Review: Difficult People

Difficult People by Rebecca Ray
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A compassionate, insightful read on how to deal with the difficult people in your life.

Brilliant.

I found a really great paragraph towards the end of the book that sums it up perfectly:

...this is not about fixing you so the difficult person can get away with whatever they want. Instead, it's about helping you develop resilience in the face of a person who is unlikely to change (or who hasn't shown signs of improvement in your dealings with them).

The book explores different types of difficult people and provides insight into how they may have become so. It then outlines ways to protect yourself and your boundaries while empowering you to take control of your own reactions and feelings towards them. It will give you a peek into the inner workings of the minds of difficult people, but it may also surprisingly show you elements of your own behaviour that might be considered difficult.

It's a comprehensive guide that takes the time to explore different personality types and emphasises compassion when dealing not just with difficult people, but also yourself. There's a perfect balance of respecting others while setting clear boundaries, and it's nurturing but firm.

I am fortunate to not have too many truly difficult people in my life, but even still there were moments when the truth hit close to home and it became quite tough to push through. That's about the only thing that slowed me down, and even then it wasn't for long. I was fascinated learning about the different elements that contribute to difficult behaviours and appreciated the examples that made clear any lingering confusion of meanings. There are plenty of tables, bullet point lists and diagrams that make everything easily digestible, as well as a summary at the end of each chapter. I found some parts a little long, but I also know I'll appreciate the thoroughness when I need to return to those particular explanations.

A truly thoughtful, empathetic guide to protecting yourself from difficult people whilst also understanding why they might behave as they do. I really appreciated the kindness and honesty behind these words and I know this is a book I'll return to often.

With thanks to Macmillan for a copy

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Review: Sixteen Horses

Sixteen Horses by Greg Buchanan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you can get past the cruelty to animals, this is a cracker of a thriller.

In a small English town, sixteen horses heads are found buried on a nearby farm. Local detective Alec is on the case, but they call in forensic vet (who even knew that was a thing?) Cooper to help out.

Now, if you don't anticipate animal cruelty from that blurb, you're a little naïve. We're starting with decapitated horses right off the bat and we want to know what happened to them. So if you're a bit squeamish, maybe give this one a miss. I WILL say that I am not a huge fan of animal cruelty myself but I found it bearable here. It mostly made sense within the story and it wasn't ever dwelled on in a particularly gruesome manner, so to me it made a point of difference in a world of same/same crime.

Alec is not a particularly good detective, so I was more and more fascinated to see his side of the story play out. Cooper is the big-hearted vet with an eye for crime so she was much more switched on. That being said, there never seemed to be a huge amount of progress made in the case. A lot of the secrets just came out all at once at the end.

This being a 'literary' crime, I found the writing quite refreshing. I'm not usually one to enjoy flouncy writing but it really worked for me in this one. At times I was frustrated to not be getting any answers, but there was also enough between the lines for me to work with.

I feel like there were quite a few things not quite tied up properly, which was a bit disappointing, and I wish there were more explanations about why things were necessary to the story. But for the most part I really enjoyed this novel and found it to be a quick read. The style was quite different for a crime/thriller novel so I found that aspect of it quite refreshing.

If you're looking for a new take on the crime genre, this a great place to start. Be wary: dead animals lie in this direction. But if you can appreciate their place in the story, you should enjoy this as much as I did.

With thanks to Macmillan for a copy

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