I loved HIMSELF, author Jess Kidd’s first novel, and so was eager to read this, her second. MR. FLOOD’S LAST RESORT is ambitious, at times hitting the mark set by her first book, while at other times I found myself wondering why I was reading it. I was lost. The writing itself is always impressive; lovely and often luminous. The plot and characters are frankly all over the place, if I told you they jumped off the page, out of the book and left the room entirely, it would be consistent with the storytelling. It also would explain how I lost my moorings in this tale of a hoarder, the woman assigned to care for him, her housemate, a whole cast of imaginary characters and a few possible living ones. I like the idea of the plot and the setting, especially well. I just couldn’t seem to connect with the novel as a whole.

Who do I enjoy reading more than Jess Kidd? Nobody.

Thanks go to Net Galley and Atria for the DRC, which I received in exchange for this honest review. The book, which was also published in UK as The Hoarder, is available today in the US. And I have to tell you also that although her work is billed as similar to Fredrik Backman, I find it to be better—and that’s saying a good deal.

Maud Drennan is a caregiver, which in the USA would translate as a combination social worker and home health provider. She’s been sent to the large, rambling home of Cathal Flood, a tall, fierce old man who has driven his previous caregiver to a nervous breakdown. Speculation abounds: is he an innocuous old fellow in need of some organization, treatment, and TLC, or is he dangerous—perhaps a murderer, even? What about the missing girl that was last seen at this address? It’s enough to make even Maud’s staunch heart tremble:

""In the musty depths of Cathal's lair, one eye flicks open. Noise has pulled on the strings of his web, setting his long limbs twitching. He'll be slinking out of his trapdoor and threading through the rubbish. Crawling up the staircase with a knife clampled between his dentures and a lasso of fuse wire in his hand, ready to garrot me and hack me to pieces.""

The suspense builds as Kidd moves our point of view from Maud’s by day, to her frightening, confused dreams at night, to those of the missing and the dead. Because Maud is gifted in her ability to see those that have gone before, particularly saints, she receives their cautions and advice in ways that are often truly hilarious. The result is a story so enjoyable that it became the dessert book that I held out to myself as a reward for having finished less enjoyable galleys. Had I no other obligations, I would have gobbled this deliciously dark tale up in a weekend.

As it is, I found myself going back and rereading passages twice, partly for fun and partly to try to pick apart what makes this writing so effective. But although I can point to several components—brilliant development of Maud, Cathal, and friend Renata; some of the finest figurative language in contemporary fiction; a hugely original voice and concept; a soaring climax in which the weight of Western society’s failure to care adequately for its elders comes crashing down before us—ultimately the book is much more than the sum of its parts, an alchemy that is spun magic with a few naughty bits of raunchy humor sprinkled in, and a social justice issue nailed to the wall where we cannot help seeing it.

Should you purchase this title for your magnificent, outrageous mother on her special day, for which there are just 12 remaining days to shop? Should you order a copy for your own fabulous, fierce father, whose day is about a month later? Well of course you can, and you should, assuming you aren’t going to try to force them into a home. But it isn’t nice to break the binding open, and so they’ll be able to tell if you have fudged a free read before gifting it. Better to get a copy for yourself as well, fair and square. You’ll want to read it more than once anyway.

Warm and clever, Mr. Flood’s Last Resort is the most entertaining novel of 2018 to date, hands down.

This was a lovely book. I loved the narrative voice of this novel, the alliteration ("...getting caught in cables, hooked on hat stands..."), the vivid descriptions of the old house ("...the paintwork is lurid sphagnum, and the tiles are veined the blue-black-green of an overripe cheese") and the quirky characters... Mr. Cathal Flood, who is an eccentric hoarder; Maud, his hired caregiver, accompanied by a host of saints, seen only by herself; and the lovely Renata, Maud's agoraphobic landlady. The relationship that develops between Mr. Flood and Maud is believable, and touching. Although I would not classify this as a mystery, there were mysteries to be solved, and with a strong touch of the supernatural, this was a very quick read that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I fell in love with Jess Kidd’s writing when I read Himself so I was beyond excited when I saw and book from her on netgalley!
With Jess’s books I have kind of learned not to expect anything because she will floor you with something you never expected. Which I adore! Mr. Flood’s Last Resort will transplant you into the book fully! You will totally feel like a fly on the wall while reading. Jess writes with such vivid detail that it felt like a movie in my head!
Jess Kidd is becoming one of my top writers, I cannot wait to read what she comes up with next!

Part ghost story, part A Man Called Ove, this imaginative and lyrical thriller hits all the right notes. Maud Drennan is a caregiver with a tragic past and she is Cathal Flood's last chance to stay in his own house instead of being sent to a care home. The two together forge a friendship that is tested by a years-old mystery and duplicitous characters who will do anything to keep that mystery a secret.

