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Jean, a 64-year-old woman with no family, friends or financial security has worked as a house sitter at 58 properties during her long career. Now she finds herself stationed at a comfortable estate called Walden Manor, which she soon discovers will be her last assignment; the agency that employs her is forcing her into retirement. The prospect of living full-time in the down-market boarding house where she subsists between jobs is more than she can bear. The post at Walden Manor comes with a long list of prohibitions. She is not to make a fire. She must confine herself to the small bedroom to which she is assigned and to the kitchen. The doors to most of the rooms of the Manor have been locked to assure that Jean will respect the rules the owners have laid down. At first, Jean does her best to comply, but then she breaks an antique teapot, discovers the keys to the rest of the rooms and begins slowly to assume the role of the owner of the property. The huge walk-in freezer, the wine cellar, even the master bedroom and wardrobe seduce her into living the very same comfortable life her employers have led. She is lonely though, and takes out an advertisement in the local paper asking to be reunited with the child she gave up at birth. The fact that Jean never gave birth to a child seems almost irrelevant to her. She so desires a family that she manages to convince herself and the reader that by placing the ad she is throwing a kind of lifeline to the universe. A man named Michael, who until this point has made his scant living stealing religious artifacts from churches, answers her ad and although he certainly knows that Jean could not possibly be his mother, is more than willing to play at being her son. With Michael comes Stephanie, who is nine months pregnant by an abusive boyfriend she left in a parking lot. In the shelter of the Manor the three of them manage to forge the strong familial bonds that each has previously lacked. Before long, each of them is willing to do anything to sustain the fantasy they have created together. Then someone from Michael’s past recognizes him, touching off a chain reaction that forces each of them to prove how far they will go to protect their ersatz family. To Joss’ eternal credit this does not play out as we might expect. Jean’s own set of ethics leads her to take a totally unexpected direction and the horror of the last scene haunts me still. Joss has managed through her understated yet poetic language to make each of these brilliantly created characters extremely sympathetic. We desperately want them to find the comfort and security that life has so far denied them even as we recoil from their actions. In the end, HALF BROKEN THINGS is a subtle meditation on the arbitrary nature of good and evil. Readers of Ruth Rendell and Minette Walters will want to waste no time in getting their hands on a copy of this gripping tale of psychological suspense. With HALF BROKEN THINGS Joss proves herself worthy of a place among the ranks of the best British crime writers. HALF BROKEN THINGS won the CWA Silver Dagger award for very good reason. This heartbreaking and disturbing book is written with stunning subtlety and complexity. Don’t miss it.
Reviewed by Carroll Johnson, January 2007
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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