Plot twists galore in page turner with disturbing subject matter

The Herald

05-07-2025

While a good author can often surprise the reader with one huge twist at the end of a book, it's unusual to come across a story where a twist catches you out almost every chapter.
This is what John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas , has achieved with his latest book, Air , from his series of element-themed novels.
However, readers must be warned that this story, and the others in this series, could be extremely triggering for people who have suffered any form of sexual abuse.
At the heart of the story is a long-distance journey being undertaken by a 40-year-old single dad, Aaron, and his 14-year-old son, Emmet.
Initially we aren't told the reason for the journey by plane, train and boat, from Australia to an island off the coast of Ireland, but we do know it has to do with something that happened to Emmet's mother (Aaron's ex-wife) Rebecca.
It is established early on that Aaron was sexually abused as a teenager, which has resulted in his struggles to form and maintain relationships as an adult.
Now that Emmet is the same age that Aaron was when the incident happened, he is overprotective, wanting to ensure that nothing bad happens to his son.
However, the father-son relationship is strained, as Emmet reacts to his father with sarcasm, eye rolls, and disobedience, resulting in sometimes tense and at other times, hilarious moments in the story.
While the story is built around this journey and relationship, many chapters are flashbacks, where we get to understand what has happened in both Aaron and Rebecca's lives, how an author named Furia Flyte that Aaron seems to have a hatred for fits into the picture, and to get a clearer idea of what is going on in Emmet's life.
But whenever you think you have it figured out, Boyne pulls the rug out from under you with another surprise revelation about either the present or past.
Is the journey about revenge or redemption, why does Aaron dislike Furia so much, why does Emmet have almost naked photos of himself saved on his phone?
All of these questions, and more, will be answered in surprising ways, making Air a book that you want to keep reading, despite the disturbing subject matter that is always hiding just under the surface.
— This book is available from Exclusive Books for R365.