The Abstainer is an incredibly difficult book for me to review, because I was so eager to pick it up after absolutely loving Ian McGuire’s previous book “The North Water”. I had expected, based on the premise, that both books would be equally dark and terrifying. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel that was the case for his latest work.
The Abstainer takes place in 19th century Manchester where three Fenians, members of a secret society bent on ending the rule of the English in Ireland, are hanged. Stephen Doyle, an Irish-American veteran of the Civil War, comes to the city for revenge. He has to bring the revolution to the next level.
We mainly follow James O’Connor, an Irish constable in Manchester, who is intent on stopping the Fenians from wreaking more havoc. He has collected a group of spies around him to thwart the newcomer as much as possible. His nephew arrives from the USA whose new face offers even more opportunities to get closer to Doyle.
It could’ve potentially been such a dark story. The novel tries to show us the endless cycle of obsession and revenge. However, the narrative felt disjointed. It started right at the centre of the action with the hanging and Doyle’s arrival, then it dragged on until the 70% mark. Characters made silly mistakes, that I saw going wrong from the get-go. I marked a few passages where I put notes on how the actions would affect the story and all of them came true.
Towards the end, the novel did take some interesting turns. There were even moments where I felt uneasy, which was a feeling I was hoping to feel. I hoped the book would end on that same high note, giving me the opportunity to rate it with at least three stars, but my feelings were short-lived and the ending left me wanting way more from the story and the promising historical setting.
I would definitely like to pick up more books by Ian McGuire, but I have to admit that The Abstainer wasn’t for me.
2 stars
Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free review copy.
Statistics:
Date read: May 31, 2020
Date published: September, 2020
Publisher: Simon and Schuster UK
Format: eBook
Pages: 320
Genre: Historical Fiction
My Number of Books Read by this Author: 2
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