I’m super excited to be able to post my stop on the blog tour for The Heart Ladder by Sibby Spencer. Many thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources and Sibby Spencer for the gifted ebook in exchange for my honest review.
As the war in Vietnam stutters to a close, a heavily pregnant Faith flees America for a new life in England. Leaving behind everything she knew, including the mystery of what happened to the father of her unborn child after he went missing behind enemy lines.
Three decades on and her son, thirty-something slacker Dan, knows he’s wasting his life in pubs, nightclubs, and his dead-end job. That all changes, though, when a man with storied eyes and an old army jacket introduces himself as the father Dan never had a chance to know.
But is Jacob, a battered and broken war veteran, really who he claims to be?
As Jacob’s true purpose in seeking him out becomes clear, Dan comes to understand that his life is very far from meaningless – and that the choices he makes might have deadly and irredeemable consequences.
Readers who enjoy genre-bending books that play with themes of reality and identity will love The Heart Ladder!
This is a novel that can’t just be put into one genre. There are elements of historical fiction, and it’s a psychological thriller. It’s Sibby Spencers’ debut novel and one that’s very cleverly written.
Faith is heavily pregnant and moves from America to England as the Vietnam war is ending. She starts a new life after the father of her unborn baby goes missing behind enemy lines. Thirty years later, Dan is just wasting his life working a dead-end job and doing the usual pubbing and nightclubbing. Until the day Jacob, his father whom he never knew, approaches him. But is he who he says he is?
We see the men get to know each other, but does Dan really know the true Jacob? Why did he find Dan? Everything Dan believed is brought into question. Until the time comes that he realises choices aren’t as simple as he thought they were. Sometimes they are deadly and you can’t come back from them.
The Heart Ladder is a quick read, only being about 200 pages. Sibby Spencer’s characters are so well fleshed out. I was intrigued by Jacob and Dan. I couldn’t wait to find out what it was all leading to.
As I said earlier, it’s almost like a genre crossover. It has the historical fiction element, and the author did take me back in time. Her descriptions of the time were vivid and detailed. The psychological thriller side is well represented . The suspense and intrigue are there, and there is a definite twist that I couldn’t have guessed. What I will say is it also has a dash of sci-fi, I want to say. It did add something extra for me. I am a reader who enjoys different. The Heart Ladder is exactly that.
It’s definitely an emotional story. I almost felt like I needed a conversation with some of the characters at times. That was how involved I was as I read. At the heart of this book is that the choices we all make can reverberate down the generations because they can’t always be undone. Sibby Spencer is an author whom I will be on the lookout for in the future.
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08YFL166K
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08YFL166K
Author Bio
Sibby Spencer is an author, poet, podcaster and regular book reviewer for BBC Radio Derby. She enjoys playing around with the themes of reality and possibility, and creating characters who are very human in their flaws – yet capable of revelation and redemption. She loves getting lost in a good novel, swimming in the sea, learning new things and dancing in her kitchen. She lives in Derbyshire with her husband and two children.
Social Media Links
sharonbeyondthebooks.uk 