Though this was not really what I was expecting, I enjoyed it! The story is quite atmospheric, which I always like when done well, and I felt absorbed very quickly, eager to understand what was going on. It's a strange book, no doubt, but executed well and though it wasn't fast-paced, it also wasn't boring. I'm not quite sure how to talk about this book, because it was quite offbeat. That being said, I liked it and would recommend it to fans of quirky mysteries with unusual characters.

I honestly don’t know what to say about this novel. A eccentric, gothic murder mystery, filled with the supernatural, and the unexplained behaviors of people? It is unusual to say the least. Maud becomes caretaker for cantankerous Cathal Flood, in his rambling, hoard filled mansion that he won’t let her clean. She quickly learns he despises his son, whom he claims is not his son, and he won’t tell her about his dead wife and daughter. Nothing is as it seems. I alternately liked, then didn’t like this novel, but kept getting drawn back into it, to see how these mysteries would end, and what would happen to Mr. Flood and Maud. If you like the offbeat, eccentric novel this book is for you.

MR. FLOOD’S LAST RESORT is the reason I read. I loved the immersive quality of Jess Kidd’s writing, and Bridlemere is quite a location in which to be transported. We’re brought on this journey with Maud Drennan, an eccentric woman who has been assigned as caretaker to the cantankerous Cathal Flood. He is oh so many things: elderly, a hoarder, and above all, irascible. Maud’s visits with Cathal are interrupted by a family mystery that might be closer to her than she could have ever imagined. A bevy of cats, appearances by long-dead saints, and an aging mansion full to the rafters hook readers into the eccentrically brilliant world of this novel. I couldn’t put MR. FLOOD’S LAST RESORT down. I both wanted it to go on forever, and to finish it immediately - the sign of a well-written, well-plotted novel. I can’t wait to see more from Jess Kidd - she is truly an Irish author of the highest caliber.
I received this novel from NetGalley - courtesy of Atria Books - in exchange for an honest review. taylorhavenholt.com/thhbooks.html.

The author has an unusual voice which is sometimes fun (Maud & Renata) but I just couldn’t get into the story

I don't understand why everyone isn't running to get their hands on this book! Everyone who loves great story telling should run out and get this book when it publishes on May 1st. Really. I thought it was that good. In fact I just loved it. I had expected a quirky read with a quirky main character and, to some extent, that's what I got. But I also got so much more! Mr. Flood himself is quirky with a very capital Q, but Maud and Renata are real people with a capital R. They are so well drawn by the author they feel just like friends as you read along. Mr Flood's mansion is so perfectly described you can see each room in your mind and the house becomes its own great, quirky character. And the story - oh this story is a good one. There is a very luscious mystery woven through Mr. Flood's story that twists and turns just like the best of any thriller out there.

Mr. Flood’s last Resort by Jess Kidd is the story of an eccentric hoarder with many family secrets.
Maud has been hired as the caregiver for Mr. Flood as all the others have been run off. She quickly discovers the house is indeed in much disrepair and there is junk everywhere inside and out. The problem began when his wife died in an accidental fall down the stairs or was it an accident? There also seems to be a connection to a missing child but Mr. Flood insists he does not know the child. His son Gabriel and nephew Stephen are anxious to get their inheritance but will they go so far as to murder? Maud becomes a detective as she finds clues to the disappearance of Maggie, the child, throughout the house. Will Maud be able to unravel the secrets before Mr. Flood is moved to a nursing home?
I did not care for this book. It is written in England and there were some phrases and references that did not make sense to me as I was not familiar with them nor was I able to guess through the context. Mr. Flood is not a likeable character through most of the book and I thought his use of foul language was unnecessary to the plot. The plot was very twisted and confusing at times. At about the point of 71% the book gets exciting and I was more engaged as things start to come together.
I received an advance copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Mr. Flood’s Last Resort was previously published as The Hoarder in the United Kingdom. I’m honestly not sure which is the preferred title.

Maud Drennan does not have an easy job. Taking care of the elderly, people who were previously perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, is hard. When the elderly person in question is Cathal Flood, a hoarder with a sharp tongue and a reputation for going after other do-gooders with a hurley stick, the job gets even more difficult. After you throw in the fact that Maud sees saints and the possibility that Cathal might have killed his wife, you have the absolutely packed and off-kilter adventure that is Jess Kidd’s Mr. Flood’s Last Resort.

