That Time with Sugar by Tess Oliver

You will love this book, or moreover you will love the fact that this as about as far from the norm as you are possible going to have read in a very long time and I for one am delighted about that, Tess Oliver you certainly know how to mix things up!

Tommy Jameson has plenty going on in his life, this twenty something is trying to deal with the substance abuse (alcohol) and anger issues that blight his life and have him at loggerheads with his family and when you are the heir to the family fortune, you have a lot to lose when your life isn’t what those around you perceive it should be.

Tommy meets plenty of other inmates at Green Willow Recovery Center but he could never in his wildest dreams have imagined that working hard to survive the banality of the day to day existence would bring him two new friends that his life will come to depend upon.

Sugar Scarborough (who Tommy is completely besotted by) and Julian Fitzpatrick are the other corners in what turns out to a very well connected triangle of friendship, in what I can only describe as an absolute thriller of a book.

I found the situation with Julian perplexing, I understood the implication of his issue and that despite the fact that he was inherently brilliant, he was socially inept. I also found the fact that he had all but been abandoned by his dad really sad.

The three friends find their lives in mortal danger when secrets come to light (the news about Julian is a WTF moment – my jaw dropped) that not only result in them having to leave Green Willow but that sees bodies being left in their wake.

Keeping themselves safe and having their wits about them they do what they can to stay under the radar but with nowhere to go they head towards Julian’s home and right into the path of danger as they see for themselves that those that should be protecting them or at least one of them, has an ulterior motive and cannot be trusted.

With their hopes dashed they are back to square one, not knowing what the hell is going on, how they are going to keep themselves alive.

I must say that I found the drama and jeopardy of the story completely engaging as was the connection between the three friends, each had their issues, yes I know but I quickly became completely connected to the three of them and because of that I read much of the book with a feeling of absolute trepidation. I genuinely feared for them and while that was a little unnerving, it also woke the need that lay slumbering within me for people (albeit characters) to be safe.

It is almost impossible to read the plot as it unfolded without another little pinch of fear not only nibbling at your senses but nipping incessantly at your heels.

I was left spinning, trying to keep my head on straight and to make sense of the complete mind***k that I was unfolding around me... keeping pace with the twists and turns was not only epic but complete and utter genius – congratulations Ms Oliver!!