What happens when reality TV goes wrong? El Greene is about to find out.
El lives a quiet life in London until a chance encounter leads her to discover a link between a hit reality TV show and her father’s death.
El realises she can orchestrate the perfect revenge but her pursuit soon turns to obsession and she doesn’t seem to know how to stop. Her drive for destruction means risking her life, and the lives of those closest to her…
The Prank by L.V. Matthews is an exhilarating, highly entertaining, fast-paced and addictive read. Based on the concept of a well-known and much-loved TV show which focuses on pranking the public, the pages themselves are positively dripping with menace, nastiness, and revenge, and I could not get enough. It’s a tale of karma and seeking justice, of righting wrongs, and ensuring people pay for their mistakes, especially when said mistakes can end up with the most heart-breaking consequences. From first page to last, I felt involved in the circumstances that fall upon El, and I was wrapped up entirely in the world of ‘Pranksters’ and everything it entailed.
‘But how far do we go in upsetting one person so that another is entertained? And who decides what is fair when it comes to comedy?’
The Prank by L.V. Mattews
In The Prank by L.V. Matthews, readers meet Eleanor. Orphaned at a young age, and plagued by her father’s suicide, it’s no secret that El has demons to fight. The only two people El can share her memories with are her younger sister Issy, and her Uncle Charlie. One evening in the busy and prestigious restaurant where El works, the arrival of one man is enough to put El on edge. She recognises his name from somewhere, she just can’t put her finger on where. It isn’t long before Eleanor digs a little deeper and realises where she knows this man from, with his powerful presence and dominating nature. The realisation of this man’s identity is what truly sets this novel in motion, and from this moment on, we’re in for one hell of a thrill ride.
L.V. Matthews writes an assured, confident and riveting novel in The Prank. It’s exciting, it’s bursting at the seams with secrets and revelations and it’s tantalisingly tense, too. I found El’s revenge mission was my main pull throughout the book, but there were so many other things that kept me on my feet. I loved seeing Eleanor interact with her friends and family throughout the progression of the novel, because these interactions revealed tiny, interesting parts of El’s past that had my mind whirring and forever wanting to know more. My eagerness to delve deeper into Eleanor’s history seemed to grow more intense with every chapter. It seemed there was an infinite amount to discover about this woman and I loved putting the pieces together as the chapters went by. I feel that Matthews got the characterisation in The Prank spot on, and Eleanor absolutely came to life on the page and her personality shone, as did many of the other characters’ too.
Another aspect of this novel that I thoroughly enjoyed was the overall menacing, rather playful tone to it. Although circumstances do seem to get darker as the novel moves forward, there was always this sense of mischievousness to it that I couldn’t get enough of. It made me feel that anything was possible for Eleanor in terms of acting out her revenge, and I loved just how many options she had. As El went further with her games, I couldn’t help but to wonder just how far she would go. The steps that she takes, with the help of a unknown man who she befriends on the web, seemed to get more dangerous every time, and it only heightened my excitement. I was always waiting with baited breath to see where the author would lead me next.
The character of Jim Lavente was done exceptionally well, and I really can’t compliment the author enough for writing such a powerful presence for this character. Right the very moment he first makes his presence known and El becomes aware of him, Jim Lavente is a force to be reckoned with, and coming up as El’s enemy, it was gripping to see these two come head to head. He was written so perfectly, it was hard not to feel a little fearful of Jim myself, and I couldn’t help but to silently congratulate Eleanor on her courage, because I for one would not be able to play games with Jim Valente, as El did. But it seems that Jim is just as keen on playing games as Eleanor, and of course, this only makes things all the more precarious.
The Prank by L.V. Matthews was a thrilling, perilous and addictive read. I couldn’t get enough of the cat-and-mouse game enacted by Eleanor and Jim, the ticking time-bomb of when El’s time would be up, and I found myself frustrated each time real life meant that I had to put down my Kindle and stop reading for a little while. I felt so emotionally invested in El’s quest, and felt as though my own satisfaction depended on it’s completion. L.V. Matthews ensures that her readers remain hooked from the very first page, and remain so right the way through to the final page. A novel full of tricksters and clowns, forever asking the question, ‘who can you really trust?’ I loved it, and I hope to read more from L.V. Matthews in the near future. With thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy of this book, that of which has no reflection on me providing a fair and honest review.
Title: The Prank
Author: L.V. Matthews
Publisher: Welbeck
Format: eBook
Pages: 296
Source: NetGalley
Publication Date: 18 – 3 – 2021
Purchase via: Amazon UK
About the author.
Born in 1984 in rural Essex, L V Matthews now lives in Hampshire with her family where she is setting up a writers retreat business. Before pursuing a career in writing, she actually worked both in domestic and international sales for major UK publishing houses.
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