We then cut to the story of a woman running away from something in her past and starting a new life in a remote Welsh coastal community. This setting is brought beautifully to life and you can almost hear the waves and feel the spray from the sea which is ever present in this part of the book.
A third story is also woven into this book - that of a violent relationship between a husband and wife, told from the husband's viewpoint.
Interspersed with these stories is the work of the two police officers investigating the hit and run and the developing relationship between them.
So you can see that this novel, has a fairly complex plot structure, but it works. In fact I think it is very effective. The reader is drip fed small pieces of information from each strand of the narrative, helping them to gradually make up the whole picture, but not without some brilliantly unexpected plot twists! There is a huge twist in the plot at the end of part one, and I really did not see it coming. Then in the second part of the book the tension really mounts as we learn more about the abusive relationship and the reader begins to fear for the safety of the man's wife.
The main characters of Jenna, and the two police officers, Kate and Ray, are well drawn and though their flaws are entirely believable they remain very likeable.
This book won the Theakston Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year Award in 2016 and I can see why. It is a well-written, suspenseful thriller with a clever structure and plot. It also explores the difficult topic of domestic violence and its long-lasting effects on the people involved. If you like thrillers, this is a good example of the genre and definitely worth a read.
This was Clare Mackintosh's debut novel and her second novel "I See You" was published in 2016. I will definitely be reading that too!
No comments:
Post a Comment