Sick to Death by Chris Bridges book review: Deliciously dark and twisty

Sick to Death by Chris Bridges: The review

A debut novel from Chris Bridges, Sick to Death has had me hooked from the very first page. Its main character, Emma, is instantly intriguing, raising many questions about her life, her situation and the illness that’s keeping her mostly bedridden. You’ll learn more about her as the book progresses, but this isn’t a story of chronic illness – not really. It’s about the lengths that people will go to to get what they want, and to protect those they care about.

Sick to Death is dark, it’s twisty, and it’ll keep you guessing from one page to the next. It reminded me a little of The Housemaid in its structure: there’s a jarring but delicious change of perspective around the halfway point that will throw you for a loop — even if you sort-of saw it coming. Nothing in Sick to Death came as too much of a surprise to me, but because it’s so well written it doesn’t matter at all: you’ll simply lap it all up.

I’d love to talk more about the plot, but saying anything more about what happens in Sick to Death will potentially spoil it for you. This is the type of book that’s absolutely best gone into knowing as little as possible. Discovering everything page-by-page, and guessing the twists before they come up, is exactly how this should be experienced.

Bridges has an absolutely enthralling writing style. It’s poetic but matter of fact; he has expertly brought his characters to life, giving us a glimpse into their dark psyches in wonderful, stomach-churning detail. It’s a book filled with flawed characters but that’s partially what makes it so great; they are captivating characters to read about, even if you don’t always like them and the decisions they make. Emma in particular is fascinating — you’ll find yourself rooting for her even if you know her thoughts and aims aren’t always, shall we say, “correct”.

Reading Bridges’ author note at the end of the book made me like it even more: Sick to Death written with a purpose, to give chronic illness a voice, to allow sufferers to be seen. With an invisible illness myself, it’s both great to see an author with an illness not being held back, but also see characters brought to life that don’t fit the stereotypical mould of a background sickly person.

If Sick to Death hasn’t been on your radar yet, make sure it is now! My only disappointment? It’s Bridges’ first book, so I can’t seek out anything else he’s written. Bravo, Chris: what a fantastic debut.

This review is based on an eARC of Sick to Death provided by Netgalley.