The Spiral by Iain Ryan

Publisher's Synopsis

Erma Bridges' life is far from perfect, but entirely ordinary. So when she is shot twice in a targeted attack by a colleague, her quiet existence is shattered in an instant.

With her would-be murderer dead, no one can give Erma the answers she needs to move on from her trauma. Why her? Why now?

So begins Erma's quest for the truth - and a dangerous, spiralling journey into the heart of darkness.

With all the inventiveness of The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and the raw brutality of Mulholland Drive, THE SPIRAL is a unique crime thriller with killer twists - and 2020's most jaw-dropping ending.

My Review of The Spiral by Iain Ryan

The Spiral is a convoluted dark thriller that straddles the line between a real world attempted murder suicide and the fantasy world of a disturbed mind. Trying to figure out which is which proves to be the real challenge and as long as you prepare yourself for a wild ride, this will ultimately result in a story that’s unique in its telling. 

It turns out that Dr Erma Bridges has a bit of a problem with conducting herself in a responsible way on campus as a lecturer. As a result she’s facing a disciplinary meeting to discuss her inappropriate interactions with several of her students. It’s a charge that she’s quick to deny, although based on the confessions to us, the readers, there’s more than a little merit to the charges.

Her research assistant Jenny Wasserman has been missing for a period of time and Erma begins casting around in an effort to track her down. So imagine her dismay when Jenny comes to her, late at night, in her home, with a gun which she uses on Erma before turning it on herself. Erma’s merely hospitalised but Jenny’s well and truly dead.

From here, the story chops and changes between Erma’s hunt for the reasons why Jenny did what she did and a fantasy story retelling that emerges from within Erma’s dreams. As the fantasy world unfolds from a mediaeval setting the lines begin to blur and real and imagined becomes a confused cacophony. I confess, at times it all becomes quite difficult to follow and I found myself barely tolerating the fantasy story.

Adding to the confusion is the realisation that Erma is not always wedded to telling the truth. So, suddenly, we find ourselves in the middle of an unreliable narrative story where everything that we had previously learned is now mired in doubt. Picking that one apart proved to be problematic for me, particularly when elements of the dream sequences suddenly emerge into the real life part of the story.

Somewhere through the dream sequences, Erma follows through on her search for Jenny’s final few days. It’s here that the story takes its final turn and this one is a brutal one. The mayhem of wanton violence unfolds itself to provide a furious finale that’s long on action but, ultimately, short on answers.

I tried, I really tried to make more of The Spiral, to understand what relationship the fantasy dream sequences had with the crime portion - apart from the state of Erma’s mind - and was left wanting. I’m sure there are other readers out there who’ll embrace the weirdness and make more of the otherworldliness aspects of Erma’s mind.