2 August 2012.
ISBN: 978-0-7553-7802-9 (PB)
They’re over from England, spending the summer in upstate New York: Lara, still emotionally fraught after a recent abortion, her actor husband Marcus, their teenage twins and the littlest extra one. Marcus has been offered the lead in a play by the local theatre director, an old friend, who has also provided accommodation for the family.
It should be idyllic. It isn’t. The weather is unbearably hot and humid, the house they’re staying in is unbelievably filthy, and stinks of death and decay, the twins, Bella and Olly, are bound together in a darkly perverted relationship. The tension begins to tighten as Olly falls in with the local group of yobs and Bella falls in love.
Self-absorbed Marcus is oblivious to what
is going on around him. And what is going on around him grows ever weirder
and more sinister, especially after Lara rediscovers what was once the love of
her life now a famous film-star, living nearby incognito. Crouch ratchets
up the tension along with the stifling summer heat. Danger lurks, but who
for? All the members of the family seem threatened in some way or
another, and Crouch is excellent at not letting on who will be the eventual
victim. Or the villain. Some very good twists towards the end.
-----
Reviewer: Susan Moody
Julia Crouch grew up in Cambridge and studied Drama at
Bristol University. She spent ten years working as a theatre director and
playwright, then, after a spell of teaching, she somehow became a successful
graphic and website designer, a career she followed for another decade while
raising her three children. An MA in sequential illustration reawakened her
love of narrative and a couple of Open University creative writing courses
brought it to the fore. She works in a shed at the bottom of the Brighton house
she shares with her husband, the actor and playwright Tim Crouch, their three
children, two cats called Keith and Sandra, and about twelve guitars.
Susan Moody was born in Oxford is the principal nom de plume of Susan Elizabeth Donaldson, née Horwood, a British novelist best known for her suspense novels. She is a former Chairman of the Crime Writer's Association, served as World President of the International Association of Crime Writers, and was elected to the prestigious Detection Club. Susan Moody has given numerous courses on writing crime fiction and continues to teach creative writing in England, France, Australia, the USA and Denmark. In addition to her many stand alone books, Susan has written two series, one featuring PI Penny Wanawake (seven books) and a series of six books featuring bridge player Cassie Swan. Her most recent series features Former Detective Inspector Alexandra Quick. There are three books in the series.
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