It is not often that a verse novel for adults comes my way, so I was keen to see where this one would take me. Once begun, I simply could not put it down. Night Swimming is the story of January Clare Colson and her encounter with a man from decades ago whom she knew when her best friend Julie was alive. As we are transported back to her teenage years, when January and Julie frolicked, swam and snuck out of the bedroom window to search for adventure on the streets, we learn of Julie’s fate after they meet a sleek, attractive man who is not what he seems. Julie’s absence has inflicted torture on January in the intervening years, so when January sees him, the elusive man no one quite believed was real, she is set on a parallel path of attraction and revulsion, or as she puts it, a ‘dance between love and lust, revenge and disgust’.

As January spirals down the path of sleeplessness, drug addiction, alcohol abuse and dysfunction at work, the reader is drawn into an addictive horror tale. January is tempted to ask him, ‘Do you sleep well? Do you still like young girls?’ but she exercises restraint. The sense of impending disaster looms large, but who will be the victor? Will lust win over justice? Will January implode with her multiple deceptions and lies? Will the truth come out? Will the dreams and nightmares that haunt January come to fruition? As she says, ‘You know you won’t sleep sober while you’re living in the past.’

This psychological thriller is a diary of January’s torment as she navigates trying to maintain a semblance of a normal life while being haunted by the past and what could have been. For those new to verse novels, this is a great one to start with.