Review: Curfew by Jayne Cowie

Curfew

by Jayne Cowie

Publisher: Berkley

Pages: 320

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Imagine a near-future Britain in which women dominate workplaces, public spaces, and government. Where the gender pay gap no longer exists and motherhood opens doors instead of closing them. Where women are no longer afraid to walk home alone, to cross a dark parking lot, or to catch the last train.

Where all men are electronically tagged and not allowed out after 7 p.m.

But the curfew hasn’t made life easy for everyone. Sarah is a single mother who happily rebuilt her life after her husband, Greg, was sent to prison for breaking curfew. Now he’s about to be released, and Sarah isn’t expecting a happy reunion, given that she’s the reason he was sent there.

Her teenage daughter, Cass, hates living in a world that restricts boys like her best friend, Billy. Billy would never hurt anyone, and she’s determined to prove it. Somehow.

Helen is a teacher at the local school. Secretly desperate for a baby, she’s applied for a cohab certificate with her boyfriend, Tom, and is terrified that they won’t get it. The last thing she wants is to have a baby on her own.

These women don’t know it yet, but one of them is about to be violently murdered. Evidence will suggest that she died late at night and that she knew her attacker. It couldn’t have been a man because a CURFEW tag is a solid alibi.

Kritters Thoughts:  What if you lived in a world where men had a curfew and could be punished for being outdoors between certain hours?  Would this be a place you would want to live?  When I first read the synopsis and before I started reading, I thought this could be interesting if you thought about it, but then as the book started and the logistics of how this could affect life really made me wonder if I would want to live in a place like this.  

Told through multiple perspectives, but all from female points of view - these women are all affected positively and negatively from the curfew that they lived with.  I appreciated that the author really gave diverse points of view from a teenager who is questioning why these rules are in existence from a woman who needs them for her own safety.  I found myself really appreciating seeing the different people and their thoughts on the rules of their world.  

This book is the kind of "post apocalyptic" kind of book that I like to read.  I like to think about what if our world was different and would I like the different rules or would I wish for the old world!  

Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2022 Challenge: 19 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Berkley.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.