Julie Mayhew’s adult debut...is anything but snappy; it’s a lengthy, murky mystery set on a remote English island ... Impossible Causes also jumps back and forth in time in ways that can be as foggy as the landscape the author evokes in passages of archaic prose. Yet the picture that emerges is an important one, concerning itself with the external governance of women’s bodies, their actions and their fates — a theme not confined to the remote Lark ... In the end, the truth of the matter is all too common, but it takes on a particular resonance among the innocent islanders of Mayhew’s creation.
While the narrative jumps back and forth in time can be muddling, the novel effectively probes the teenage psyche while offering a compelling look at the perils of an insular society. A great read-alike for Malin Persson Giolito’s Quicksand...and the Netflix series it spawned.
YA author Mayhew...makes her adult debut with an atmospheric, if disjointed, thriller ... The characters’ indistinguishable sameness and awkward shifts between past and present will have readers scrambling to keep the story straight and understand whose voice is telling it. That said, Mayhew delivers some memorably creepy moments.
...[an] engrossing psychological thriller with hints of magic ... Mayhew moves the plot around in time, beginning with the discovery of the dead body and then shifting back months to the outsiders’ arrival. Dates on each chapter help keep the complex structure moving smoothly. Engaging characters, well-crafted suspense, and a tone of growing, claustrophobic dread add up to an effective thriller.
