Outsiders and bullies

‘The Four’ – Ellie Keel

Powerful. Sinister. Heart-wrenching. Unmissable. We were always The Four. From our very first day at High Realms.

The four scholarship pupils. Outsiders in a world of power and privilege. It would have made our lives a lot easier if Marta had simply pushed Genevieve out of our bedroom window that day. Certainly, it would have been tragic. She would have died instantly. But Marta didn’t push her then, or – if you choose to believe me – at any other time. If she had, all of what we went through would not have happened. I’ve told this story as clearly as I could – as rationally as I’ve been able, in the circumstances, to achieve. I don’t regret what we did.

And I would do it all again.

This book just wasn’t for me. I have seen it everywhere and was really excited to read it, especially with the sinister blurb. However, this is just the beginning and Keel presents a dark and twisted academic story where none of the characters are particularly likeable. Despite them showing some sort of redemption in the Epilogue, I found I was mostly frustrated by character actions and reactions.

Personally, I don’t think the blurb quite portrays the story. The first 20% felt really exciting and setting the foundations for this tense novel. Yet, after a key event, I thought the pace dropped off, the plot stagnated and not much happens. I wasn’t expecting the overall plot direction and this was why I felt the general story did not meet what I was hoping for from this read. Instead, it felt trapped in a cycle of the main characters trying to evade suspicions, whilst keeping their head above water amongst the sharks and bullies that attend High Realms.

This was not aided by the very long chapters. Keel’s style of writing is quite interesting but I thought it needed to match a high-octane style of plot. Quite often I had to leave mid-chapter and this definitely lessened the impact of the story. I frequently felt bored by the tedium of the narrative, especially as it felt that not much was happening with the central four characters.

In my opinion, some of the minor characters were more interesting and I would have preferred Keel to have developed them further. However, the behaviour of these sixth form students was appalling and I could not understand how none of the members of staff were willing to get involved and punish their actions. If this was “real life”, these people would not stand a chance of getting away with it. I found this part more of a turn-off with this book because I disliked how Keel presented a school body that seems to run itself on acceptable bullying towards outsiders.

Overall, this book started with promise but did not continue. I don’t think the blurb was really an accurate portrayal of the story and I think Keel pushes the dark, academic setting too far with predictable stereotypes. Combined with the lengthy chapters and not much happening, this was more of a struggle that I was glad to finish.

With thanks to HQ Digital and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.