From Publishers Weekly
In this adroitly plotted first novel, set in contemporary London, British literary agent Smith works a keenly observed story of five women into a murder thriller. Beth, a divorced caterer, has been having an affair with Oliver, a married banker. Vivienne, a former "Debutante of the Year," happens to be married to Oliver and doesn't know of the affair. Georgy, an American photographer on assignment in London, is infatuated with Beth's ex-husband. Without any obvious links (at first) to the first three are Sally, the sexy, freewheeling good-time girl from Australia, and Catherine, a veterinarian's receptionist whose famous mother cruelly squashed her one chance at love. Smith nimbly charts the ways in which the disparate lives of these women intersect until they all meet, by chance, in a gynecological ward, where they become friends. She generates suspense with a violent prologue in which an unnamed woman is attacked in her kitchen and maintains the tension with short, italicized chapters detailing further murders (with the players remaining anonymous). By the time the main plot acquires the sinister tone of the prologue and interchapters, every character has come so vividly to life that the reader is hooked, ready to be reeled in as Smith subtly orchestrates the series of events that brings the canny and experienced killer to the fore in a protracted and graphic conclusion. Major ad/promo.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
When five very different women meet as patients in a London hospital, they begin to develop friendships among themselves. These tentative bonds are threatened, however, as they discover that their lives are already intertwined through the men they know. Suddenly one of the women dies and another is viciously attacked, and it becomes clear to the reader that they are being stalked by a killer. Although the book starts a bit slowly as the women are introduced, the suspense begins to build as the crimes are committed. First-time author Smith plants several clues, so it is not too difficult to figure out the identity of the psychopathic murderer. The otherwise astute women seem surprisingly unaware of the danger and must be saved by the men who piece together the mystery and ride to the rescue. In spite of this disappointing turn, Smith's debut remains promising.?Barbara E. Kemp, University at Albany Libs., N.Y.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
