The Rook by Daniel O'Malley -- Athena D.

“Dear you, / The body you are currently wearing used to be mine.” (O’Malley 1). “The Rook” by Daniel O’Malley is a book surrounding a supernatural secret agency based in London. The main character, Myfanwy (pronounced “Miffany”), has to navigate the agency after waking up with no memory of any events of her life beforehand. The book quickly develops into both a thriller and mystery, as Myfanwy finds someone in the organization is chasing after her wanting to kill her. 

I’ve read many books with beautifully written intros that make readers desperately want to keep reading. However, there are only a few books I’ve read where the amazing intros carried through the rest of the book. Additionally, it’s a slight pet peeve when reading a book where the writing seems to slowly fall off after the first chapter. I have to admit, that “The Rook” is one of those books. In this blog, I want to break down what I thought made the first few pages of the book so intriguing. 

The book begins with a letter, written by Myfanwy before her memories were lost, to the Myfanwy that awakes with no recollection. I feel it’s interesting enough in theory alone, as most stories don’t start with a letter from “the body you are in” (O’Malley 1). But what I thought was most beautiful, yet terrifyingly written, about the opening letter are the tones it quickly transitions to and from. It begins eerie already, as I’ve stated twice before. It then switches to a more casual tone, explaining and almost proving that it is herself in the letter. Finally, the tone it carries until her sign-off, a somewhat urgent tone. The letter leaves instructions for what Myfanwy needs to do now to ‘stay safe,’ the most important instruction to “withdraw some money ... go to a hotel, and check-in ...” (O’Malley 2). Starting the book with immediate progression to the plot, especially progression that sets such a frightening but accurate tone for the book is what I think was the best choice for a thrilling book like this. 

Early in the book, it already gives good examples of how it restricts information in a way where the reveal is just that much better. Myfanwy quickly follows the instructions left in the letter, and the first action she takes is as the letter recommended, to withdraw money and get a hotel. As she catches a ride to the hotel, she remarks, “Nothing suspicious happened, although the cabbie gave her some funny looks in the mirror ... When they finally arrived at the hotel, she muttered something about a stalker boyfriend ...” (O’Malley 3). I assume this leaves the reader with the initial impression that the body of Myfanwy is currently left mostly unscathed. Even though it’s only a page later, once she gets to the hotel and gets a glimpse of herself she reveals, “it looked as if she had taken two hard blows to the eyes, and the whites were bloodshot from tears ... ‘Someone tried to kick the living shit out of you.’” (O’Malley 4). I found the amount of time the information was kept was really well-timed. The information was withheld for an amount where the misleading information is still in mind, and the subtle hints that are only noticeable when looking back are still recent. 

Overall, I highly recommend that you give the first chapter of this book a try. See if it also hooks you the same way!!