no easy explanations for why people do ‘monstrous’ things. As I read, I kept thinking about Dr Gwen Adshead’s excellent non-fiction book The Devil You Know: Encounters in Forensic Psychiatry, co-written with Eileen Horne, which is a nuanced look at why people commit certain crimes. 

I desperately wanted everything to turn out okay for Sally. This is Liz Nugent, so I wasn’t expecting everything to end wrapped in a pretty bow. The position Sally found herself in at the end felt realistic to me, given everything that happened. 

Two aspects of the story kept pulling me out of the narrative. One is easier than the other to discuss without giving too much of the plot away. Sally’s asexuality is presented as being solely due to the trauma she has experienced. It is possible to be asexual and have experienced trauma, just as it is possible to be straight or bisexual and have experienced trauma. My issue is that Sally’s asexuality defaults to the asexuality = a trauma response trope that, while I do not think was Nugent’s intention, fails to see asexuality as a sexuality in its own right. 

The other major stumbling block for me, and forgive me for being vague here, are the circumstances of how Sally ends up living where she does. More than once, I thought, ‘In 1980s Ireland, really?!’ I get that these events and the actions of people making that decision are supposed to be unprecedented and unorthodox, but I could not shake the shadow of Ireland’s long history of institutionalisation. 

But it’s fiction; I can hear you saying! Just because it is set in Ireland doesn’t mean it completely matches our reality. I get that, and I accept that this reaction says more about me than Nugent’s storytelling abilities. But the present-day section mentions the pandemic, adding to my confusion and frustration. In my review of Cursed Bread by Sophie Mackintosh, I said that I didn’t know why the book affected me to the extent it did, allowing me to overlook things that ordinarily may give me pause. I equally do not understand why I got so hung up on this part of Strange Sally Diamond and couldn’t move past it. 

While this isn’t my favourite of Nugent’s novels, Strange Sally Diamond is a compelling and intensely disturbing psychological thriller examing the lasting impact of trauma. I read it in a couple of sittings, so if you are looking for a page-turner, Strange Sally Diamond is worth picking up.

I wasn't at all sure about the extremely unconventional, quirky storyline at first. So glad I persisted with it. A hugely enjoyable read.

Thank you Penguin and Netgalley for this ARC

Smashed it out of the park again! This is my second book by Liz and she's done it again.

An amazing read, I was so hooked into this book my husband actually took my Kindle away from me so I could sleep.

Absolutely brilliant - more more more please!

Everyone has been talking about this book - and rightfully so! The main character is brilliant and the book gave me Eleanor Oliphant vibes (one of my favourite books) I loved the literal straightforward thinking of Sally and thought her character was brilliantly written. The twists and turns in the story kept me guessing and made it hard to put down. Another triumph of a book from Liz Nugent.

I stayed up until 3 in the morning reading this, woke up at 5:30 and got up to finish it (sleeping on a mattress on the floor might have been a small part of it...). So, pretty unputdownable.

Liz Nugent smashes it again. There's not much you can say about this one without spoiling anything. Sally Diamond is an outcast.. After the death of her father, she gets pulled into the limelight, with community, media, and Gardaí attention. Sally is forced to look at her life, her family, and her past from a different angle.

I was gripped, and barely blinked just wanting to find out what happened next. Nugent really is queen of writing psychological dramas.

Is it Liz Nugent's best book? Yes...but also will that opinion change if I remember another on of her books? Probably.

One of the best books of the year, and absolutely worth picking up and clearing your schedule.

The premise of this book is what drew me in. Sally, following her father's humorous instruction to "throw him out with the bins" when he died, introverted and private Sally draws attention to herself.

Some of the Sally's awkwardness can seem comical and put me in mind of Eleanor Oliphant at first. But don't mistake this book as a light hearted tale of a person at odds with society's norms. This is a dark story, growing progressively more disturbing as we uncover the reasons that make Sally the way she is and the impact that those things have had on others.

This is a compelling read and is an excellent choice for a book club.

I’ve had this on my TBR pile for ages. Wow I wish I’d picked it up sooner!

When Sally’s dad dies, she takes him at his word by ‘putting him out with the rubbish’ and by incinerating him with their usual rubbish sparks media attention… her father’s death also begins a chain of events which leads to her discovering why she has no memories of her early years before the age of 7,

When I picked this up and started reading, I thought I was in for another similar story to ‘Eleanor Oliphant’, with a central character who is different, trying to integrate with her community. But while that is true, this story is so much more. At times there are comedic moments, but as you turn the pages it becomes apparent that this is a gripping and disturbing thriller with dark characters which leaves you feeling more and more uneasy as the story progresses.

Brilliantly written, I would thoroughly recommend. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was so different to what I expected - and in a good way. A truly unique story of a truly unique person, the book us simply magnificent. Every little detail is accounted for, ensuring there are no frustrating elements left unexplained. The story itself is heartbreaking but inspiring.

A great psychological thriller, which brings out every emotion. It’s dark, sad, thought provoking and I’s an emotional roller coaster. It was impossible to put down written from two viewpoints and different timeline this book is one I will remember.

This was an otherwise type of read, really not my normal genre. I really enjoyed the book, and will read more in future.

