Love Will Tear Us Apart by C K McDonnell

Love Will Tear Us Apart by C K McDonnell
UK Publication: Feb 2023
Reviewed by: Book Worm
Rating: [★★★★]

This ARC was provided by Random House UK (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review.

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Synopsis from Goodreads: Love can be a truly terrible thing.

Marriages are tricky at the best of times, especially when one of you is dead.

Vincent Banecroft, the irascible editor of The Stranger Times, has never believed his wife died despite emphatic evidence to the contrary. Now, against all odds, it seems he may actually be proved right; but what lengths will he go to in an attempt to rescue her?

With Banecroft distracted, the shock resignation of assistant editor, Hannah Willis, couldn’t have come at a worse time. It speaks volumes that her decision to reconcile with her philandering ex-husband is only marginally less surprising than Banecroft and his wife getting back together. In this time of crisis, is her decision to swan off to a fancy new-age retreat run by a celebrity cult really the best thing for anyone?

As if that wasn’t enough, one of the paper’s ex-columnists has disappeared, a particularly impressive trick seeing as he never existed in the first place.

Floating statues, hijacked ghosts, homicidal cherubs, irate starlings, Reliant Robins and quite possibly several deeply sinister conspiracies; all-in-all, a typical week for the staff of The Stranger Times.

My Thoughts: This is my favourite of the series not only does it manage to be funnier than the others it also gets a whole lot darker.

I have another new favourite character the indomitable Betty and we revisit with my favourite from the last book Zeke. The characters are stealing my heart more and more with each book and if C K McDonnell doesn’t get writing the next book soon I will be a very sad Bookworm.

Some of my favourite quotes this time around:

“…poured himself a healthy measure, then kept pouring past the point of unhealthy all the way to death wish”

“He may have written some fetid tripe over the years, but it has always been correctly spelled and fact-checked fetid tripe.”

“I understand said Hannah. She didn’t, but she was possessed by that crushing middle-class anxiety that she had unthinkingly offended somebody.”

“It flicked through all the channels until it found a repeat of the 1990s show in which people in swimwear saved other people from drowning by running in slow motion towards them.”

Who would like this? I would recommend this to anyone who needs some pure escapism, some great British humour and who isn’t scared of the dark.

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