- Hardcover: 384 pages
- Publisher: Michael Joseph (25 Mar 2010)
- Language Unknown
- ISBN-10: 0718154932
- ISBN-13: 978-0718154936
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.8 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (41 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 212,690 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Complicit
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Aaaah... Nicci French. If you're a crime aficionado, the very mention of that name will bring a warm glow. Or at least the sure-fire promise of the very best in psychological crime writing, delivered with an elegance and storytelling skill that doesn't preclude intelligent appraisals of human behaviour. The husband-and-wife team of Sean French and Nicci Gerard have been delivering their portmanteau pleasures for so long now that we are possibly inclined to take them for granted. But then along comes a book like Complicit which reminds us why we pick up a Nicci French novel with such enthusiasm.
Bonnie Graham is standing in a room belonging to a friend. At her feet is a corpse, straddled in a spreading pool of blood. The questions are numerous: who is responsible for the dead body on the floor? What does she, Bonnie, have to do with it? And what is her next course of action? This opening premise gives some idea of just how quickly (and comprehensively) Nicci French is able to transfix the reader. It is this combination of a shocking situation and the ill-advised, often self-destructive actions of the duo's protagonists which the authors pull off in book after book; we may disapprove of what French’s characters do in their extreme situations, but it's impossible not to identify with them. Bonnie is a music teacher, rehearsing through a sweltering summer in London with a band that is scheduled to play at a wedding. Any pleasure the experience might have afforded is to evaporate as bitter internecine divisions within the band make themselves felt, and sexual involvements move in particularly murderous directions. This is typical Nicci French fare -- and admirers will meet need no other recommendation. --Barry Forshaw
Review
The tension is unbearable, you will gallop through it at one sitting. --The Daily Mail on Losing You
Psychological suspense thrillers that genuinely thrill. --The Mail on Sunday --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
Psychological suspense thrillers that genuinely thrill. --The Mail on Sunday --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
33 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I am a huge Nicci French fan, and devour each book as soon as it comes out. However, I'm glad I got this one out of the library as it is very disappointing.
I found it very hard to get into (which is the total opposite of every other NF book I have read) which was a big warning sign that it wouldn't get much better. All of the characters were unlikeable with many being totally surplus to requirements- Bonnie was a pain in the backside for me from the start. The whole plot was unbelievable, rather tedious and went into full Scooby Doo territory by the end.
NF books are gradually becoming very formulaic with a lead female character who has a major problem (is in the midst of a drama she can't work out/life is spiralling out of control etc). There are usually 2 main male characters and an assortment of female friends. There are always long passages about the main character's homes and day to day life which can be enjoyable but are now becoming repetative. Having read Nicci Gerard's (awful) solo book, I am guessing that these elements come from her.
I won't give anything away but I actually managed to guess the ending by the very uncharacteristic behaviour of certain characters VERY early on in the book; This is not what I want from a thriller, let alone a NF one! If you are new to NF, do yourself a favour and don't read this one first. In my opinion, Killing Me Softly and Secret Smile are the best.
I found it very hard to get into (which is the total opposite of every other NF book I have read) which was a big warning sign that it wouldn't get much better. All of the characters were unlikeable with many being totally surplus to requirements- Bonnie was a pain in the backside for me from the start. The whole plot was unbelievable, rather tedious and went into full Scooby Doo territory by the end.
NF books are gradually becoming very formulaic with a lead female character who has a major problem (is in the midst of a drama she can't work out/life is spiralling out of control etc). There are usually 2 main male characters and an assortment of female friends. There are always long passages about the main character's homes and day to day life which can be enjoyable but are now becoming repetative. Having read Nicci Gerard's (awful) solo book, I am guessing that these elements come from her.
I won't give anything away but I actually managed to guess the ending by the very uncharacteristic behaviour of certain characters VERY early on in the book; This is not what I want from a thriller, let alone a NF one! If you are new to NF, do yourself a favour and don't read this one first. In my opinion, Killing Me Softly and Secret Smile are the best.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I'm inclined to agree with the reviewer who says that the Nicci French books started off brilliantly, and have tapered off a bit - I wasn't impressed with Until It's Over or What to Do When Someone Dies, but absolutely love the earlier books, The Safe House and The Red Room particularly. I bought Complicit along with A Room Swept White by Sophie Hannah to read in the Easter holidays (I'm a teacher) and while I enjoyed both, I'd definitely recommend A Room Swept White more highly. I wasn't keen on the "before" and "after" device that was used, and didn't find the characters particularly engaging.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A baking London summer forms the backdrop to this narrative which unfolds in alternating time frames: charting the lead up to a murder and the events that follow. Bonnie Graham, a music teacher on summer break, has promised to play at a friend's wedding and to this end recruits an ill-assorted bunch of people to form a band. Within the group rivalries and hostilities bloom. The story opens with Bonnie standing in a friend's flat, with a dead body in a pool of blood at her feet. What Bonnie does next might strain believability but once beyond the initial premise the novel is a superb example of the suspense genre: fluently written, dripping with paranoia and mistrust and full of surprises and reversals. The circular device works very well and there's prolonged toe-curling tension in exploring the fate of a person who has done something beyond the pale and must evade detection. French also treats us to a deliciously sly twist at the very end.
Cath Staincliffe author of the popular Sal Kilkenny mysteries and the series creator of TV Blue Murder
Cath Staincliffe author of the popular Sal Kilkenny mysteries and the series creator of TV Blue Murder
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Surreal!
Everything thats poor about writing is here. I had a struggle to continue. The main character Bonnie is a naive bore and behaves more like a school girl than a school teacher. Read more
Published 29 days ago by Alex
Blimey
I've just finished reading this book. I enjoyed it - I liked moving from the past to the present and wondering where they'd intertwine. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Mary Torjussen
Not gripping
This is neither "gripping" nor a "page-turner". In fact, it is rather drawn out and the alternate "before" and "after" chapters jar after a while. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Jonny Monny
Complicit
This is a great read and even when you think you know where it's going it fools you, cleverly written beautifully told, I loved it.
Published 2 months ago by A. N. Kilpin
Awful, disappointing.
Having been a few years since I last read anything by Nicci French, I was eager to begin this one, and how disappointed I was. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Tabitha
Disappointing
I've read quite a few Nicci French books. I find them to be generally a pleasing and easy read, not too taxing, the sort of thing you can read on a long(ish) bus or train... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Lois Yorke
Ok read
This is not my favourite Nicci French book but it's still a good read. The storyline takes you back and forth between before and after the murder which is slightly fristrating but... Read more
Published 3 months ago by M. Noble
Not their best
I got this book as an audio book from the library and have stuck with it. However had I got the written book after the first couple of chapters I would have probably got to the... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Zebedee
Who was watering the plants?
This book is certainly a page-turner but I agree with the majority of the reviews here that you have to suspend belief - who would really go to such lengths to dispose of a body... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Katie
COMPLICIT
I do agree with comments that other readers have written regarding this book, their last couple of novels have not been as good as previous ones, this one included. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Amanda
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