The fog was shocking! Harrowing and downright haunting. A really good read and one I’m very happy to have dipped into

“The Fog”, by Queensland-born author, Brooke Hardwick, is a clever psychological thriller with enough twists to satisfy any reader. It’s well paced, gripping plot swiftly engaged me and didn’t let go. I finished the book in 48 hours and loved every page.

I’m keen to avoid any spoilers here, so suffice to say that the novel’s protagonist, Kate, is on her way to a ten day retreat in the wilds of Scotland for writers needing to breakthrough writer’s block. Of course, there’s more to Kate’s journey than this. Much more. But to find the answers she seeks, Kate must not only brave the savage elements of the remote island where the retreat is set, but also the mental fog which has effectively masked her key memories in a cloud of unknowing. Her fellow participants have their own traumas to navigate and generate their own fog of drama and confusion in the process. However, their host, the enigmatic Cormac, promises that if they commit themselves fully to the retreat programme, all will be resolved come day ten.

The author skilfully develops this entertaining premise, building to a suitably dramatic climax and emotionally satisfying resolution. For the most part, I went along with the escalating twists and reveals, in part because Hardwick does such a good job in developing the small cast of characters and building such a compelling crucible in which their respective psychological wounds are laid bare.

I’m a fan. Looking forward to more psychological thrillers like “The Fog”. Highly recommended.

My thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for a complimentary copy in return for an honest and independent review.

- Sharon Barba

'The truth is, I'm not fine - I'm broken. I can't write, can't sleep, can't stop crying'.

Kate is undone by a block in her memory: traumatic amnesia. As her mental health seemingly teeters, her personal life is in tatters, 'If I had real courage, I'd confess the most horrible truth of all. It's why I left everything behind to come here. A 10 day writers' retreat, held on a remote island, promises to not only release writer's block, it guarantees to reveal the trauma that caused it. Perfect. As the small group of affected attendees gather, and move through the daily tasks, flashbacks illuminate like lightning and whirl as hauntingly as the island's storms. What's real and what's imagined, the past and the present, begin to morph and everyone's motives and sanity must be questioned, 'You think you can convince us that we're the broken ones. But it's not us. It's not me. It's you'.

3.5 stars. 'The Fog' begins slowly as a disturbed Kate can't seem to remember much at all as to what's gotten her to this state. However, as her flashbacks increasingly reveal more of her, and her fellow attendees' stories, I became riveted. However, as everything converged to a climactic end, I felt there were aspects that were just a little clean and convenient - given all the psychological harm leading up to the end.

'It's not a burden, this secret. It's the truth, and it reminds me who I am...'.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review

The book is set on a remote island in the middle of the Irish strait . The weather is freezing with gale force winds which are a constant threat . Kate arrives at the retreat for writers with writers block. Kate is plagued by memories she can’t understand and is desperate to understand the breakdown of her marriage, Kate is determined to leave the retreat with answers. She soon finds out all is not what it seems and her memories come flooding back with the bizarre rituals the writers have to go through . This book has a constant theme of dread and dysfunction, strange things are happening . Kate becomes infatuated with the retreat leader Gabriel which leads Kate into more confusion.

This is a well written creepy book with a massive twist.

When Kate thought she was going on a writers retreat to help her write again what did she expect to learn? The truth comes out, it is not in anyway a relaxing retreat. Many secrets are hidden and many are exposed! What happened on the island of Rathlin? You’ll have to read to find out!

Thankyou @brookehardwickwriter and @netgalley for the opportunity to read this amazing book.

All I can say is wow just wow. This book had me hooked and on the edge of my seat. At every chapter I was confounded with another mystery until it all fell into place.
This book shows what we can do and deal with when pushed to our limits. It’s dark and eerie but will keep you hooked until that very last page!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

This book, particularly early on in the story, had the makings of a great thriller. I was hoping to find out more about the characters and their motivations, and why things were the way that they were. The setting had a lovely air of menace about it, and it really set things up to be structured well.

Unfortunately, as the story progressed, I found myself losing interest a bit. The main antagonist, Hugh, was almost comical in his 'evilness', and I just found that it drew me out of the book more and more as it went along. I started with a good feeling about the main character too, but unfortunately I feel like she got a little lost in the rest of the story. Kate just wasn't there for me, and it was such a shame.

I feel like this one had the makings of a great book - but sadly, it just didn't quite reach that for me!

I struggled with this book.
It's an interesting concept and I think it had a lot of potential, but I found the whole thing overwrought.

Hugh is a caricature of a manic villain. The author could have dialed his wicked ways down by a lot and had a more nuanced discussion on coercive control and abusive relationships.

The wind appeared to be a main character and there were so many references to the wind 'whipping' and 'howling'.

