Goodness me this was good! So good! I could not put it down (I say that about all Orenda Books, they just weave some kind of magic spell over me). SJI Holliday’s previous novel ‘The Lingering’ blew me away so I knew I would be in for another exciting, dark journey with ‘Violet’. There is even a little nod to Rosalind House from ‘The Lingering’ and that just made me giddy with pleasure! Two travelling strangers meet, Carrie and Violet, Carrie offers Violet a spare ticket for the Trans-Siberian Express and this simple act will cause unimaginable repercussions. Both of these young women are travelling alone, and I have to give them praise for that. I would never be brave enough to go on such an adventure! I admired both of them for their balls, even though I couldn’t trust either of them. The whole time I was reading this I kept questioning everything they did and said, especially Violet who is our narrator. A narrator who is deeply unsettling and creepy. The setting was a big win for me, I love reading anything that is set or partly set on a train, and the Trans-Siberian Express is something I’ve always wanted to experience for myself. The journey and the glances you get at the countries along the way are fascinating. This superb backdrop really made this book for me. It’s hard to review ‘Violet’ without spoiling anything, it is a journey that you have to take for yourself. And it’s a journey that is disturbing, unnerving and gripping. SJI Holliday has an outstanding talent for creating tension and the whole time I was reading this, I felt like I couldn’t breathe or look away from the pages. Violet and Carrie’s adventure teeters on a knife edge and I loved every second. An outstanding, absorbing read.

I'm grateful to Orenda Books for a free copy of Violet for review. This is a story of two young women. Violet walked out on her boyfriend Sam, leaving him in Vietnam and travelling to Beijing to find something better (but losing half her luggage en route). It seems Sam just wasn't the man she thought he was... Carrie set out on the holiday of a lifetime - but without her best friend Laura, who was going to come with her. Laura had an unfortunate accident back in Edinburgh involving drink, cobblestones and high heels and is currently immobilised as a result. So Laura has spare tickets for a rail trip back through Mongolia and Siberia to Moscow. When the two meet in a Beijing hotel lobby, where Violet is stranded having just missed the opening hours of the booking office it therefore sounds like fate. The two go off and get drunk, and their problems are solved. What could possibly go wrong? Well, as you can imagine, quite a lot. Once these two apparently straightforward women are thrown together in a small sleeping compartment, it becomes clear that they both have complicated histories. And complicated secrets. The themes of strangers on a train, of the claustrophobic, isolated space of the sleeping car, the endless days crossing a bleak landscape, may seem very well worn - but Holliday is here now to inject new life and menace into them. The story is told mostly from Violet's perspective, but interspersed by emails between Carrie and her family and friends. We soon begin to see that there's something... off... about Violet. She has, we are told, had 'many looks' and it may be time to try a new one. This feels a bit more like a fashion choice. Hearing Violet's internal monologue, we're aware of her latching on to Carrie. Carrie could be what Violet needs, muses Violet (even as she obsessively stalks her ex on Facebook). But Violet has to be careful. Just what is her game? Is she sponging off Carrie? Certainly Violet (still missing her luggage) ends up wearing items of Carrie's clothing which Carrie can't remember lending her. But they are drinking rather a lot so perhaps things get missed... So it continues until the two stop off in Mongolia for shopping, an encounter with wild horses and, eventually, an allegedly indigenous religious ceremony that seems to be a cover for consumption of potent mushrooms leadings to an experience we are never, quite, told the details of. Whatever, it seems to reset the relationship between Violet and Carrie (and to put Carrie's behaviour in a rather different light). After this, things get complicated between the two and the enclosed atmosphere of the train even more chaffing. There's nowhere to go. There's a dependency between the women but at the same time a hostility. Is it a case of grifter and mark? Seducer and seduced? Are they both playing each other, using one another? Jealousy also rears its head. Different levels, different layers of need, of abuse, of deceit, surface. If this were a film there would be many scenes of uneasy silence, of watching, of glances intercepted. It gets really really REALLY intense, the journey being soaked in an atmosphere of palpable menace and, yes, even of evil. We don't really have a clue what is going on - Holliday reveals things slowly and you have to put together little clues (it's as much about what you don't see happening as what you do). We do know, sort of, where it will end up - the book opens with a short prologue - or rather we think we do, but I will warn you: trust nothing and no-one here. Like her characters, Holliday has many secrets and the book keeps springing them to the very end. It is a great, tense read which I burned through in a single day. Whether describing Violet's and Carrie's raucous progress across Asia, their fractious relationship, the shifty groups of young men who wait in station car parks and seedy markets or the dubious pleasures of tourist hotels and packaged experiences, Holliday's eye is always sharp and you'll feel as though you are right there. Violet and Carrie also feel real - horrible at times, but real - and as their history emerges you'll feel sympathy for both, if at times limited sympathy. Recommended.

