Hurting Distance [Kindle Edition]

I read a pre-publication copy of this book that a friend passed on to me because I read and loved 'Little Face' - and I was worried this book would suffer from 'second-novel-syndrome'. No chance of that - it's brilliant, and definitely one of the most exciting thrillers I've read. The writing is beautifully poised and clear, the plot is multi-layered and extremely cleverly structured, Naomi is a great obsessive heroine (or perhaps anti-heroine's more accurate) - Sophie Hannah is getting more and more adept at exploring the dark side of the human psyche. Parts of this book are seriously chilling and disturbing, and there's a cleverly created sense of paranoia throughout - has Naomi's lover, Robert, been murdered? If so, by whom? Why won't his wife, Juliet, talk to anybody about what happened? I'm usually quite good at guessing the ends of thrillers, but I defy anyone to guess what's going on here. This novel also contains one of the most chilling, understated 'baddies' I've ever met in fiction. I would recommend this book to anyone (with a strong stomach!)

I had read Little Face and enjoyed it, but I think Hurting Distance is even better. The plot is complex and layered, dependent on coincidence but not implausibly so and the characters are interesting and far outstrip the customary clichés of the genre. This is a beautifully constructed and crafted book, and I am only sorry that I will have to wait another year for the next book. This one really deserves to take off and hit the big time. The central premise of the plot is really creepy and very cleverly revealed. Highly recommended.

I have just returned from holiday where I saved this book for the plane home. I devoured it in under 4 hours! I loved "Little Face" and had bought both books together as part of a special offer and it was money well spent! In both books there are sections where you genuinely get the creeps reading but you cannot wait to read more! Sophie Hannah conveys how each character feels in such a way that you genuinely feel like you know them. I liked that the police characters of Charlie and Simon (as well as their colleagues) were carried over from the first novel and thought it was a nice touch that Simon was thinking about contacting the lead character from the previous novel. This only added to the familiarity with the characters for me. I would agree with the previous reviewers who thought this book may be disappointing or not quite as good given how excellent "Little Face" was but I was amazed at how much I preferred this story. And to top it all off there was a teaser for her third novel at the back of this one and I am now desperate to read it - but it's not out until next year! Sophie Hannah is a superb writer and these two first novels cannot be beat in my opinion.