Two shocking facts about the Colleen Hoover incident. First, the American author is one of the best-selling English-language authors of all time, with over 20 million books sold. The other is that you probably still haven’t heard of her, unless you’re an average 15-30 year old young woman who loves to read and uses TikTok – the social media platform that hoovered up. made famous.
his “new” book, Its very late, isn’t exactly new – it’s self-published in several formats over the past 10 years. But it has now been edited and revised and is the definitive mainstream version – quite popular among his puritanical fans.
Its very late Much darker than some of his other books. It’s very similar to 2018 Truth – A toxic influence on Daphne du Maurier Rebecca This makes the original sound like a fairy tale – and Hoover himself says it is “twisted” and has “spoiled characters and overly graphic situations”.
She is not kidding. It is not for the faint of heart. Like many of her books, the chapters are told from different points of view: we have heroine Sloane and hero Carter – but then there are also sections of a sociopathic villain given equal amount of time. Sloan is in a toxic relationship with the villain, criminal drug trafficker Asa; The way he controls it will give you goosebumps. Good guy Carter is a secret agent working to bring down Asa. The complication is – you’d never guess – that Carter and Sloane fall in love.
So far, very enjoyable as a romantic thriller. But it’s not possible to get rid of one issue: Many of the passages told from Asa’s point of view are very uncomfortable. The sex scenes involving him are horrifying and unsettling – we don’t know what his limits are. He threatens and strangles Sloane, and describes in detail having sex with another man. It’s a far cry from sexiness.
With stories ranging from light-hearted romance to november 9 for domestic violence topics it ends with us, Hoover’s books are very diverse—certainly a good thing—and are considered to be in the category of New Adult fiction: books aimed at the post-YA (18–30) age group, where the heroine resembles the reader. And he is given a related object setting with additional adventures.
Its very late Meets that description – it could be set in any American college town, and has minimal detail (presumably so that the reader can put themselves in the role of the heroine).
But while its background is generic, the plot twists are wild and imaginative and Hoover’s prose has some nice turns of phrase—when Sloan is forced by Asa to wear an engagement ring, she says, I didn’t do it. I didn’t know hell was so bright.”
Its very late The originals appeared chapter-by-chapter online, keeping their appeal to readers, and Hoover has said that he found their commentaries very useful. The new version has been cleaned up and given a more clear structure, and one of the most disturbing sex scenes has been removed. And even a book as dark as this one features Hoover’s trademark tropes: funny, flirty conversation, a charming hero, and a perfect but sometimes surprising heroine. So it’s a good bet it’ll be another big hit – his last book, it starts with usWhen it was published last year, its initial print run was 3 million.
Last week on a tube train I realized the young woman next to me was reading a different book by Hoover – I asked her a few questions and learned that two other people in the car had also read it. It really is a phenomenon. My new friend told me that Hoover’s books were the first fiction she read after leaving school, and that she is now reading other authors. Perhaps this is the quintessence of Hoover’s books, and Too Late certainly succeeds as a thriller, with its page-turning pace and moments where you genuinely fear for the characters. I also shouted “No!” When Carter did something particularly stupid.
The book carries warnings for “foul language, graphic sex scenes, murder, sexual assault, and drug use”—a handy reminder that although it’s readable and entertaining, as the author himself says, it’s not aimed squarely at young adults. There should be no cabinets.
Its very late Published by Sphere by Colleen Hoover, £9.99