In her most mature and volatile as well work so far, Liz Nugent reaches the peak of her writing career and delivers a novel that is equally disturbing and arresting while she creates a protagonist, the titular "Strange Sally Diamond", who will become etched on your memories for a long time after completing the reading of the novel. Nugent, who began her career in 2013 when her debut novel, Unraveling Oliver, was published, has illustrated her tendency to tackle subjects and motifs aiming to dismantle the myth around the -indeed ambiguous and debatable- inherent goodness and morality in humans. Kevin O' Sullivan writes in his review of the book in Irishexaminer.com: "[Nugent is] attracted to the sinister, the seedy, the cynical", thus summarizing in a few words the author's thematic preferences. The Irish author's books are, collectively, an attempt to shine a light on the dark side of human behavior and her characters are frequently monster-like figures lacking what we like to consider as the essential traits that define us as human beings. Strange Sally Diamond loyally broaches this particularly perplexing theme, thus the readers should be brace themselves for some truly nasty personifications of the most primitive behavioral aspects that unleashed with raw force when we deal with people who are labelled as "different" in any way imaginable.

The main character and chief narrator of the story is Sally Diamond, a 40-year-old woman living a mile outside a little hamlet in Ireland’s thinly populated County Roscommon. Sally lives there along with her father, a former psychiatrist who resigned from the clinic and continued his scientific career by writing articles for medical journals, while her mother, we learn early, has passed away a few years back. The story begins with Sally's father dying from a chronic disease and leaving behind a (foster) daughter alone to deal with the troubles and grievances of everyday life. The addition of the adjective "Strange" before Sally's full name is indicative of her odd behavior and her complete ineptitude in social situations. The protagonist harbors an overwhelming feeling of disconnection with her surroundings and the other people, a trait following her since her early childhood. She is unable to discern the metaphor and irony used in day-to-day interactions all over the world and she perceives everything literally and at face value. It is for that reason that she opted for pretending to be deaf when going on errands (groceries etc.), thus diminishing the possibilities that somebody might strike a conversation with her. Vicki Weisfeld in Crimefictionlover.com observes: "When you read about a person who interacts with the world in a vastly different way than the norm, you find yourself thinking about the demands of society from new perspectives. When the book is written well and consistently, as it is here by Liz Nugent, you start to realise how much we take for granted in our relations with other people and the world around us."

Sally finds herself in a tough predicament when her father dies and she decides to dispose his remains in a rather unorthodox way, that is to cremate him in an incinerator barrel. This is another misunderstanding caused by Sally's peculiar "sickness" or "eccentricity" as her father, shortly before he passed away, told her: “Just put me out with the bins,”, but not in the literal sense of the words. This event turns Sally's mundane existence upside down as she becomes the person of interest for the police, the few people who stand beside her such as her Aunt and doctor, and the media which are having a field day with that bizarre happening in the rural parts of the country. Sally will be forced to face her fears and engage in meaningful communication with the others, a no small feat for a woman who never had a single friend in her life. The reason(s) that lurk behind Sally's oddness are gradually divulged to the reader through some letters that her father left her as well as a few audio cassettes dating back to the days when both Sally's foster parents were working in the mental hospital.

Sally's mother, Denise, had been abducted from the garden of her house at the age of 11 from a vile individual named Conor Geary. Geary held Denise captive for -more or less- 16 years and he was the one who fathered Denise's little baby Mary (later named Sally by her foster parents. Denise never managed to overcome the trauma caused by the chronic abuse, mental and physical, in the hands of a psychopath while her daughter, our protagonist, survived and was then adopted by two of her mother's supervisors in the mental clinic. Throughout the novel, we watch the destructive effects of abuse and violence and their impact on the lives of both victims and culprits. Despite the morbid nature of the main theme, there is a sneaky humor pervading some parts of the story, a quirky, gloomy farce that primarily stems from Sally's difficulties in using the language properly. However, you have to keep in mind that Strange Sally Diamond is by no means an easy or fun read and you will experience various states of emotional havoc as the descriptions are lurid and the narrative so potent that you feel like inhabiting the narrators' minds as we move forward. Apart from Sally, there is a second narrator also, Peter, the young son of Conor Geary who also suffered his father's abuse for several years and left him with more than one scars. Peter's story is set chronologically several years earlier than the main narrative.

There is a whiff of Nordic crime fiction influences here and there were times that the narrative brought to my mind some notable works by Scandinavian writers such as Erik Axl Sund, Karin Fossum, and more recently Anna Mette Hancock. This is Liz Nugent's fifth novel and the crown jewel of her work to date. Wholeheartedly recommended to those who prefer their crime novels to be a bit darker than usual.

This was brilliant! What a fantastic character! I really loved this book and couldn't put it down. Heartbreaking and gripping.

I absolutely LOVED this, such a gripping read and Sally Diamond was a fascinating character. I've read a few of Liz Nugent's books before and this one is my new favourite. I went into this thinking it was a straight thriller, but it's a lot more emotional, powerful and moving than that, whilst also having some conventions of the thriller genre. Highly recommended!

From the first few pages I was hooked. What can I say but wow. This is the best book I have read all year. I started reading this yesterday afternoon and knew I had to finish it. There was no way I could wait to find out the ending. This isn’t your run of the mill thriller. Liz Nugent introduced a main character who was socially inept and had went through various unbelievable tragedies. At times you will not know how to feel. The main theme of nature versus nurture was explored and will get you thinking. Will definitely keep my eye out for more books by this author.

I am a big Liz Nugent fan and she didn’t let me down with the recent addition to her archive. I enjoyed the first third of the book more than the rest I would have to admit but the interwoven strands of the complex characters played out nicely to the end.
I would recommend this book to anyone that would like a psychological thriller mixed with quirky characters. Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel.