The Moment She Was Gone by
Evan Hunter
hbk out July 03
Published by Orion
at £12.99
Few would deny that Evan Hunter (a.k.a. Ed McBain) is one of the world's
best writers. His easy style, his ability to make the most mundane details
interesting and his psychiatrist-like ability to tease out the last shred from a
character's personality have made him a star author for half a century.
Recently, he seems to be experimenting with more off-beat themes, almost
as if a lifetime of 87th Precinct and Matthew Hope novels now allows him to
'diversify' like a British farmer. His 'Candy' and 'Fat Ollie' were different
and now 'The Moment She was Gone' is startlingly unlike anything he has
written before.
A rather dull New York school teacher, Andrew Gulliver has a twin sister
Annie, who has the habit of disappearing at intervals, eventually turning up
from Nepal, Indonesia, and all points west, with an increasing number of lip,
nose and eyebrow rings. She has embraced Tantrism and fails to make a
living by making erotic jewelry.Her last flit before the story begins was to
Sicily where the long-suffering Andrew had to collect her from a psychiatric
ward after she claimed that she was assaulted and raped on a mountainside
and gained hospital admission by threatening to kill herself.
Andrew's own marriage broke up years ago, mainly because his wife could
no longer take Annie's strange behaviour. His mother, a strong-willed
Jewish lady, resists any attempt to get psychiatric help for Annie, stoutly
maintaining that all her weird stories are true.
There is no real plot to the book and no surprises – the value is in the quality
of the writing. What intrigued me was why Evan Hunter wrote it in the first
place – surely there must have been some comparable episode within his
experience to trigger the idea.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
The Moment She Was Gone by
Evan Hunter
