Tangled Web UK Review March 2008
The Point of Rescue by
Sophie Hannah
hbk out February 08
Published by Hodder
at £12.99
Established and accomplished poet Sophie Hannah made a powerful debut into crime fiction in 2006 with Little face, and now she is going from strength to strength, her readership growing with each book.
In this, the third novel, protagonist Sally Thorning is a busy woman with a career (and 2 jobs), 2 lively children, a very laid-back husband – and a secret. The secret is an illicit, although admittedly unplanned, weekend spent with a strange man. This took place the preceding year, and now the man’s wife and small daughter are dead – but the grieving widower shown on the television news bulletin is not the man of that name with whom Sally had spent her sinful week. How can she give this vital information to the police without revealing her identity and the events of last year, thus jeopardising her marriage? Her husband Nick is infuriatingly casual, but Sally loves him and doesn’t want to hurt him. Rather foolishly, perhaps, she seeks out the man featured on the news, and finds that he is indeed who he says he is. So who was last year’s lover? Sally finds herself in the most horrifying situation before all the facts are revealed.
The police officers in this case, Simon Waterhouse and Charlie Zailer, are the same as in the previous novels, and although elements of the investigation are described in detail, this is very far from being a police procedural novel. Simon and Charlie and their colleagues are complex and individual, the darkly psychological plot twists and turns and doubles back on itself, and although clues are liberally scattered, the reader is still unprepared for the dénouement.
(
Judith Rhodes
)
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