Reading matters

'Losing You' by Nicci French

Fiction - paperback; Penguin Books; 293 pages; 2007.

I'm a long-time Nicci French fan, but it's been more than two years since I picked up anything written by this husband-and-wife team. Once-upon-a-time I would anxiously await each new release, sometimes even buying them in hardcover when expenses would allow, because I enjoyed reading these psychological thrillers so much.

But I found the last French book, Catch Me When I Fall, slightly disappointing. It felt like the girl-on-the-run-from-a-stranger franchise had become tired and too formulaic, or perhaps I'd simply cottoned on to the fact that Nicci French is a one-trick pony and I wanted a little more from the reading experience. Needless to say, I didn't rush out and buy the next one: I bided my time and acquired it via BookMooch a month or so ago.

Losing You, I am happy to report, is a welcome breaking of the mould. This time it's not a young woman being stalked that forms the backbone of the narrative, but a mother searching for her missing child. It's a refreshing change.

The novel -- the 10th one in the French catalogue -- is set on Sandling Island, 60 miles from London, "but, rimmed as it was by the tidal estuary and facing out to open sea, it had the feel of a different world, gripped by weather and seasons; full of wild spaces, loneliness, the strange call of sea-birds and sighing winds". It's the ideal claustrophobic and slightly creepy setting for the story that enfolds over the course of the next 290 pages.

Nina Landry, recently separated from her husband, is about to embark on a Christmas break to Florida with her new beau and her two children, 15-year-old Charlie (Charlotte) and 11-year-old Jackson. The day ahead looms large, with a million tasks to do before the family heads to Heathrow for their 6pm flight, but things go off kilter before it even gets started. First, Nina's car breaks down, then her house is swamped by people throwing a surprise 40th birthday party for her -- and all this before 11am. 

It's only when Nina notices Charlie's absence that the suspense gets ratcheted up a notch or two. When she calls the police, they assume it's simply a case of a teenager running away because she's unhappy at home. But Nina knows this isn't true.

Embarking on her own investigation, she slowly pieces together Charlie's last movements and, in doing so, learns that the relationship she has with her daughter is not as open or as trusting as she first thought. Nina slowly begins to uncover secrets within secrets, all of which lead her to believe that Charlie will turn up dead if she doesn't find her quickly...

This is typical French fare in the sense that the suspense doesn't really let up from the word go, helped in part by absolutely no chapter breaks. The prose style hurries along at an ever-quickening pace without losing the rich detail and vivid descriptions that bring the narrative to life -- you get a real sense of the people, the places and the events that occur in ways that a less-busy, tell-don't-show style would fail to deliver.

There are plenty of twists and turns in the plot, and many characters are not what they first appear to be, and all the while the story never really escalates into all-out melodrama. Indeed, it reads as quite an authentic account of a panicked mother trying to find her missing child when the rest of the world doesn't seem to take her concerns seriously enough.

Losing You is a thoroughly entertaining read, one to quicken the pulse and test your powers of deduction all the way through. I can honestly say I did not guess the ending, nor the perpetrator, which is quite rare in much of my recent reading experience.

Now, that French seems to have worked her way into my good books once again, I wonder where I can get my hands on a copy of her latest novel Until It's Over...

'Catch Me When I Fall' by Nicci French

Fiction - hardcover; Penguin; 304 pages; 2005

Holly Krauss is a bundle of energy. She's young, vibrant, creative, attractive - and always on the go. Married to the lovely Charlie, a stay-at-home artist, she runs a company of her own with her best friend and business partner Meg. But despite all her success, her whirlwind lifestyle begins to catch up with her. And when she goes on an all-night bender, the cracks begin to appear in her relationships and before she knows it her entire life is spiralling out of control.

'Secret Smile' by Nicci French

Fiction - paperback; Penguin; 336 pages; 2004

This is the sixth novel by the husband-and-wife-team who write under the pseudonym Nicci French. In many ways French is a one-trick pony: each book tells the same story - a woman on the run from a menacing force while her family and friends ignore her pleas for help - only the details change. But French has the knack of ensuring each story sounds fresh and new, and, more importantly, scary as hell. Secret Smile is no different.

In this creepy tale painter/decorator Miranda Cotton breaks up with her "almost" boyfriend, Brendan, after she finds him reading her personal diaries without asking. Just two weeks later Brendan becomes engaged to Miranda's sister, Kerry, after a shock whirlwind romance. This deeply unsettles Miranda, but family and friends misinterpret her disapproval as jealousy, something that Brendan capitalises on by telling people that he dumped Miranda, not the other way around.

Slowly Brendan ingratiates himself more and more into the Cotton family, going out of his way to drive a wedge between Miranda and Kerry.

When his behaviour turns threatening, Miranda finds it difficult to make anyone believe her side of the story. And as things progress from bad to worse, it's not only Miranda who finds her life put at risk.

This is a definite over-the-top story. But it's a great chilling psychological romp. And sometimes it's nice to let a book take you on an exciting journey without having to take anything too seriously. A good read if you're looking for something entertaining and just a little bit creepy.

I've read all of Nicci French's books but the only one reviewed on this site is Land of the Living.

'Land of the Living' by Nicci French

Fiction - paperback; Penguin; 384 pages; 2003

This is typical Nicci French fare: a fast-paced, cleverly plotted story. I read it in two sittings and enjoyed every minute of it's page turning brilliance.

The narrative, which begins with a young woman, Abbie Deveraux, waking up in the dark, hooded and bound, twists and turns its way to a nail-biting conclusion. The I-wonder-what-happens-next element is especially good, even though, on the face of it, the storyline — a woman on the run from an unknown stranger who has murder on his mind — is a familiar construct in many of French's previous novels.

What elevates this to a proper "thriller" is that the police, and most of Abbie's friends, do not believe her story so she is left to fend for herself. This woman alone against the odds proves a gripping and irresistible read. Highly recommended.