‘The House Of Straw’ by Marc Scott is a book that will engulf you as soon as you start reading it. You will definitely want to read to the very end! It is a dark, very twisted and even brutal read. Within the darkness, the author has also brought some humour into the story and it brings the question of Nature V Nurture with this book.

The story bases itself around two half-siblings, Poppy and Brianna, both share a father and that is it. This is the story of their lives, apart. Brianna has just experienced the biggest tragedy that I think might be possible, her twin died in terrible circumstances and she is suffering from depression. Then there is the elder half-sister Poppy, a girl that has suffered abuse from the age of 8. Her mother died and her stepfather put her in care. She is attempting to get herself sorted from being released from prison but her boyfriend is another abusive male in her life, so she is fighting against a tide.

The story then time slips back to their father met each of their mothers. We see the differences in how the children are all brought up and the differences between them. It seems the girls are total opposites, Brianna wants a connection with Poppy but Poppy is not keen, to say the least.
The writing of this book is so clever and like I say hard reading at times, with the characters being well developed to the point of, you know Brianna is the worst but you have a little frisson of empathy when her twin passes away. The twists and clever turns don’t slow down till the story ends and what an ending! Thank you to Sarah of Books On The Bright Side and the author for a copy of the book for my turn on this blog tour today.