I found little things frustrating too - like giving a newborn a bracelet and having a token Australian character greet someone with 'hey sexy'. It felt a bit poorly researched and these little things really pulled me out of the story.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

I'm not quite sure how I feel about this one.
The beginning was a bit slow and I found it difficult to get into. About a third of the way through it got a bit more interesting, but it was frustrating watching our protagonist figure things out from her past that we could see so clearly already!
And whilst every effort was made to give the island a mysterious, dangerous feel, I feel it was lacking. I didn't feel that sense of 'oh my goodness something is about to happen!' suspense that I have with other books in this genre.
I did enjoy being suspicious of every character, however, and having my brain race to try to figure out what was going to happen, however the way that the characters interacted and were stereotyped felt a bit forced.

The content was often disturbing, particularly the domestic violence.

‘Congratulations! You’ve been accepted into our Ten-Day Therapeutic Retreat – A Radical Course That Will Change your Life.’

Kate hopes that this retreat will provide answers to the questions plaguing her. Kate is haunted by memories she can’t explain or interpret and is trying to understand the breakdown of her marriage. The retreat is on the remote island of Rathlin in the Irish Channel, and Kate is one of a small number of participants, all of whom are suffering from writer’s block.

‘You’re on the island where Kings find their courage.’

The retreat’s director uses unorthodox methods to try to move each participant beyond their writer’s block. And the eerie atmosphere on the island sparks worrying flashbacks which serve to magnify Kate’s concerns. Can she trust her own mind?
There’s plenty of suspense as this story unfolds and – be warned – a significant number of traumatic themes. While the ending works for me, there’s a twist beforehand that I found difficult to accept. But by then, I was deeply invested in the story keen to find out how it would end.

I enjoyed this well-written novel, but I would not recommend it to anyone who would find traumatic themes triggering.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Australia for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

This book is amazing.

“Never save a drowning woman.
She has to save herself.”

There are a few things that I want in a thriller:
1 - Keep me guessing on who did it and/or what the motive was.
2 - Characters that I’m invested in - either their triumph or demise
This book has both.
And the beautiful epilogue at the end? ::chef’s kiss::

To tell you any more would give the details of the story away.

Do note, I did find this one difficult to get into while I was trying to figure out what was going on but I’m glad I stuck with it. The confusion at the start mirrors the confusion of the character.

Creepy and chilling this made me deeply uncomfortable from the very beginning. A psychological thriller, literally, set on a remote island between Northern Ireland and Scotland that's hosting a writer's retreat.
Not for Agatha Christie fans, they aren't mystery writers and this isn't a twee countryside murder to solve, it's a deeply unsettling unmasking of the participants pasts and psyches.

Riveting stuff, aptly named. Fear not, you (and the protagonist) will ascend the fog into clarity

"The Fog" takes readers to the eerie island of Rathlin in the Irish Channel, where the isolated setting adds a haunting atmosphere. The book starts off strong, immersing you in Kate's world. However, as the story progresses, Kate's self-reflection becomes overwhelming, and the timeline jumps made it difficult to follow. While Kate's mental struggles are vividly depicted, I often found myself questioning her decisions. The ending felt rushed and tied things up too neatly. Overall, while the setting and initial premise were captivating, the execution fell short.

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced copy.

Wow, that was a thrilling ride.
I couldn't tear myself away, just had to read on to see what happened next.
Lots of twists and turns and an ending that I totally did not see coming.
Looking forward to see what Brooke comes up with next.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster (Australia) for the digital ARC. All opinions are my own.

“The Fog” by Brooke Hardwick is a tense psychological thriller that has an interesting premise….a writer’s retreat on a secluded, rugged island with a charismatic leader (Cormac) of an intensive program designed to unblock whatever is stifling creativity and flow. The participants have pasts that need exploring but the methods used are intense, sometimes extreme and traumatic.
The setting is suitably creepy and the participants a motley crew. Kate is there to make sense of her marriage through the “fog” in her mind. Why do her memories seem to be betraying her…and what is the truth she needs to face before she can move on?
The story unfolds at a breakneck pace over ten days and the ending (which I found a little predictable but kind of unlikely) seemed rushed. I would have liked more background of the house and the family that lived there as the brooding Celtic atmosphere, stories and traditions really helped to set the scene and tone of the novel. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. I enjoyed this novel and leave this review voluntarily.

I really enjoyed this book and didn't see all the twists and turns coming before they did!
There's a decent number of triggers in this book, particularly for people who have had to endure emotionally/mentally abu$ive relationships and/or dealt with narcissists, so make sure you read and are ok with the trigger warning list.

