Zoe has a dark and terrible secret. A secret that she can't share with anyone she knows. She feels terribly guilty because she knows that what she did was wrong but she got away with it. Instead she decides to confide in a man who's on death row in America. She tells him her tale in a series of letters but she's writing against the clock as she soon finds out that his execution date has been set...
I've heard a lot of good things about Pitcher's previous novel 'My Sister Lives on the Mantlepiece' and so I expected quite a lot from this novel. Sadly it didn't quite live up to my expectations. I figured out quite early on what was going to happen and was a bit disappointed when it did and things didn't work out well in the end (Pitcher does get bonus points for making it that little bit more realistic) although this might be because I'd read a few traumatic-ending books in a row and so was starting to crave a bit of happily ever after. I also found Zoe a bit of an odd character to get my head around. She's clearly meant to be a teenager who's at that stage of her life where she's starting to discover her sexuality yet the style of writing in her letters made me think of a girl who was pre-teen and no matter how hard I tried I could not reconcile the two. Whilst Zoe believes that she did something wrong, as an adult and outsider you can see the circumstances surrounding the situation and so I didn't feel that she was as guilty as she thought and again this was slightly disappointing although more realistic (again, I was starting to crave something a little less based in real life).
However, for the teenage audience this book is a good choice. It's got a bit of romance, family life, growing up, joy and sadness. It's a great choice if you like Jodi Picoult style books or are a looking for something similar to give to someone who's not quite ready for Picoult's more grown up content. The letter format works well as it keeps you hooked due to Zoe not revealing everything all at once. Plus you can never be sure that Mr Harris received the letters as he can't reply to her. The letter format also gives it that unusual quality which makes it a little bit different to the majority of titles available.
Overall I give it 7/10 :)
Title: Ketchup Clouds
Author: Annabel Pitcher
Publisher: Indigo
Teenage Fiction
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