Publication Date: 5th February 2019
Source: Review Copy from Publisher
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Blurb:
Only when she's locked away does the truth begin to escape...
Seventeen-year-old Hannah Gold has always been treated like a grown up. As the only child of two New York professionals, she's been traveling the world and functioning as a miniature adult since the day she was born. But that was then. Now, Hannah has been checked into a remote treatment facility, stripped of all autonomy and confined to a single room.
Hannah knows there's been a mistake. What happened to her roommate that summer was an accident. As soon as the doctor and judge figure out that she isn't a danger to herself or others, she can get back to her life of promise and start her final year at school. Until then, she's determined to win over the staff and earn some privileges so she doesn't lose her mind to boredom.
But then she's assigned a new roommate. At first, Lucy is the perfect project to keep Hannah's focus off all she is missing at home. But Lucy may be the one person who can make Hannah confront the secrets she's avoiding - and the dangerous games that landed her in confinement in the first place.
This book is definitely one of those books that you pick up to read the first chapter quickly, and then 5 hours later you find yourself still reading it because you can not put it down! As soon as I started reading this book, I hardly wanted to put it down and when I, reluctantly, did - I found myself thinking about it constantly.
A Danger To Herself And Others tells the story of Hannah Gold. A teenager who is mature and academically minded that finds herself in an institution after an incident with her summer school roommate. As Hannah's roommate lies in the hospital, Hannah wonders why she is being kept in this mental institute and when she can leave to return to her studies.
This novels plot is so full of twists and turns that every chapter is exciting. Hannah is the perfect unreliable narrator due to her academic way of thinking and her increasingly obvious holes in her story. Hannah's character was so interesting, she keeps the reader at arms length as they try to catch up to her. I loved her unreliable nature and the way in which the mental illness was slowly brought to the front.
This novel is not only a great example of how to write a suspenseful unreliable narrator but also how to portray mental illness, institutions and psychosis in a realistic manner. The way in which mental health and illness was portrayed was realistic in terms of not romanticising or sugar coating anything covered in the novel. I found it to be a good portrayal of not only therapy but also someone suffering from mental illness and them coming to terms.
The writing style of the novel was incredibly engaging. Each chapter had me captivated and often times I could not stop reading until the early hours of the morning. Sheinmel keeps the reader captivated as she strings along the story to a crescendo that shakes the reader to their core.
Overall a suspenseful page turner that hasn't left my thoughts since I've finished. Definitely on my favourites list and a contender for one of my favourite novels of the year! Can't recommend enough.
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