Hey Zoe, by Sarah Crossan

4 star 7/10

My first impressions of this novel was that it was Immediately witty and fast moving it had my attention from the start I was expecting more of a black box style sci-fi story but what this book actually is is more of a character lead story about a woman’s insecurities and the historical causes for these

In the story an unhappily married woman discovers that her husband has bought home a sex doll that also has AI built into it and can communicate. Her reaction to this is to move the doll into her house and interact with it in a generally non-sexual fashion,

We learn that her marriage has been loveless and sexless for sometime as she talks with her friends and colleagues at the school where she works more of her own history is gradually revealed to us

I loved it when she buys the doll some shoes the size smaller than she wears herself and then uses her joint credit card to purchase them. This passive aggressive action did make me smile with recognition.

The novel is quite lighthearted to begin with, but it does go into quite a dark place as we discover the story of her youth The novel deals with historical child sexual abuse sensitively in an accomplished fashion never diminishing the significance of these events in the young woman’s life

The main character is a teacher and the sections when she is at work and interacting with the children and other staff members are particularly realistic I wondered if the author had been a teacher

The author has a flowing easily read prose style and I read the book in one sitting enjoying it very much

I read an early copy of the novel on NetGalley UK. The book is published in the UK on the 23rd of May 2024 by Bloomsbury publishing plc.

This review will appear on NetGalley UK, Goodreads, and my book blog bionicSarahSbooks.wordpress.com . After publication it will also appear on Amazon UK.