Nicky is the child with the hurting eyes and desperate ways. Rescue him.
Claus is the man with the empty eyes and controlling ways. Rescue her.

Broken by the death of her sister, Keziah can’t believe her luck when Claus, a beautiful psychologist saves her from a disciplinary disaster. Desperate to heal herself and restore her parents, she marries in haste. But her husband’s idiosyncrasies and unexplained absences are easy to ignore ‒ until the past resurfaces and forces Keziah to confront the uncomfortable truth.

Nine-year-old Nicky, is also living the life of luxury but desperate to escape ‒ he can’t.

When Keziah ends up in hospital, her world collides with Nicky’s. The secrets he shares have far-reaching consequences and, if mishandled, will blow everyone’s future out of the water…

My Review

So we all feel desperately sorry for Nicky (none of it is his fault – he’s only nine – though he thinks it is). No-one ever explains anything to him so he takes everything literally. If he doesn’t do this or that or count to a certain number, then that prevents him from keeping everyone safe. But his alcoholic mum should be keeping him safe – not the other way round. And his father doesn’t have a clue.

Claus is a dangerous man, exercising coercive control over Keziah. She is gradually becoming estranged from her friends and family. He also lies, hides things and disappears for days. He wants to know where she is all the time and even tracks her. But is he really dangerous or simply over-protective to the point of paranoia? When I was a child, if my father was an hour late back from work, my mother would start ringing the police and the hospitals. It had nothing to do with control. It arose from her crippling levels of anxiety. But Claus is a psychologist so he should know better, shouldn’t he?

The book is set in two timelines – one is Nicky’s childhood in the eighties – though the exact date is not always clear – and at times so sad I wasn’t sure initially if I would be able to carry on reading. The other is told from the point of view of Keziah, a primary school teacher who has recently married Claus, supposedly the man of her dreams, the man who would rescue her. Because Keziah’s life has never been the same since her sister Esther died when they were both in their teens and she still harbours the guilt she felt at the time. I think sometimes she feels she deserves whatever has been handed out to her.

It’s an amazing book which perfectly captures the themes of love, loss, parenthood, childhood trauma, guilt and control. Having been written by a psychologist, we know that these themes, together with that of mental health, will be dealt with sensitively and realistically.

There is so much more that resonated with me but it would lead to spoilers, so I can’t say more, but suffice to say this is a book that will make you reevaluate your prejudices.

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the author, and my fellow Pigeons for making this such an enjoyable read.

About the Author

Surviving Her is dual-narrative, domestic suspense. It combines engaging, complex characters with a fast-moving plot that explores what goes on behind fancy doors! It’s a timely page turner, it’s a novel novel and Jo Johnson has a unique voice (her kids say a scratchy and irritating one but hey!)

She qualified as a clinical psychologist in 1992 specialising in neurology since 2000. She worked for fifteen years within the NHS but in 2008 made an impulsive decision to leave in order to write and explore new projects. She continues to practise psychology hoping one day to become perfect at it! In her spare time she loves writing fiction and given her day job she believes she can write characters who could be real. Surviving Her is her second novel.