★★★★
SYNOPSIS
It should have been just a mid-life fling. A guilty indiscretion that Neve Connolly could have weathered. An escape from twenty years of routine marriage to her overworked husband, and from her increasingly distant children. But when Neve pays a morning-after visit to her lover, Saul, and finds him brutally murdered, their pied-à-terre still heady with her perfume, all the lies she has so painstakingly stitched together threaten to unravel.
After scrubbing clean every trace of her existence from Saul’s life—and death—Neve believes she can return to normal, shaken but intact. But she can’t get out of her head the one tormenting question: what was she forgetting?
An investigation into the slaying could provide the answer. It’s brought Detective Chief Inspector Alastair Hitching, and Neve’s worst fears, to her door. But with every new lie, every new misdirection to save herself, Neve descends further into the darkness of her betrayal—and into more danger than she ever imagined. Because Hitching isn’t the only one watching Neve. So is a determined killer who’s about to make the next terrifying move in a deadly affair….
(Taken from Goodreads)
MY THOUGHTS: This really was quite the page-turner I was hoping for. A cat and mouse game where all throughout the novel you are on tender-hooks as to whether Detective Hitching will reveal the truth and what the consequences of Neve's actions will be.
Neve was the perfect female character for this novel. She was the hardworking mum trying to balance work with home life; she was portrayed as a good listener, friendly, inclusive, was a peacemaker; yet we also saw how being all of these things stretched her beyond her means and caused conflicted within herself. It allowed the reader to almost understand and forgive her for the wrong decisions and choices she made.
Neve gets a text asking her to go to her lover's flat, when she arrives he is found dead, brutally murdered. If she calls the police her secret affair will be out in the open, it will devastate her husband who is already depressed and destroy her family life. Her daughter has been 'having issues' these past few years and so Neve is so desperate to spare her any more upset and unbalance her further. So she decides to clean the flat to get rid of any evidence that she was ever there. That includes washing the bed linen, putting the crockery through the dishwasher, removing items belonging to her from the flat, and cleaning all surfaces. She then walks out, never to return to the flat again. So my question is what would you do? I was so caught up with Neve's life at this section of the book, which is only the first chapter might I add, that I really questioned what I might do in that circumstance. Obviously the chances of me being in the same situation as Neve are extremely thin but it really did make me think, and to be honest, although I know she made the wrong decision I didn't blame her.
The fact that Nicci French could in the first chapter portray such a alluring, conceivable character just shows her brilliance as a writer. I was hooked.
The novel continues with Neve having to continually lie to the police, colleagues and family in order to keep up her pretence and protect those around her. I was left feeling exhausted by all the lies and deceit.
Although I was completely hooked I did find some elements a little unbelievable, such as why would her lover's wife contact Neve? And the way Detective Hitching would appear for another unofficial chat. Having said all that it didn't dampen my enjoyment of the novel and I didn't once guess who was behind Saul's murder.
Without giving anything away I found the ending fitting and liked how the author set the scene of a 'normal' family life which echoed the same routine at the start of the novel. Hitching's words were also quite fetching and allowed me to be at peace with the outcome, it felt very plausible and realistic.
I would definitely recommend this book: it draws you in within the first few pages, is a page-turner, has realistic characters and keeps you guessing right up until the very end.
Thank you Netgalley and Simon and Schuster UK for a copy of this novel.
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