Sophie Hannah's superpower is to come up with the most amazing, intriguing and page-turning concepts for her thrillers -- and then have them fizzle out in disappointment and frustration in the final chapters.
Case in point: Justine has given up a high power job in the media in London, after her principled stand on behalf of a colleague goes badly wrong, and leaves her bitter and burnt out. She retreats (poor girl!) to a gorgeous house on 99 acres, overlooking the river Dart in Devon. But things go from bad to worse when she starts to get threatening phone calls from a woman who insists that Justine is actually someone called "Sandie," and if she doesn't get out of town, there will be blood. And then her teenage daughter starts to act out when her best friend at her new school is expelled -- except, according to the teachers, staff and other students at the school, the boy in question not only wasn't expelled, but he doesn't exist.
Right, so that would keep you reading, wouldn't it? Neglecting family, friends, housework, email ... Thinking that this time, the solution to the mystery will be richly satisfying, and an ample payback for the investment of your valuable time? Me, too. SPOILER: it wasn't.
This was an enjoyable read, a real page turner -- although I thought the alternative chapters, of the text of the murder mystery written by Justine's daughter, while fun at first, began to pall as they went on, and on, and on. I just wish the ending had lived up to the build-up.
Case in point: Justine has given up a high power job in the media in London, after her principled stand on behalf of a colleague goes badly wrong, and leaves her bitter and burnt out. She retreats (poor girl!) to a gorgeous house on 99 acres, overlooking the river Dart in Devon. But things go from bad to worse when she starts to get threatening phone calls from a woman who insists that Justine is actually someone called "Sandie," and if she doesn't get out of town, there will be blood. And then her teenage daughter starts to act out when her best friend at her new school is expelled -- except, according to the teachers, staff and other students at the school, the boy in question not only wasn't expelled, but he doesn't exist.
Right, so that would keep you reading, wouldn't it? Neglecting family, friends, housework, email ... Thinking that this time, the solution to the mystery will be richly satisfying, and an ample payback for the investment of your valuable time? Me, too. SPOILER: it wasn't.
This was an enjoyable read, a real page turner -- although I thought the alternative chapters, of the text of the murder mystery written by Justine's daughter, while fun at first, began to pall as they went on, and on, and on. I just wish the ending had lived up to the build-up.