After an incredible, suspenseful story, it did feel like the ending was a little rushed and could potentially have been expanded on a bit more, but it was still an excellent story and one I would read again.

Favourite quotes:
"Pretending isn’t lying- it merely softens the brutality of truth”.
-
“But, he loves her” I say, my voice small.
“Or does he love himself when he’s with her?”
-
“This is how Hugh did it- how he hurt Olive and me. He didn’t harm us through violence; he didn’t push me over the cliff, didn’t injure Olive… he simply didn’t save us”

Well this one was a goody. She had a bit of slow start but once I got into it and caught on to what was going on and how it was written I couldn’t put it down. I’m going to say the women in the story overcame a TONNE of trauma. I didn’t care for the guys much. Except for a special kind of man at the very end. Who I will admit I had my suspicions about the entire time 😂 the brain is such a fascinating organ, it really is. This book gets you deep thinking, well it did me anyway.

The Fog, by Australia-born and currently Netherlands-based author Brooke Hardwick, is set in Rathlin Island, the northernmost point of Northern Ireland. On this wild, remote land, an unconventional retreat at a cliffside mansion promises to unlock writers's block in ten days. The story's first-person narrator Kate arrives, hoping to uncover the secrets of her past so she can finish her novel.

Kate's husband disappeared after the tragic loss of their daughter, but she has no idea where or why. The bits and pieces of memories plaguing her draw forth more questions than answers, so the unorthodox therapy offered at the retreat appears to be her only hope, with the unusual techniques tapping into the island's mythical past and helping to unravel repressed trauma.

However, as Kate's flashbacks become increasingly intense and disturbing, she realises what she remembers as her life is not true, and her husband has never been who she thinks he is. Her real past is much darker and scary, but there are also dangers lurking on the island. It seems that no one can be trusted, not even her fellow attendees at the writer's retreat.

It is hard to critique The Fog without spoilers, as the whole book is about revelation. Suffice to say, the story highlights some of the most urgent and alarming issues in our society, whose origins can be traced back to the fundamentals of power and control. Not just between partners in a relationship, but also between members of the same family.

Traumatised by her past, Kate desperately wants to get back the memories of those shocking events that she experienced and witnessed, which she hopes will help her heal. Yet, from the reader's perspective, the use of first-person narration may not be ideal. For example, throughout the story, we not only observe Kate's flashbacks, but also have to follow along as she summarises and analyses everything and uses them to deconstruct her existing memories. That is a lot of duplicated material to be endured, not to mention her detailed deciphering of what is valid and why.

Furthermore, as much as we can sympathise with what Kate is going through emotionally and psychologically, her character is inconsistent due to her repeated questioning and doubting herself. For sure, in her existing memories and at the start of the ten-day period, this is a timid, feeble, submissive, insecure, frequently flustered and perpetually self-undermining character that is bordering pitiful and unlikeable.

In sharp contrast, as Kate salvages more memories of her past, she seems to turn into a different person. This Kate – in some of the flashbacks and particularly at the end of the ten-day period – is clear-headed, organised, adequate at planning ahead and willing to take risks while calculating and preparing for the potential consequences. To say it is hard to reconcile these two dramatically different versions of the character is an understatement.

Some may argue the “weak Kate” is the result of what was done to her in the past, and the trauma of losing her daughter is the final straw that broke her mind with amnesia. That certainly is the point about power and control in relationships, with one being oppressed to such an extent that either she implodes, her mind crushed beyond repair by that relentless, suffocating pressure, or all her repressed emotions finally unleash in torrents, hence the “strong Kate”.

However, in the book, Kate's amnesia is only partial, with all those memories of the truth conveniently tucked away and needing retrieval, while her existing memories illustrating a seemingly perfect life. Similarly, the contrast between the two versions of the character is so necessarily staggering that the “weak Kate” seems ridiculously minuscule and inept. Indeed, when the “strong Kate” asks herself why she let it all happen – “Why hadn't I resisted? I was proud and strong, I had my own life – my own dreams – I was on the cusp of my future – a new identity” – it appears to be the very first time Kate ever truly looks at herself, with the subject of her survey being a woman lacking agency and requiring intervention. Worse, to comprehend it all, she has to read the woman's journal where all her flashbacks have been recorded and scrutinised.

It is through this female gaze that our heroine is finally able to diagnose and treat her subject's problem: “There's a rush of blood through my veins. My throat tightens, and then every memory and truth collides in my head. An almighty howl leaves my mouth, penetrates the wind and echoes along the cliffs. It's huge and piercing and filled with all my pain. I have my voice back. I can scream.” She conceals her corresponding action afterwards: “It's not a burden, this secret. It's the truth, and it reminds me who I am – a woman who found her courage.” Then she moves on to a new project: “It's a story about a woman in a bad relationship – a strong woman who frees herself from constraint and control and survives.”

