Ketchup Clouds

There’s quite a lot of things I really liked about Ketchup Clouds, and I’ll talk about those things in this review. But firstly, about the novel itself. It’s a uniquely told story in that we’re reading this novel through a series of one way letters from an English girl who calls herself Zoe (not her real name, but that’s how I’ll refer to her throughout) to Stuart Harris, a murderer who is sitting on death row in Texas, USA. This in itself was enough to pique my interest and made me want to read this novel. But it becomes more interesting.

Don’t be fooled by the cover that looks carefree and fluffy. This is not the fluffy book that it comes across as. And I really liked that surprise. One thing I actually loved about this book was when I picked it up I was thinking “Ketchup Clouds?! What kind of a title is that?” Honestly after reading it it’s the best kind of title, because it’s relevant to the story and there’s a bit of a back story to it. I am not going to explain what it means, because whilst it’s not a spoiler, I really liked being able to discover this for myself. I think this is a little bit of a gem for readers to enjoy.

I adored that once things became clear to us (the reader), we still don’t know who it was that dies until the last 2 chapters of the novel. We know since chapter 1 that Zoe says she murdered someone, but this remains a secret to us until the very end. Whilst I fetched a guess, you’re only given a 50/50 option and that suspense actually puts us in the same shoes as Mr Harris himself.

I was a little disappointed by the ending, but not because I didn’t feel the author did a good job. I totally get the reasons why it ends why it ends, and I agree actually that it probably was the right way to end it. I think my reaction is based solely on my selfish emotions and wanting more. Which is actually a compliment to Annabel Pitcher for making me feel all the feels. You broke my heart. It was amazing.

A sweet, endearing, honest contemporary novel with a dark twist. I would highly recommend this one!

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Happy Reading! 😊

xoxo Fatin