The Bee Sting

THAT ENDING??!!

We begin the story through the eyes of Cass, the elder daughter, with her exam stress, growing pains, and complicated friendship with Elaine. Already there is the chaos with the failing business of her father Dickie, and the pressure it puts on the dysfunctional relationship with her mother Imelda. Then there's PJ, the younger brother who's struggling to cope with all the changes but is trying to make himself as unobtrusive as possible. Imelda and Dickie's marriage is a strange blend of trauma, obligation, thwarted desires, repeated mistakes but also a strong sense of family.

Anxiety about impending doom and decline due to change - climate, financial, technological, and even spiritual - serves as a backdrop to the novel's themes of generational trauma and familial bonds. There are things left unsaid and abandoned, and these silences fester into something septic.

At its core The Bee Sting is a family drama, but it read like a thriller. There was a constant tension, an unease that refused to let go until the very last page, and even then, it lingered. Having read Murray's Skippy Dies a few years ago, I found his style unmistakable, with the layered storytelling and connections through time and perspective, that left me speechless by the end.