So the female gaze continues, and our protagonist is always watching and examining herself as a character, which makes her a spectacle, to be received by herself and by us as spectators. The distance between Kate and the target of her gaze remains, perhaps rightly so, as both her previous and current novels are based on her own life. Unfortunately, that same distance also lingers between the book and its readers, making it somewhat difficult to fully embrace not just the story but also how it is framed.

The Fog by Brooke Hardwick had such potential and I was instantly drawn in by the setting on a remote island and the premise of a creepy, cultish writers workshop. Sadly, beyond that, I just didn’t connect with the story. As strong as the overarching narrative was, the execution fell flat. I feel the author tried to accomplish too much, instead leaving all angles to fall over.

Synopsis: Kate is experiencing writers block when she enrols in an exclusive retreat for authors on Rathlin Island. While she works through the fog of her writers block, she simultaneously has to reflect on her failed marriage and what went wrong. As time passes and memories come back to her, she realises her husband may not have been who he seemed, and the same goes for the island…

My main criticism of The Fog was the writing style. The timeline jumps between the writers workshop and the flashbacks felt quite disjointed and I frequently found myself turning back a few pages to work out whether we were in the past or present.

The author did build fantastic suspense and nailed the creepy setting, but again the jarring jumps in the timeline made it difficult to feel truly immersed in the setting. I also struggled to feel empathy for the central character, I would have loved for her to have been fleshed out more at the start of the book so the reader truly feels for her throughout the narrative.

Overall a strong storyline, but not my favourite execution. I’d recommend this to real fans of mysteries and thrillers - it had enough intrigue to keep me reading, but left me wanting more from the structure.

3 ⭐️

A big thank you to Simon & Schuster Australia for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Setting ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Characters ⭐⭐⭐
Suspense ⭐⭐⭐
Whodunit/Motive ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Ending ⭐
Overall ⭐⭐⭐⭐

1st Person POV / Dual Timeline

Dark. Repetitive. Clever. Game.

I don't like when thrillers end tied up nicely with a pink ribbon.

But I did enjoy whodunnit, how they did it and their motive - meaning (view spoilers on Goodreads)

Favourite Scenes: The way the fog slowly lifted to reveal Olive's true cause of death / All treatment scenes / Anything with Ruby.

Favourite Characters: Ruby, Cormac and Hugh

More from Ruby would have been great. She was easily the strongest guest character.

Least Favourite Character: Kate. Kate is weak and needy and just annoying. I didn't root for her lol. Just like the whodunnit said, she's so easy to manipulate.

Given Kate is in 100% of this book, it's amazing I chose to rate it so highly. Goes to show how well done other elements of the book were.

Surely, if you've blacked out that many times, you don't remember how you got where you are, you'd start thinking.. maybe there's something wrong here. Hmm, what did I eat and drink last? Where was I? Who was I with? Et cetera.

She's a bit.. how do I say it.. slow.

Like any good hero vs villain movie; I rooted for the villain.

💀🖤

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read and review an advanced copy of this book!

Her husband has left her and her child is gone. A woman with amnesia attends a remote, 10-day writers retreat in the hopes of being able to remember what happened. On a remote and isolated island, at the whims of a charming therapist with eccentric techniques, something starts to feel… off. She struggles to comprehend the present while being assaulted with disturbing flashbacks from her past.

‘The Fog’ has a good central premise and is very easy-to-read, but unfortunately I don’t think the execution is all there. The main driver of interest for me was the flashbacks — this was where the bulk of the action and interesting revelations were — while the present day storyline felt meandering. I felt like I was waiting for the flashbacks to be filled in before things really kicked off.

I found the start of the novel quite disorienting and struggled to connect with the main character (Kate). She lacked, well, characterisation, where I felt the side characters had much stronger identities. Kate would often be asked direct questions by other characters and respond with only ‘ummmm’ before the conversation just moved on between two other characters. She refused to accept compliments and just generally didn’t take a super active role in the story until towards the end.

My other gripe is an odd scene where a female-presenting character gets drunk and rants about how they refuse to be called a girl. This is never addressed again and the characters continue to refer to them as female. It loosely makes sense with an event that is later revealed from their past, but I don’t think that justifies it being there, it just felt unnecessary and uncomfortable.

Nevertheless, I did churn through this book because it was ultimately still entertaining. The atmosphere is spooky and unsettling, with some good metaphors and other descriptors.

As a general note, there are a lot of trigger warnings attached to this book, particularly surrounding abusive relationships, infanticide and bodily harm. So be aware of those if you are thinking of picking up a copy when this book is published!