We meet Maud in a situation that sums up her relationship with Cathal: she’s trying to make the downstairs bathroom hygienic while he shouts at her. Her boss thought that because they were both Irish, they might be able to manage each other. That is not the case, not with Cathal’s temper and his secrets. As Maud clears out the hoard, she starts to receive what look like messages…from Cathal’s dead wife. This is not as strange to Maud as it is to us. She has been followed around since childhood by about a half a dozen saints, who disappear and reappear and make comments on her sex life. Getting ghostly messages is not that weird for her.

Every chapter and every battle with Cathal reveals a new layer to the mystery about whether Cathal’s wife died in an accident, why he won’t talk to his son, and what might have happened to a girl named Maggie Dunne who disappeared without a trace fifteen years earlier. The Flood family have been sitting on a lot of secrets and, now that Cathal might be kicked out of his house, someone is determined to keep those secrets under wraps—violently if necessary.

I loved how Mr. Flood’s Last Stand rockets between mystery and psychological thriller. What I enjoyed most, however, were the characters. Maud is a strong but damaged woman who is trying to make a past wrong right. Cathal is ferocious and hilarious. The friendship that develops between them is delightful to watch blossom. Maud’s landlady, Renata, takes the cake for one of the best secondary characters I’ve ever read. She is an absolute delight. This book is the full package.

I received a free copy of this book for review consideration from the publisher via NetGalley. It will be released 1 May 2018.

Copy furnished by Net Galley for the price of a review.

Old man Flood, slightly crazed and eccentric to a fault, he hoards, he roars, he gnashes his dentures.  His home is full of cats that he doesn't bother to name, curiosities, secrets, and a fox that likes to be followed.  Something untoward is afoot here.  

Maud, a caring and capable caregiver, lives with visits from vestiges of uninvoked saints who hover and watch, and some who make themselves a general nuisance.  

Renata is Maud's agoraphobic transgender landlady.  She sports outrageous makeup and wardrobe, and has twin shrines to Jesus Christ and Johnny Cash.  She has a nose for mystery.

I was hoping for a darker tale, but this ended up with more of a cozy feel to it.  I much preferred the author's debut novel, <b>Himself</b>, and this is what my rating is based on.  Still and yet, this one is fresh, original, and well worth the read.

Jess Kidd is an amazing writer (a PhD in Creative Writing I learned), and it's clear she has a beautiful command of language. Vivid, captivating, and magical, Mr Flood's Last Resort draws the reader into the lives of a number of unusual characters. With all that being said, this book isn't an easy read. All the adjectives and long descriptions can make it a challenge to get through a paragraph. But for a reader up to the challenge, the novel won't disappoint. It's a mystery, as well as a character study, and figuring out all the secrets is the pay off for the determined reader. This book won't be for everyone, but it will have an audience, certainly.

Mr. Flood's Last Resort by Jess Kidd is an unusual and convoluted story. This book is worth reading just to experience Kidd's descriptive narrative which is second to none, her writing style reminded me of Alice McDermott's talent. Yet the multilayered story is an adventure in the shadows.

The house that Mr. Flood lives in could be considered the main character of this book. It slowly reveals its secrets, both past and present to Maud Drennan. Maud is a home maker for the very elderly Mr. Flood who is an extremely cranky and secretive old man. Did he kill his wife? Did he kill his daughter? (Did he even have a daughter?) Did he kill his neighbour's cat?

Maud carries the weight of her own experience of a childhood tragedy as well as constant hallucinations that various saints are watching and advising her. Every evening when Maud returns to her flat she drops in for a visit with her agoraphobic, transgender landlady, Renata. This relationship proves central to the plot as the two women try to unravel the secrets that Mr. Flood is hiding about his house and family. Especially when they are befriended by Sam, who may, or may not be, Mr. Flood's heir.

Little by little the house allows Maud to travel deeper into it, experiencing sights, sounds and tensions that can only be from another realm. If you are a fan of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children(Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children #1) by Ransom Riggs you will most likely enjoy this book. Personally, I enjoyed the writing but the fantastical and supernatural elements of the story were not my cup of tea. A great ending!

A quirky story about eccentric, hoarder - Mr. Flood and his house of "curiosities". Set in Ireland

Writing: 5 Characters: 5 Plot: 5
New words (to me):
leylandii - fast growing coniferous evergreen tree used in horticulture
hurley - stick used in game of hurling
coulter - a vertical cutting blade fixed in front of a plowshare.

A great find! One of the perils of early reviewing is that you have no idea what you’ll get. And more often than not, what you get is OK but not great. However, a book like this makes all the early reviewing worthwhile — a real gem!

