by
Nicci French
What’s not to like about this Richard and Judy Book List best seller? It has everything we love about a page turner.
It starts with the title, drawing us in to a mystery even before page one, then flings us straight into a 50th birthday party to which the Birthday Boy’s wife of many years, mother to his four kids, party organiser and all round wonderful person haws not arrived.
Immediately, the youngest, daughter Etty is worried, knowing it’s out of character for mum not to be there, but everyone else seems to be a bit laissez-faire about it, even after the Ettie called the police. As the evening moves into night, then the next day, the other children, all boys start to get the picture and a search is finally underway, but people are acting weirdly, and nothing is ever the same again.
Cut to thirty years later and a new cop is in town, she has a new crime to investigate and she thinks the disappearance of Charlotte is connected somehow to the whole thing.
Of course, new cop, Maud, is, by obligation to the standard mystery-crime book formula, struggling to be accepted by her male colleagues who are, at best, unhelpful and at worst, obstructive, and she is proved over and over to be correct and eventually solves the mystery.
The book keeps us turning those pages (yes, I Kindle-read this one, didn’t opt for the Lazy Girl Audible route) and I, for one, wanted to find out what happened to Charlie Salter, even if my bedtime came and went and it was only me and a restless labradoodle or two burning the midnight oil.
I only felt I really got to know the lead, Ettie and the detective, Maud out of all the characters in the book. Frankly, I got a bit lost with all the names at first, but that didn't really spoil it too much for me. I guess strong women characters will appeal to a female audience, and I liked the way Maud was strong but not brash with it. She didn't feel she had to be the power-dressing ball-breaking 90's style woman breaking into a man's world. I think that shows the author understands how strength doesn't need to be brutish.
What I really did enjoy was the interweaving of the story through the relationships and how it described the way in which the trauma affected those nearest and dearest to the missing Charlotte. How differently would those characters have turned out if they’d have lived safe and sound with no devastating catastrophes and lived happily ever after? Would they have gone on to make similar decisions?
Not only did it affect them as individuals, but it messed up their whole family and friends and the relationships between them, as well as devastating the close knit community in which they lived. Very interesting, to me at least!
It is all wrapped up nicely for us in the final chapters, so we can finally turn off the light. Let's face it, who, honestly, would want a book that ends with, “and so the case was put into storage on the shelves marked ‘Unsolved’, and nobody ever knew who did it and why.”? Not me! So it was delivered with the formula twist and turns and a relatively happy ending.
Satisfactory all round!
The Between the Covers ladies also seemed to enjoy it. It’s rare that everyone in the group is completely happy with the book, so it’s quite a feat to get a rave review, but that’s what this one got: six of us voted, four gave it 9/10. In total it scored 8.75/10, which is a great score.
That said, our next book is likely to get even higher scores. I’m already completely hooked and I’m trying to squeeze in reading sessions on my Kindle whenever I get 5 minutes. I suggest you all grab your copy of Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent and set aside some serious reading time for your next read. Lovers of a thriller/mystery will not want to put this down, and I’m hoping the ending is as good as the beginning and middle….
Carol was at her hostess best as usual and we even opened a lovely bottle of fizz to go with the banquet we all bring. Thank you, ladies of Between the Covers!
Keep reading everyone!
Sarah x
“Books are the plane, and the train, and the road. They are the destination, and the journey. They are home." - Anna Quindlen
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