This is the second book I’ve read this year which opens with a car accident resulting in death, the first being Keep Quiet by Lisa Scottoline. Rachel Teller, our narrator, is a woman who was returning to her husband and their ‘perfect’ life in the Brighton countryside having just left the bed of another man, when she rounds a bend and hits a man. Fear of the consequences particularly as she had consumed a fair amount of alcohol in the preceding hours, she decides to continue on her journey home. As Rachel is to find, removing herself from the scene isn’t going to erase her horror when she contemplates what she has done or the fear of what will happen if anyone finds out.
Rachel’s marriage to David is the type of strange marriage that could only exist between the pages of a psychological thriller and I failed to understand why she stayed, despite being presented with various reasons with none of them feeling authentic enough to warrant putting up with that amount of misery. David is presented as one of those particularly cruel men who act only out of their own need to be superior, even to his wife and business partner. Be warned if you don’t like books where the main character isn’t likable, in this book you will struggle to find a single person you’d want to spend more than five minutes with!
Fortunately I don’t mind disliking book characters and this book starts off strongly and I wanted to understand more about the Teller’s marriage, their friends and the super successful business that they’d built from scratch and the fact that there was a twin strand of the story back to Rachel’s childhood in the 1970’s only served to pique my interest. This breath-taking start was diluted as the book continued when the marriage unravelled and the story became less taut during the centre section with seemingly bizarre actions being taken purely to progress the narrative. Despite this wobble the author soon got the story back on track to a satisfactory dénouement although my initial opinion was that both characters really needed to meet a grizzly and untimely death for being so foul.
I have a feeling this one will be popular with those readers looking for a domestic psychological thriller with the emphasis on the thriller and is a perfect read for those times when you need to remind yourself that those people you know aren’t so bad after all.
I received a copy of this book from Amazon Vine in return for my honest review. The Liar’s Chair will be published on 15 January 2015 by Macmillan.
Thanks as always for your thorough review, Cleo. I had to chuckle at your comment that, …the people you know aren’t so bad after all. I’ve read characters like that! Glad you found a lot to enjoy here.
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Can you tell the Christmas cheer has worn a bit thin? This book had a fantastic premise and it was a good journey of discovery in the end.
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Great review, Cleo. I’ve reached the conclusion that this is a ‘no, thanks’ book for me – unless I’m given it as a gift.
I don’t mind disliking the main character, as long as there is at least one character I’d want to spend more than 5 minutes with. Something between the lines seems to tell me to keep my hands off this book.
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😉 Spending a whole book with disagreeable characters can be a tough call can’t it?
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This is the second review I’ve read of this, and you’re pretty much in agreement with each other…I don’t mind dislikeable characters – but I don’t like it when people do clearly stupid things in books just to progress the story; that annoys me! I DO like domestic psychological thrillers though….but thinking about my TBR pile, I think this one can wait. I’d probably buy it if it was a 99p job though!
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The phrase ‘Doesn’t suffer fools gladly’ could have been designed for me! Apparently I have a particularly good look when confronted with idiotic words/actions so my facial muscles got a good work-out during this book. Despite my irritation with Rachel I did want to know how on earth this one was going to play out.
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That’s exactly how people describe me! Except I tend to exercise it in real life; I’m really impatient with people who have perfectly capable brains, but don’t know what’s going on in the world – the sort of people who, when you say, “David Cameron”, they say, “Who’s that?”! It amazes me that some people go through life with no interest in what’s happening around them! (And I do sometimes talk out loud about book characters, too, esp when they’re being idiotic – “Stupid cow” is a favourite!)
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Fortunately I don’t mind disliking book characters
Same here. This book sounds right up my street, and I’ll be keeping an eye out for it.
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Excellent I’m glad someone else is with me on the not needing the characters to be likeable.
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I love to hate at least one of the characters in a book…LOL. Several hated characters works, too, as long as there is one I can root for. Even flawed characters have rooting value for me…LOL.
I loved Keep Quiet, so this one is definitely going on my list. From the title, I wouldn’t have necessarily picked it up…so thanks for your thoughts! And for visiting my blog.
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I’m glad I’ve managed to add another one to your list and wonder how you think this compares to Keep Quiet.
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This definitely sounds like an intense read. I don’t think it would be the right fit for me though, as cars/driving freak me out enough. lol
-Lauren
http://www.shootingstarsmag.blogspot.com
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Yes this one didn’t help my fear of driving either Lauren – I don’t know why I do it to myself!
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“…for those times when you need to remind yourself that those people you know aren’t so bad after all” 😆 Such a post-festive season statement! Think I might pass on this one…
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😆 I do sound like a grumpy old woman don’t I?
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