Widowed Nan is on her way to her beloved son's wedding. She should be excited, but she is dreading her return to Paradise Place - a small area of Notting Hill that she hasn't dared set foot on for decades. Nan had arrived there as a young girl in the late seventies, desperate for freedom and a career as an artist. But, drawn into a dark obsession that spun out of control, Nan was forced to flee.
And while the only thing seemingly connecting her son's wedding and her old secret life is Paradise Place, Nan quickly gets the impression that someone is watching her every move . . . someone she thought was dead.'
Well, thank you very much, @KateMcQuaile. I had a schedule today. There were things I needed to do, calls I needed to make, pieces I should have written. But, oh no, you had to go and write a thriller that I just could not put down. But it’s okay. I forgive you. Because I really did enjoy it. You fed me a diet of twists and turns that had my jaw dropping lower than my sagging chins.
I read Without a Word and I always felt that the impact of that book hung upon its single unique premise of an interrupted Skype conversation where the conversee never returned to finish the call. (actually, very perversely, it's occurred to me how pertinent that book might be in these lockdown times when people are communicating on these kind of platforms far more than they might normally). But here in this latest offering from Ms. McQuaile, the, almost now expected and stereotypical, flawed narrator of a psychological thriller has divided into two. Two versions of events. But who do we believe? One or the other? Or neither? Or both?
The readers’ life is made no easier either by the structuring of the story. We’ve got a loosely then and now offering but the then is told in the third person and the now is told in the first person which throws up all kinds of psychological interpretations. But my goodness it makes for interesting reading.
It’s a dark tale where some nasty things happen and the past comes back to bite you on the bottom as it so often does. There is a generous offering of twists and turns, many of which were so surprising that I challenge any reader who reckons they saw them all coming. If you re a regular psych thriller reader there are one or two you will surmise but truly there are some absolute corkers here.
The title intrigued me too. I did wonder whether it was an oblique reference to a series of books from the late seventies but as the story progressed I figured I was barking up the wrong tree there. Secrets of the past, families, trust, revenge - it’s all here. With attention to detail and the nuanced perception of the way in which peoples’ minds might work all enveloped in a very readable prose style. In spite of the jumps from past to present the narrative had a flow to it that contributed to the urgency with which the reader becomes desperate to find out what happens.
Often in books of this genre I find it very hard to like the characters. And I’ve always believed that that’s quite important because it means you read with no bias. But I have to say here despite her behaviour I did like Nan. I thought the development of the character’s young, naive student to the mature, widowed mother she became was very well done. The other main character, though...... I didn't take to at all, but things are not always as they seem. I'll say no more. I have no tickets for Spoilersville.
There’s just one thing that bothered me a bit and I hope this isn’t a spoiler but it was Nan’s art teacher paying for the foundation course. I just didn’t feel that was realistic, not to mention professional. But maybe I’m a nit-picker. And if so I apologise.
Thanks to Katya Ellis @QuercusBooks for a copy of #BrokenFlowers and a place upon the blog tour. Check out all the bloggers.
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