The Survival of Molly Southbourne

This review is also featured on Behind the Pages: The Survival of Molly Southbourne

The world of Molly Southbourne has been torn apart. The farmhouse has burned to the ground and she is trying to start over. But her mind cannot handle reality anymore and imaginary mollies are following her every step. But the mollies aren't her only problem this time. The agency that once kept her safe is now trying to kill her and a woman named Tamara has taken an interest in Molly. Tamara swears she only wants to help Molly, but how much does she know? Can she be trusted? Molly must use everything she has learned to stay alive and try to piece together what is real and what is fantasy.

The novella had a strong start. Molly's memories and insecurities wage a war in her mind causing a psychotic break. The first book was the perfect build up to the explosion Molly must deal with in part two. Dealing with the years of guilt and constant anxiety takes its toll on Molly and she now has imaginary mollies to worry about on top of everything else.

Things start to go astray as Tamara is introduced. Molly ends up getting involved with a group of people who, to some degree, understand what makes her different. But instead of holding onto the macabre that made the first book so brilliant, it becomes more of a typical fantasy novel with big action scenes and fewer mind games. The story strays away from focusing on Molly and tries to do more of a big picture look at people who have the same ability. There just wasn't enough page time for this to affect.

By the end of this book, there was no closure on major events. It felt like the book suddenly stopped, leaving too much behind without an explanation. I think this one was a bit too overreaching and had too many subplots for the page count.

NOTE: this review contains spoilers for book 1 of the series.

Pros: interesting concept, explores mental trauma

Cons: some gross descriptions

Picking up immediately where The Murders of Molly Southbourne left off, the molly who survives the fire tries to find out who she is, and how she can live, a copy of the original. The memories and ghosts of Molly Prime and all the doppelgangers the prime killed, bring the surviving molly to the brink of madness. When a new enemy points to more answers about her origins she discovers there may be a better way of surviving.

A lot of time is spent in molly's head, reliving her traumas and trying to overcome what her prime did. This causes her several psychotic breaks, which involve time in a mental hospital. I appreciated that molly realized her condition would probably require anti-psychotic medication for her to manage it properly. Some of the scenes involved may be disturbing to certain readers though.

Whenever I started to get annoyed with how molly was acting the story shifted gears and something new forced her to change. I liked seeing her develop over time, learning as she went and becoming an individual rather than an extension of Molly Prime.

Having said that, this is a horror novella, and there are several scenes of violence and descriptions of bodily fluids.

It touches on more of the mystery surrounding Molly's origins, which was great. It was very interesting meeting another person with the same ‘condition'.

It's a quick, interesting read.

Tade Thompson has firmly established himself in my list of must-read authors - basically, I'll automatically pick up anything new that comes from him.

This is a very short book, which I blitzed through in a couple of hours - in fact, I really consider the Molly Southbourne books to be two halves of the same novel. Warning - this book picks up immediately after the ending of The Murders of Molly Southbourne - and makes very little sense without the first volume, so pick that one up first.

I loved this volume. It continues the story in Tade Thompson's highly imaginative fashion - he takes things in some unexpected directions, expands the world a little, gives just enough answers without overdoing the explanations - and some of those answers are heart-breaking.

Anyway - a highly satisfying continuation (conclusion?) to Molly's story. Recommended.