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Newspaper journalist Natalie Joday is interrupted at work by her brother's ex-girlfriend's sister, anxious to know if Daniel has seen Lydia. A few weeks later, Lydia's body is found. The dead woman's sister turns to Natalie for support. And then it becomes clear that her brother, a young man with a troubled past which includes a prison term, is seen by the police as a prime suspect. Natalie is naturally sure her brother wouldn't have done it, but the only way to prove that is, of course, to try and find out more about what really happened. But Daniel is clearly keeping a lot of secrets. Then there's all the tensions in the Dow family. Who had a motive to kill Lydia? Was it connected with the money in this wealthy family, and Lydia's share of that? There are a lot of questions, and it's not even clear if they are the right ones. Natalie is an amateur sleuth, but one with a sensible motive, that of helping her brother, in this book. The mystery wasn't that substantial, and I thought that a far more interesting part of this book was the look at the effects of the murder and its investigation on the characters in the book, and the way that they related to each other. Natalie and Daniel's relationship was well explored. Also, the parts with dialogue were, generally speaking, much better written. The biggest weakness of the novel was a very long, overwritten section at the beginning, which lasted at least quarter of the book, with lots of long and detailed descriptions of nothing in particular. I think the author should have set up her scene and gone into the real story a lot sooner. When she finally did, there was real emotional power and resonance in the writing, and I really began to be interested in learning more about the characters. There is a second book in the series, Unfold the Evil, which I look forward to reading despite the gripes above - the book did improve considerably later on. I am keen to learn more about where things go in the personal lives of the characters than because I see Natalie carving out a long future for herself as a sleuth - I'm not sure that can work indefinitely. The setting of the story is Bergen County, New Jersey, where the author originally comes from. A map is thoughtfully provided at the back of the book but I didn't get a specific sense of the area or what it was like.
Reviewed by Luci Davin, October 2002
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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