Sarah Sultoon – The Source

‘The Source’ by Sarah Sultoon is an exceptional book that I have been dying to read since I very first read the synopsis. A debut novel that as it unfolds you struggle to remember this is a work of fiction.

Marie is an assistant producer at Nine News, a national TV channel. We meet her as she is working undercover, with Nine reporter Dominic on a story that looks set to make big headlines. They are targeting a group of human traffickers and wired up, about to meet the dealers face to face.
Everything goes as planned and they are over the moon that they have exactly what they need. Their story is going to be huge! Then another story breaks and theirs is pushed to the side. This sickens Marie, who is worried about the women she left behind at the undercover meeting. She might be on her first big TV news story, but this is a young woman who knows exactly what she wants and could be classed as being obsessive in her need to get what she wants. Marie has plenty of issues and secrets too, and they’re about to be highlighted in an explosive way.

The story is told from two perspectives Marie and also Carly. Carly’s is told from mostly the 1990s and Marie’s ten years later. Carly is a young girl attempting to keep her broken family together and also to protect her younger sister Kayleigh. We follow this young girls story, as she exhibits the strength of more than a mere girl. I did find it difficult to keep in my mind that she is a child at times. This is because she is forced to mature fast and face situations that no teenager should need to. The two worlds of Marie and Carly collide in the BIG Story that has sidelined Marie and Dominic’s plans and we are there to see what could be more important than human trafficking.

A hard-hitting tale of abuse, greed, power and grooming in which Sarah Sultoon has given us a truly authentic picture of how a British newsroom works and how they handle the stories they have. The author has encapsulated the feel of excitement the journalists experience within the sharp end of reporting. I was as excited as them as they followed their leads. We do see the difference between the worlds as we read Carly’s story as she is caught in a terrifying web of horror. Sarah Sultoon has dealt with this side of the story so well, getting her point across meaningfully while being sensitive to the nature of Carly’s story also. She manages to weave the two parts together and brings the whole picture as one. The author has cleverly created a sense of place bringing us London and Essex in all their colours and vibrancy of the places.

This novel written by Sarah Sultoon who is a former CNN journalist is truly a credit to her writing skills. She has decided to write about a tough subject, bringing it to the fore with a bang and using every skill she possesses, in journalism and writing to ensure it hits in the right places. A deep and multi-layered story I just soaked up!

With massive thanks to Anne Cater and Orenda Books for having me on their fabulous book tours and for my copy of the book too.