This thriller is the Scottish poet and writer´s seventh novel.
Though Naomi Jenkins only gets three hours a week together with her lover, she feels happy and expectant, certain Robert will leave his wife soon and begin a new life together with her. One night he does not turn up for their meeting, and of course the police do not take her concern very seriously. Naomi persuades them to ask his wife, but as Juliet tells them he is on a holiday with some friends, Naomi must do something to make it important for them to find him.
The strong points of the story: a well-wrought, exciting plot. I also liked the theme of women and how differently they handle disasters such as humiliation, rape and abuse, and the main character Naomi Jenkins who is the first-person narrator of several sections.
A minus: the police officers waste a lot of time pestering each other like spoilt school children and behaving unprofessionally in several ways. It may be intended as humour or caricature, but if so, it did not strike me as very funny.
I think Maxine sent the book to me. If not, I am sure you will enjoy her review anyway.
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9 kommentarer:
I have only read one Sophie Hannah book and enjoyed it so little that I gave away my copy of this one which I also had acquired before opening the cover. Her police people are just not for me I'm afraid.
Dorte - Thanks for this fine review. I have to say that I agree with you and Bernadette about the way the police are drawn in Hannah's books. Definitely not a strength...
Like yourself I think I would enjoy the womanly aspect of the story, Im not too sure that these policemen wouldn't spoil the book for me though.
I think I probably did send you this one, Dorte. I quite liked her first but have increasingly disliked each subsequent one- partly because of not playing fair with reader (withholding info), partly over-convoluted plots, and partly the silly Charlie-Simon thing (and lack of credibility in police procedures).
The first one was the simplest plot (with a twist) and she is better at that than doing "deliberate obfuscation", which essentially means simply omitting to write things and then doing so anyway later on in the book.
Yet, the series is extremely popular!
Bernadette: no, they are tiresome with all their petty squabble.
Margot: if only she would pull herself together, because there are several other things she handles well.
Tracy: it did not spoil all of it for me, but there were scenes which irritated me a lot.
Maxine: I can see the attraction, and I´ll probably read the two I have on my shelf, but the series is not exactly a must for me.
What a difficult position for Naomi to be in. Sounds like it is well worth reading.
as for the bookshelves. Yes, there has been lots of re-arranging. We like to keep a chair in front of the shelf in the living room. Then we can sit and ponder a book, but also it serves and an invitation to visitors to borrow a book.
Heather: Naomi is an interesting character and the plot is good, it is just those annoying police officers...
I think having a chair in front of your shelf is a lovely invitation :)
The plot on this one sounds very good!
Kelly: it is, and despite the silly police officers, I´ll probably read the two I have on my TBR. Not right now, though.
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