Sweat by Emma Healey

When I first started reading this novel it appeared to be aimed at a young adult audience. There were casual and coarse sexual references and plenty of men-hating banter, typical of women starting their dating and new relationships phase. However, that was short-lived. The book has more substance.

A woman personal trainer is shocked when her gorgeous and fit ex-boyfriend turns up at her gym claiming to be blind. She pretends that she is someone else - it is easy to disguise herself with only her voice considering that he can't see her. Her motivation is revenge. The story flicks between the present and the time when they were together, so the full horror of their relationship gradually unfolds.

​The abuse in the relationship isn't overtly physical but it is controlling under the guise of him wanting what is best for her: diet, exercise, influences including her friends. The control grows to disturbing, obsessive levels, all for 'her own good'. After they split up and he loses his sight, the tables have turned and she is the one with the controlling power. Interesting that despite ending up hating him as a person, the attraction and lust was still there. Plus, with him being blind, the woman gains a different kind of power. Perhaps the most memorable quote from the book is this: "I stared at him the way women never get to stare at men: without fear."

This is a tense read with an increasing uneasiness as the boundaries between the adrenaline of exercise and fear blur. It is as if the purpose is to always have the heart pounding and the body sweating. Very clever, Not being a gym addict myself, the routines and life of a personal trainer are interesting for a while, but the detail is a tad overdone and interest wanes after a bit. Each chapter is a written on a weekly basis so we can follow the progress or perhaps the unravelling.

Well written, uncomfortable, dark and showing that power and control can be both attractive and frightening at the same time.​

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Published by Penguin on 30 January 2025.
​Advance review copy supplied by the publisher.

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