Welcome Readers!

Come take a seat and make yourselves comfy, because it’s time for another book review!

This time around I read Hard Luck Jenny by David Sodergren.

I’ve been dying to try more from Sodergren for a while now, but my reading rotation of authors has gotten pretty crazy. I previously read The Haar and The Forgotten Islandby Sodergren and liked both, so I’m a pretty big fan.

I ordered this book and Rotten Tommy (still unread for now) a while back, so when I had free pick of my next read I jumped right into this one. Let’s see how it went!

Blurb

“You should pay your respects to Jenny.”

On a quiet road in the Scottish Highlands, Dennis Norris stops to use the bathroom in a quaint country inn. It’s been a long weekend, and all he wants is to use the facilities before continuing the five-hour drive home to his loving wife. But something seems off in The Rockarn Inn. The people there won’t let him leave.

Why is everyone so hostile towards him? What strange ritual has Dennis accidentally stumbled into? And just who is the mysterious Hard Luck Jenny everyone keeps talking about?

Soon, Dennis will find out. And the grim events of that long, desperate night will change his life… forever.

From David Sodergren, author of The Haar and Maggie’s Grave, comes a darkly comic anxiety-drenched folk-horror nightmare.

Hard Luck Jenny.

Love her. Worship her.

Die for her.

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***Brief disclosure***

I am an Amazon and Bookshop.org affiliate and earn a small commission for purchases made through the links in this post at no cost to you. It’s a great way to help me keep things running on my blog if you’re already intrigued enough to make a purchase. 

The Review

What a demented roller coaster!

The premise of this novella is simple. Dennis is driving home from visiting relatives and he’s got to take a wee. He stops at a bar he’s never seen before and does his business, but for some reason the patrons don’t seem to want him to leave. As his irritance becomes desperation, Dennis will have to risk it all if he ever wants to get home.

I’m so wowed that Sodergren managed to make such an unforgettable read in just over a hundred pages.

Dennis was an easy main character to understand. He cares about his wife and simply wants to get home. Like many of us, he’s been programmed to be polite to the point of endangering his own safety. I liked his resilience as things go from bad to worse. It was really admirable.

The plot moved very fast and didn’t mince words. I have a profound respect for that, and it was extremely hard to put this one down. I also enjoyed how gritty and manic it became with each new page. At the risk of spoiling this story I’m going to leave this review nice and short, but if you want a phenomenal read that doesn’t hold back punches, you can’t go wrong with this one.

Highly recommend!

That’s A Wrap!

Well that’s it for this book review. Like what you see? Leave a tip!

Have you read this book? Are there other similar books you’ve read that you simply have to gush about? Feel free to leave a comment. I’d love to start a conversation!

Have a great day!

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