Intriguing characters, a continually twisting plot, and elements that just edge beyond our assumptions of reality. It is told in the first person narrative of Maud Drennan, a home health care worker in London. She has been sent to care for Cathal Flood — a bedraggled, Irish giant, cantankerous, and a hoarder of epic proportions. Bridlemere, his four story mansion in West London, is filled to the brim with oddities — Victorian Automata, taxidermy specimens, and scientific curiosities — most of which is hidden behind “The Great Wall of National Geographics”.

With brilliant pacing and suffused with the Irish gift for storytelling, several interconnected and constantly shifting tales unfold: Cathal’s son Gabriel wants to put him in a residential home; there is a mystery surrounding the death of Cathal’s wife some twenty years ago; a missing girl from Dorset from the same time period; and elements from Maud’s own traumatic past. Other characters include a good looking geriatric whisperer, an agoraphobic transsexual with an appetite for crime novels, and a slew of Catholic Saints who appear, emote, and opine at both appropriate and inappropriate times.

I love the writing — metaphors and similes that jar and then settle into being just right and lots of Irish swearing, Shakespearean in breadth. Some great lines:

“Mr. Flood salutes me with his glass and gives me the alligator smile of a TV-advert denture wearer: jauntily fraudulent.”

“Mrs. Cabello has quite then emotional range, from furious and distraught to angry and venomous.”

“The effect is oddly charming; it has something of an ancient misanthropic squirrel about it.”

About The Great Wall of National Geographics: “Each copy has been placed carefully, with aptitude and instinct, so that the whole has the arcane strength of a dry stone wall.”

The book got better and better as it went along — kept me up all night when I made the mistake of going to bed before finishing it! By the way, marketing has compared this with “A Man Called Ove” which I also liked, but frankly I don’t see much of a similarity beyond the fact that both centered around cranky, old, men. The similarity comes to an abrupt stop there. I found this one MUCH more interesting.

Mr. Flood’s Last Resort opens with Maud Drennan, a care worker, cleaning out Cathal Flood’s kitchen. Mr. Flood is a cantankerous old Irish gentleman and a hoarder, and Maud is his last chance to stay in his home; if he doesn’t let her work he’ll be sent off to an assisted living home. As Maud goes about making the home livable, she discovers clues regarding a possible murder, clues that may have been provided by ghostly intervention. As we learn more about Mr. Flood and Maud’s pasts, events in the present put Maud in danger. Jess Kidd employs vivid descriptions (“Mr. Flood and myself, both being Irish, share…the innate racial capacity to drink any man alive under the table whilst we dwell, in soft melancholy, on the lost wild beauty of our homeland.”) and eccentric characters (including incorporeal saints and an agoraphobic transvestite landlady/former magician’s assistant) to pull you into the story, while several mysteries, both past and present, keep you glued to the page. This novel is recommended for most libraries and fans of literary fiction and magical realism.

If I were a literary agent, I would look for quirky books like The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry and Tell The Wolves I’m Home and Only Love Can Break Your Heart, all of which I highly recommend. Mr. Flood’s Last Resort by Jess Kidd seems to have that same quality.

Here is the premise:

Maud Drennan is a dedicated caretaker, but her sunny, capable disposition and snappy quips mask a deep sadness. A tragic childhood event left her in the company of a cast of patron saints who pop in and out of her life like unwelcome tourists. She tries to find solace in her hard work in London…but then she meets the inimitable Mr. Flood.

A menace by all accounts, Cathal Flood is a widower living alone in a Gothic Dorset mansion crawling with collector’s items and feral cats. Stubborn as anything and an extreme hoarder, he has been battling his son’s attempts to move him into an old age home, and rumor has it he sent his last caretaker to the madhouse.

But Maud is this insolent old man’s last chance: if she can help him get the house in order, he might be able to fend off the deportation. So the unlikely pair begin to cooperate, connecting over their shared love of folk tales and their suspicion of Gabriel, Cathal’s overbearing son. Still, shadows are growing in the cluttered corners of the mansion, hinting at buried family secrets, and reminding Maud that she doesn’t really know this man at all. When she starts poking around, the forgotten case of a missing local schoolgirl comes to light, and a full-steam search for answers begins.

It sounds like a great book to sit down with over a weekend and read straight through. Its been described as both funny and sad, with quirky characters and there’s a mysterious element to it as well. As soon as I’m finished with Jar of Hearts, this is the book I’m going to read!

Maud Drennan is a dedicated caregiver looking after cantankerous, mean, dirty, and somewhat charming hoarder Cathal Flood in his filthy, haunted, cat filled estate. Cathal has his demons, his lost daughter, the son he dispises and the mysterious death of his wife. But Maud has demons too, her sister Deirdre who disappeared years ago and the group of saints that follow her around that only she can see. Mr. Flood's Last Resort is another dark, atmospheric story from Jess Kidd full of Irish charm
and wit, a vey enjoyable read.