A.A. Abbott

GREAT CRIME STORY WRITER

secrets

Book Review – Friend Indeed, by Katharine D’Souza

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Friendship, secrets & failed relationships

I was addicted from the very first moment I picked up one of Katharine D’Souza’s novels. Her intelligent women’s fiction is so easy to read that normal life takes a back seat until the book is finished. Fortunately, Friend Indeed is a short novella of 90-odd pages. You can zip through it in a few hours, although it will stay with you long afterwards. Leaving a sense of unease in its wake, the story studies friendship, secrets and failed relationships.

Jane, the narrator, shares her birthday with schoolfriends Maya and Sandra. As grammar school girls with the world at their feet, they swore they would meet up on their fiftieth birthday. That’s why Jane and Sandra travel from Birmingham to Maya’s flash party in London.

A unlikeable narrator

Maya is the only one of the trio to escape their hometown. She’s a respected journalist, her weekly columns read avidly by the other two. Sandra is pleased for her and thrilled to be included in her birthday plans. By contrast, Jane feels overshadowed and resentful of Maya’s success.

Jane is honest in revealing her thoughts to the reader: possibly too frank. She comes across as a reliable narrator, but not a likeable one. If I met her at a party, I’d avoid her like the plague. Ms D’Souza deals with her gently, however.  There is a hint that Jane is capable – perhaps – of  leaving envy behind.

Domestic noir

This is no crime thriller, but in its exploration of family drama and secrets, it verges on domestic noir. For a short book, Friend Indeed has a powerful, lingering effect. Don’t be surprised if old friends invade your nightmares once you’ve read it.

Friend Indeed by Katharine D'Souza - abook that explores secrets, lies and domestic noir

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Do you enjoy a really dark slice of domestic noir? My new psychological thriller, Bright Lies, delivers exactly that. Emily is only 13 when David becomes her stepfather, and she’s thrilled that the handsome artist wants to mentor her. She doesn’t know she’ll end up running for her life…
“Compelling drama – 5 stars” – Readers’ Favorite, USA.

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Book Review – Killing The Girl, by Elizabeth Hill

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Desire, Secrets and DeathKilling The Girl is a page turner suspense thriller about secrets desire and death

An explosive tale of desire, secrets and hard-nosed commerce, “Killing The Girl” is a psychological thriller like no other. It begins with a coming-of-age story. Fifteen-year-old Carol Cage lives in a council house on the edge of Bristol. A tomboy whose older brothers have taught her to drive, she loves nothing better than taking the wheel of a car or scrumping apples with her best friend. Local farmer’s son, Perry, his crush on Carol painfully obvious, holds no attraction for her. Childhood mischief comes to an end, however, when Carol falls under Frankie’s spell. Nineteen-year-old Frankie is visiting a relative whose posh house nearby is a mirage of unattainable wealth to the council kids. He seems impossibly handsome and sophisticated.

It doesn’t take long for the reader, or indeed many of the adult characters in the book, to realise that Frankie is just using Carol. However, Carol is besotted and ignores all the well-intentioned warnings until she finds out the hard way. Then, nightmarishly, she attacks Frankie when he pushes her too far.

Love or Money?

Perry is Carol’s saviour, helping her cover up Frankie’s death. He claims it is because his father’s farm would face impossibly steep outgoings if land that Carol has inherited falls into new hands. Although undeniably true, it is also clear that Perry still carries a torch for Carol – a torch that burns for nearly five decades while they co-exist as neighbours. Then the council announces it will build a ring road through the land where Frankie is buried. Can Carol continue to escape justice?

The Corpse Count Rises

Once the bulldozers move in, more secrets are revealed. There are heart-stopping moments as Carol unravels the hidden agendas of those she has loved and trusted. The story, written from Carol’s point of view, portrays her as a mild-mannered woman buffeted by the whims of others. However, the corpse count keeps rising…

Page Turner

Although this is Carol’s story, the supporting characters are sharply observed and interesting, too. Even the gloriously-named socialite Izzy Dewberry-Newberry is well-described in a couple of lines. Likewise, the social mores of the 1970s – the acceptance of drink-driving, the Bristol tobacco factory jobs handed down from one generation to the next – leap from the page. Exquisitely written, full of surprises as layers of secrets and lies are peeled back, “Killing The Girl” is a page turner par excellence. Elizabeth Hill is definitely a writer to watch.

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Like Elizabeth Hill, I’m a British thriller writer. If you love a suspense-filled story uncovering secrets of the past, try “The Vodka Trail”. Vodka salesman Marty Bridges couldn’t save his business partner’s life. Blamed by the dead man’s daughter for his death, Marty finds new evidence – but dare he tell her?