Official Review: The Yewtree Dominoes by Cheryl Smith

[Book Drifter]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Yewtree Dominoes" by Cheryl Smith.]

The Yewtree Dominoes is Cheryl Smith's first novel. The Hudson sisters' father has abandoned them and they live with their mother and much older brother. They are perpetually penniless, the older, twelve year old, sister seems to be prone to violence, and other than an old uncle, their neighbours don't interact with them much.

This story is written from the perspective of Eve, the eight year old younger sister. With child-like innocence Eve fails to understand the strange happenings in her household. She thinks they are quite normal and is hurt by the fact that her older brother does not like her very much. She attributes this to her physical deformity. Eve is envious of all the attention Donna gets.

Eve and her sister, Donna visits her uncle few times a week to walk his dog and give him company. However, things take a strange turn as her sister’s violence escalates and Eve is caught in the middle of a family ruckus. After one of Donna’s episodes Eve visits their uncle alone. She is excited by the fact that for once she will not be overshadowed by her sister and appreciated for herself. But things don’t look so good anymore and from then on Eve’s life as she knows it unravels beyond recognition. Eve realizes that Donna had been shielding her from a sinister reality.

I did not enjoy reading the book. However, as reading preferences differ I am willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. I’ve rated The Yewtree Dominoes two out of four stars because Cheryl Smith can tell a story and hold the reader’s attention through 51 pages of her novella. Also, because of the word play in her title regarding events in recent news. As a connoisseur of crime fiction and thrillers I would still give the book two and not three stars because graphic and explicit crime against women and children garner pity and shock value but does not add anything new to the world of fiction.

I would recommend it to readers who enjoy crime thrillers but if you are the kind, who suffer from nightmares, caution is advisable. The story trails of once the climax has been reached and has a hurried finish to it. It feels like an excerpt or an episode of someone’s life and the author’s details about Eve and Donna’s life before the story began is sketchy at best and does not satisfy the reader. The Yewtree Dominoes had the potential to be a more mature novel, if the author did not just concentrate on the nature of the crime.

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