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Please note: due to the subject matter, events which the MC experiences in her life, and the beliefs which she holds and explores, some readers may find this powerful, thought-provoking and emotional novel - and possibly this review, distressing and triggering - so caution is advisable.

What happens to us when we are boiled in the trials and tribulations of life? Does the hot water make us more like a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

Jessica Miller is fascinated by the somewhat perplexing tendency of humans to end their own lives, but she secretly believes suicide is a good thing, from an evolutionary perspective.

Or at least, she did.

Jessica is coming to terms with her own relationships, and reflecting on what it means to be queer, when something happens which throws everything she once believed into doubt. Can she still defend the act?

Goodness, for a slim novel of only 168 pages, this one packs a powerful emotional, moral, ethical and intellectual punch.

Our narrator, Jessica, has an unforgettable voice and what she says is usually funny and whip smart, sometimes deprecating and dark in theme and subject, whilst her tone is conversational and almost off the cuff.

It is this deceptive, dissonant interplay of narrative style and tone that enables this novel to place the difficult and sensitive topic of suicide front and centre in this novel.

The novel also explores themes of grief and loss, childhood trauma, forgiveness and resilience, and what it means to be the queer family member is also examined as Jessica’s relationships with other women in her life play out.

She is an unforgettable main character and through her eyes we obtain a queer female perspective on what it is like for her as a scientific researcher, daughter, friend, lover and carer.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked up this novel as I deliberately went in blind. I'm not sure I expected the frank and honest exploration of a really difficult theme (which is still not often easily discussed openly even now), nor Jessica’s unconventional view that suicide could be 'a good thing'; I wasn't expecting the inclusion of so much science which was apt, well explained, easily understood and added an extra dimension, nor was I expecting the humour; but it all works so, so well. Effie Black is a writer of real talent. Her characters are fully realised and she has pulled off an amazing feat.

IDOTA takes you beyond your comfort zone on so many levels, but it made a real impression upon me. It made me think and examine my own attitudes, it made me laugh and it made me cry, and whilst it may seem odd to say this in light if what I have described about this amazing, powerful, thought-provoking and emotional novel, I really, really enjoyed it.