Customer Reviews

Singled Out

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In this novel of psychological suspense, Laura Fisher is determined to put her abusive childhood and marriage behind her and create a new happy life. Through hard work and determination, she achieves success as a television producer and raises a son by herself. As her son enters adulthood, she begins to suspect that he may have inherited a legacy of violence.

I read this book because I greatly enjoyed Mr. Brett's previous two out-of-series novels, A Shock to the System and Dead Romantic. I did not enjoy Singled Out as much. The first disappointment was the use of graphic sex scenes. The other two novels dealt with complex sexual themes, but nonexplicity. I also felt the book suffered from lack of character development, especially that of Laura's son. We are suddenly introduced to him as a university student, and have no idea what sort of person he is. Perhaps this ambiguity is intentional, but I found it made the character uninteresting.

The best scenes were those where Laura and her brother debated the possibility of overcoming a tragic childhood. The counterpoint of Laura's optimisim and her brother's fatalism made for good reading.

Singled Out stands somewhat apart from most other crime novels by Simon Brett.For one thing it is not a series book and there is no place for either Charles Parris the actor cum sleuth,or for Mrs Pargeter ,the Miss Marple like figure,who have been in the vast majority of his titles.More importantly it is not a cosy,for there is an edge to the book lacking in his series works.
The book takes place in two distinct halves,opening in 1974 when Laura Fisher,a TV producer sets out to seduce a total stranger in a London hotel room,with the object of getting pregnant.She was abused by her father who is serving time for murder and child abuse,and her marriage to privately educated Michael has also seen her beaten up.She is determined to prove that she can raise a child as a single mother and break the chain of abuse and violence.Her policemen brother Kent,who sought to protect her during childhood is unsure of her wisdom but she proceeds.At the end of the opening part it is revealed that the father was under suspicion of murdering a woman near the hotel where the child was conceived.
Part 2 takes place in 1993 and the son Tom is now 19-a strange,uncommunicative child who is accused of assault on a female student who is subsequently killed.Has "bad blood"asserted itself again?
The book deals with the theme of child abuse frankly and openly and the damage to those who are victims is made clear especially on Kent,the brother who is emotionally constipated.Brett is strong on the type of middle class hypocrisy that can sweep abuse under the carpet in order to maintain appearances
He also deals with sexist attitudes in the 70,s and shows how the spirit of the pioneers of the womens movement has been hijacked by platitude mouthing nonentities in these exalted times and the lie of political correctness is nailed with precision..Good plotting,sharp characterization and crisp writing go towards making this a neat and economical little tale that devotees of the medium boiled crime tale will enjoy
Crisp writing,sharp characters and a neat working out of the plot

This book was recommended to me by a fellow Richard North Patterson fan. This is not as gripping, but a very good read. I could feel a plot twist coming at the end of part 1 -- but I didn't figure out "who did it" until the last few chapters. This is a great summer book.