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The Nature of the Beast
 
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The Nature of the Beast (Paperback)

by Frances Fyfield (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 280 pages
  • Publisher: Little, Brown; First Edition edition (4 Oct 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0316857459
  • ISBN-13: 978-0316857451
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,233,798 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #36 in  Books > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Authors, A-Z > F > Fyfield, Frances

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
Unusually for a crime novel, it is not entirely clear whether any crime has even been committed for much of the first half of Frances Fyfield's The Nature of the Beast. Amy Petty, a troubled and apparently pathetic woman, walks away from a major train crash, leaving her husband, a large, brutish debarred barrister, engaged in a complex libel suit (he is accused of cruelty to animals at least, bestiality at worse), to conclude that she has perished in the fire, her body never to be recovered.

John Box, QC, and his junior (and mistress), Elizabeth Manser, are hired by Douglas Petty to fight his corner in the libel case against the national newspaper that anonymously received a video and photographs of the alleged act of gross indecency. While Box is a handsome, intellectual and astonishingly self-centred married man, Elizabeth is lonely and giving. With such rich characterisations and thoughtful scene setting, readers looking for a fast-paced, shock-a-chapter traditional thriller might be somewhat confused, if not sorely disappointed.

Those familiar with her work and those looking for something more than a quick whodunit, will find a finely written, intelligent, psychological novel about the different kinds of criminals that fill the corridors of our courts and the cells of our prisons, and what makes one criminal, or one crime, more or less repellent than another. --Carey Green

Review
The recent train disasters in Britain provide the inspiration for the story of Amy Petty who walks away from a wrecked train and lets her husband believe that she is dead. He is embroiled in a libel case and has asked two top barristers to prepare his case. To them he appears uncouth, foul mouthed and lacking in judgment - he too was a barrister before he was sacked for disgracing himself in public. A rich man, he now lives in some style in a country house where he continues to run the dog sanctuary started by his father and , following the terms of the will, takes financial care of his mother and step sister. Amy seems to have everything she needs and witnesses say she loved dogs yet she abandoned the sanctuary, her home and her husband. This puzzle is at the heart of the book, becoming more and more difficult to unravel as Fyfield builds up a picture of Amy's habits and personality,her past and present life. This is the author's strength: the patient and skilful creation of totally believable characters who horrify or ensnare the reader's affection. As the shadowy dangers appear more menacing we fear and dread what might happen and the suspense becomes almost unbearable. (Kirkus UK)

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5 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars She gets better and better with every book., 26 Nov 2001
This review is from: The Nature of the Beast (Hardcover)
Frances Fyfield belongs to that category of crime writers who don't so much ask who did it but why they did it. She has an acute understanding of the complexity of human nature, a complexity of intention, feeling and reaction that can often lead unwittingly to crime. This book explores that fascinating area: people who choose to disappear.Many of us have fantasised about it: what it would be like, just to walk away.This is the story of a woman who does that, and why. It's a rich and well-told story, immensely readable.And I'm happy to read and recommend a book in which dogs can be real characters too!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Strange but intriguing, 11 Mar 2003
By Mrs. D. Miles "Vicky40" (West Yorkshire, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This was really a rather strange book! It took me ages to get into it (as it seemed to move at such a slow pace) and I almost gave up on it after about 4 or 5 chapters. However, once the characters and events began to take shape (sort of!), I found I wanted to keep on reading to find out what would happen. Basically, it's the story of Amy Petty, who (being a passenger on a train that crashes) disappears and is presumed dead, even though her body is not among those recovered. At this time, Amy's seemingly bombastic and uncaring husband, Douglas, is taking a libel action against a major national newspaper after it reported his involvement in an act of gross indecency. Douglas' equally obnoxious stepmother and stepsister are staying at his large house, which doubles as a refuge for unwanted, abandoned and abused dogs. Amy's disappearance is very strange (given her husband's current predicament) and a lawyer is hired to find out the truth about Amy's whereabouts. But why does Douglas want Amy back home when he seems to care so little about her? And why do his step-relatives behave in such a cloying and 'sickly-sweet' manner towards him? Meanwhile, Amy is far from dead, but she hides a secret that must not be disclosed at any cost, even if it means that she may never be able to return home to her beloved dogs. Her only problem is that she was a witness to the murder of a woman at the time of the crash but, fortunately for the murderer, his victim's body is counted as one of the train casualties. Amy cannot be discovered, but finds it difficult to live with the knowledge of the terrible act she has witnessed. Is there anyone she can trust to tell about this without giving herself away?
Even though this was an unusual story, I'm glad I kept reading because, in the final chapters, all loose ends were tied up and the ending was really satisfying! If you've got the patience to stick this one out, it's really worth reading.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read, 13 Jul 2002
This review is from: The Nature of the Beast (Hardcover)
Frances Fyfield is one of the best of today's British crime writers. Most of her work features Crown prosecutor Helen West, in this novel we meet a friend of hers from university days, Elisabeth Manser. Elisabeth is an assistant to a barrister who also happens to be her married lover. The case they are on involves Douglas and Amy Petty. Douglas has been accused by a national newspaper of cruelty and bestiality. Amy is his main defence witness but when she is involved in a train smash she walks away and plays dead. Why she did this and how the case will go are the main story here with a murder as a little extra.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars From the back cover...
Why would the survivor of a rail crash walk away from the scene and then pretend to be dead?

Douglas Petty enjoyed his reputation as an unreconstructed male with a... Read more
Published on 21 Mar 2007 by Angel Silver

1.0 out of 5 stars Too difficult to stick with
i gave up on this book after about a third way through. i like a good mystery but this book was just too mysterious. I had no idea which characters, if any, i liked/disliked. Read more
Published on 7 Jan 2006

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