No Escape by
Hilary Norman
pbk out November 03
(Piatkus)
at £6.99
After the first few dozen pages, I was pessimistic about enjoying this book,
as the topics appeared to be wife-beating, child abuse, rape and a lad's
fatally progressive disease. However, things quickly looked-up in that the
plot was so intriguing that it turned into a 'marmalade-jar book' - i.e.
propped up against one so that reading could continue through breakfast.
The story began with a number of disparate strands which gradually came
together. A wife was found battered to death and the husband , who had a
history of violence, was arrested, against the instincts of a woman Detective
Inspector. In another family, an illegally-adopted child is being hammered
by the irritated father, then his wife ends up dead.
Lizzie Piper, a well-known writer of cookery books, married to a famous
plastic surgeon, has troubles of her own, including a son with a type of
muscular dystrophy.
Common to all these isolated items is Robin Allbeury, an enigmatic lawyer
who covertly helps desperate wives to escape their husbands, but who
himself comes under suspicion because of his inexplicable motivation.
Various detectives and a private eye and his wife who work for the lawyer,
add to the intriguing mixture. Though the various ingredients sound
depressing, the end result is a good read, typical of the long track-record of
Hilary Norman.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
No Escape by
Hilary Norman
