39. Never Ending - Martyn Bedford

When a family holiday ends in tragedy, 15year old Shiv can't come to terms with what has happened and insists on blaming herself. After a series of incidents, she ends up at a psychiatric instituation to help her deal with the death of her brother. This, naturally, is no ordinary hospital, it's exclusive and the other 6 patients have all experience similar losses. The treatment is not exactly typical either.

Shiv's family holiday to Greece starts of in the usual ways - they're staying in a beautiful villa, they spend days by the pool, on the beach and visiting the local sites. However on a glass bottom boat trip, they meet a handsome young Greek boy and holiday romance ensues. It also seems as though her brother Declan has taken a shine to the gentleman, but not in the hero-worship way that everyone seems to think. It is this jealousy that leads to the unfortunate accident which kills her brother.

The book chops and changes between telling the story of the Greek holiday and Shiv's experiences at the hospital. I kind of like this set up as you're left not knowing exactly what happened with her brother and why she's convinced that Declan's death was her fault. At the same time, you learn about how she's coping and how she interacts with the other patients at the hospital.

This is one of those books I neither loved nor hated but I was left feeling disappointed once I'd finished the book. I felt like the characters were quite two dimensional and didn't have much oomph to them. Mr Holiday Romance was a typical sleazy lothatio who just comes off as a total creep. Her parents aren't particularly involved, which I suppose reflects the idea that the loss of a child impacts the whole family and mourning may lead other children to feel abandoned. But I felt like the book needed more involvement from them. The whole idea of the psychiatric hospital is what drew me in to this, as I've said before it's something that interests me but it was simply a plot device in this book and not something which was particularly serious or looked into in depth.

I wouldn't recommed this book purely because of the way it dealt with death and grief. I don't think it was all realistic or practical for those who may seek solace in something like this. Just...no. Don't do it.