Carrie and Violet, two very different women, each traveling alone, both for very different reasons, both with one thing in common. Neither wants to remain alone as they board the Trans-Siberian Express.  Thrown together by chance, traveling forward on their journey together by choice, the story follows the pair of women as they venture on to the train as they continue on the journey Carrie had all planned for her and her best friend. Told from alternative perspectives of Carrie and Violet and emails between Carrie and her friend who missed out on the trip of a life time due to a broken leg, this is a slow paced read, but one packed with a profound, subtle rise in tension page by page as secrets are revealed, their true characters come to light as the two strangers get closer and each women's own agenda reveals its self. You may think that you know where this story is heading but as things start to turn form drunken revelry to dangerously toxic the craftsmanship of the writing and the ingenuity of the plot will have you hurtling through the pages as fast as the Trans-Siberian Express hurtles the women across the country. If you are a fan of psychological and nerve tingling intrigue reads you are in for a real treat with this one!

I have read a number of Susi Holliday's books and therefore I knew I was in for a great read! I couldn't wait to get started and the opening prologue grabbed my attention immediately and that was me settled in for the evening, all other plans cancelled. The author has given us a fascinating twisted tale. Perplexing characters who in turn presents the reader with an unnerved expectation about both the characters the stories they share with each other. I especially enjoyed the way that the various locations, including the Trans Siberian Express, were described by the author. I could almost feel as if I were there watching from across the room. You just never know what the next pages will bring. Is Carrie in danger? Is Violet in danger? What is the truth? You will need to read the book to find out - you know I never give away any plot details in my reviews.

I really enjoyed SJI Holliday's last book, The Lingering, and so I was excited to read Violet which is a really dark psychological thriller. What particularly appealed to me was the setting. Violet and Carrie first meet in Beijing. Both are travelling and Violet has just split from her boyfriend. Carrie is travelling alone because the friend she was supposed to be with has broken her leg. Violet needs a ticket for the Trans-Siberian Express and Carrie just happens to have one so they hook up and travel together. I loved following the two women along the way but this is no happy hippy backpacker tale. Oh no, this is much more sinister and makes you think about who you make friends with and how little you really know about a person.. A woman travelling alone is in a vulnerable position but you'd think another woman travelling alone would be the perfect companion. Not here. I won't go into it any further but suffice it to say that one of the women is someone I would definitely want to stay clear of, although I did often wonder if I could trust either of them. I had a moment towards the end when I thought "Killing Eve!". There are definitely vibes of that in this story. I've since seen that I'm not the only person who thought that. The journey takes in Russia and Germany amongst other places and some of the events seemed very similar to those in the TV programme. There were twists and gasps galore as I just didn't know what was coming and the ending was brilliant. It's a wonderfully atmospheric novel. I enjoy being transported to other countries and it was interesting to see how the women coped with the problems that were thrown at them. Being in a foreign country and in any kind of peril is a really scary prospect, even just to read about. The author has done a fabulous job at writing a gripping travel thriller, a multi-layered and realistic one. I found it to be a tense and exciting read.