Holly Krauss, the heroine of Nicci French's latest has everything: power, success, a happy marriage, her own business...and a propensity to allow the Mrs Hyde side of her personality to take control every now and again. The results of these are fairly alarming and it is not long before the consequences overlap into Holly Krauss' normal life.
Like Krauss' character this is a tale of two lives: Holly and her long suffering business partner Meg. Other reviewers have commented on the difficulty in adjusting from Holly as narrator toMeg but this came as something of a relief as, by page 197 I had read quite enough of Holly's first person excuses for her unforgiveable behaviour and a fresh viewpoint was like a breath of country air. Without giving too much of the story line away it is only on reading Meg's account that one sees the full folly of Holly's other life.
The partnership that writes as Nicci French, after a successful start seem to have settled for a straightforward domestic rather than the intricately woven web of psychodrama that is usually their trademark and my one criticism of this is the annoyingly weak ending. Having said that the book is still an edge of the seat, unputdownable recommendation for any and all who love suspense.
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