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I'm a bit at a loss to explain why I love most of Frances Fyfield's books, given that I tend not to appreciate psychological suspense by many of the best writers of that genre. And in truth, I've not kept up with Fyfield in recent years, but the chance to read her new one just grabbed me. I prefer the books featuring Helen the lawyer and Geoffrey the cop, but I still found myself totally absorbed by the wonderful writing in Staring At The Light. Sarah Fortune is a mess. You wouldn't know it to look at her but Fortune is a walking disaster in so many ways. She is a lawyer, but she tends to not get any decent cases and to spend far too much time propping up her miserable clients or investigating them. She picks unlikely lovers, men who all too often are far too needy and sad or tired or old to give Sarah anything back. Sarah pretty much knows she takes care of others in order to avoid herself, but she is young and beautiful and you want to shake her and make her face all her gifts. In Staring At The Light, Sarah is watching out for Cannon Smith, recently released from prison. He has a record involving explosives and seems truly to be a gentle soul, a painter who just happens to have gifts involving chemicals. In truth, his brother Johnny - you can't know if this brother is a sociopath, a psychopath, or some other label, but he is pure unadulterated evil - has forced him, all his life, to do what he wants. He has taken the blame for his brother who, angered that Cannon found a wife, dragged the wife off and had her beaten for "stealing Cannon"; he hates anyone who "steals" from him. He is a hideously cruel, self-centered bastard, but he has power, so he is not easy to ignore. Sarah investigates the brother, with a rather sordid fascination. She meanwhile is in charge of buying art for the law firm - another task that seems designed to keep her around without actually promoting her or having her do an real law. She's keeping company with a dentist, another sort of sad man, whose self-centered wife has left him. See what I mean? You want her to have one good day when Sarah is not surrounded by people in anguish. Fyfield gives you wonderful, in-depth information about the characters, good and bad. She provides insights with compelling language - which is why I think I find her work so enticing. She tells you about people, maybe more than you want to know but no one is a cardboard cut-out in a Fyfield book. In creating Sarah Fortune, she has offered a character who would seem to have it all - a beautiful single lawyer, pursued and wanted by many men, liked by many women; and yet, Sarah relies on others, on helping others, to give her the least sense of fulfillment. She makes friends and she makes lasting connections with people; she is still friendly with old lovers, and people find themselves wanted to help her, sometimes without knowing why. She is a captivating fictional creation. I do want to warn the squeamish about Staring At The Light.Truly, there is a section you don't want to read. I glanced and skipped, but it is a gruesome sadistic scene in this book. As a charter member of the Weenie Society, however, I was able to get past it and finish - I did need to find out what happened. Fyfield ties in good and bad, dentists and artists, egocentric and unselfish people in her narrative and it works.
Reviewed by Andi Shechter, March 2000
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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