Sally is watching the news with her husband when she hears a name she ought not to recognise: Mark Bretherick. Last year, a work trip Sally had planned was cancelled at the last minute. Desperate for a break from her busy life juggling work and a young family, Sally didn't tell her husband that the trip had fallen through. Instead, she booked a week off work and treated herself to a secret holiday. All she wanted was a bit of peace - some time to herself - but it didn't work out that way. Because Sally met a man - Mark Bretherick. All the details are the same: where he lives, his job, his wife Geraldine and daughter Lucy. Except that the man on the news is a man Sally has never seen before. And Geraldine and Lucy Bretherick are both dead . . .
The Point of Rescue
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Amazon Review
Sophie Hannah’s debut thriller novel, Little Face, immediately marked her out as a particularly penetrating and insightful practitioner of the psychological crime novel, with a skill for getting into the minds of her beleaguered characters, a skill she continued to polish in its successor, Hurting Distance. Her second book was a particular achievement, given that so many second novels fail to live up to the promise of their predecessors. And here is Sophie Hannah's third novel, The Point of Rescue, and it might be argued that it is her most accomplished book yet.
A woman is watching a report on television of the death of a mother and daughter; apparently both had died at the mother's hand. Also on the screen is the surviving member of the family, a widower described as Mark Bretherick. Watching with her husband, the woman, Sally, has to bite back the words that spring to her lips: this man is not Mark Bretherick! How does she know? Because she had enjoyed a brief sexual affair with the real possessor of that name some time before -- an affair (needless to say) she has not revealed to her husband. Sally is forced to hang on to her secret, and she anonymously informs the police that all is not as it appears to be in this case.
It is Sally's plight that so comprehensively engages the reader here, but readers of the earlier books by Sophie Hannah will be pleased to note the reappearance of her reliable copper Simon Waterhouse, who ensures that the sequences involving the investigation are quite as compelling as the those of a woman desperately trying to keep her indiscretion secret (while doing the right thing).
On the evidence of these three books, Sophie Hannah has a long career as a novelist ahead of her (perhaps to run in tandem with her alternative career as a poet). --Barry Forshaw
Review
'Sophie Hannah is adept at picking creepy scenarios that are guaranteed to terrify, with plot complications that keep you guessing until the last page. Hannah doesn't allow the tension to slacken for a second in this addictive, brilliantly chilling thriller.' (Marie Claire Book of the Month )
'I'm surprised I had any nails left by the end of this addictive thriller.' (Eve )
'This disturbing tale is a cut above the average crime thriller, with an intelligent and inventive plot that raises questions about identity, guilt and the taboo of unfulfilling motherhood.' (Psychologies )
'A great read and an involving thriller' (She )
'Brilliantly creepy'
(Red Magazine )'I'm surprised I had any nails left by the end of this addictive thriller.' (Eve )
'This disturbing tale is a cut above the average crime thriller, with an intelligent and inventive plot that raises questions about identity, guilt and the taboo of unfulfilling motherhood.' (Psychologies )
'A great read and an involving thriller' (She )
Hannah's greatest strenth is the way she uses the conventions of the crime genre to produce novels that are indulgent pleasures, but with an extra edge. The Point of Rescue isn't simply a woman-in-jeopardy yarn about an overworked mother whose dreams of escape turn into a nightmare that threatens to destroy her life (although it works brilliantly on this level), it is also about the thrill of transgression, and the dangers that lurk within the most appealing of fantasies.'
(Yorkshire Post )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By Bookworm
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
Having read Little Face and Hurting Distance and loving them, couldn't wait to get my hands on this latest book. Have just finished reading it and wow, Sophie Hannah has done it again - another brilliant nail biting thriller! I was completely drawn in from the start with this book and didn't want to put it down, just wanted to keep reading a bit more and a bit more!
The only thing I didn't get was the thing about the history/relationship of the police officers Charlie and Simon and what went on with Charlie last year? Also, I did find all the different police characters a bit confusing and when the plot was finally explained and untangled, I kind of "lost the plot" a few times and had to re-read. You do need to concentrate when you get to this bit!
The only thing I didn't get was the thing about the history/relationship of the police officers Charlie and Simon and what went on with Charlie last year? Also, I did find all the different police characters a bit confusing and when the plot was finally explained and untangled, I kind of "lost the plot" a few times and had to re-read. You do need to concentrate when you get to this bit!
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By Roman Clodia
TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
I'm mixed about Hannah's books: I loved Hurting Distance and The Other half Lives; felt cheated by Little Face, and am disappointed by this one. SH always writes to a structure formula: first person narrative by a woman-in-jeopardy interspersed with a third person narrative from the police point of view. Here there are additional diary entries which are purportedly from a dead woman.
The problem with this book (as other reviewers have said) is that the plot becomes more and more holey and turns on some enormous coincidences, compounded by glaring omissions from the police. The attempt to tie the whole thing up at the end is rushed and a bit silly.
However, parts of this are very good: the taboo subject of the woman who isn't a natural mother is aired even if not always convincingly. And the actual crime I found creepily chilling.
But to detract, the characterisation feels very wobbly especially with Sally: for someone who supposedly has a PhD and is meant to be a professional career woman who loves her job, she appears very stupid and often a little pathetic.
So a mixed bag: less tense than the good Hannah novels, and with a plot which collapses in on itself. Could have been much better than it is.
The problem with this book (as other reviewers have said) is that the plot becomes more and more holey and turns on some enormous coincidences, compounded by glaring omissions from the police. The attempt to tie the whole thing up at the end is rushed and a bit silly.
However, parts of this are very good: the taboo subject of the woman who isn't a natural mother is aired even if not always convincingly. And the actual crime I found creepily chilling.
But to detract, the characterisation feels very wobbly especially with Sally: for someone who supposedly has a PhD and is meant to be a professional career woman who loves her job, she appears very stupid and often a little pathetic.
So a mixed bag: less tense than the good Hannah novels, and with a plot which collapses in on itself. Could have been much better than it is.
48 of 53 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
What would you do if someone was trying to kill you, but you couldn't go to the police because that would mean revealing a secret that might destroy your family, the very same secret that might be about to get you killed? That is Sally Thorning's predicament in 'The Point of Rescue' - a superb thriller that is flawlessly written, deeply intelligent, pacy, gripping and totally unpredictable. In some ways this is a traditional detective story, for there are police characters working on unravelling the various mysteries and the irresistible sense of a puzzle needing to be solved is paramount, but this is also a hunted-woman thriller, also a very sophisticated pyschological suspense novel, and a book about relationships and a woman's role in society. I read oodles of thrillers, and it's very rare to find any that pay as much attention to depth and layers and psychology (proper characterisation, I suppose I mean)as to the logic-puzzle-style plot. This is not a 'locked-room' mystery, as there's no locked room, but it has that same sense of things which seem impossible but we know they can't be, because they've happened...how will it be resolved? Sophie Hannah pulls several twists out of the bag and the end, and a few moments of blood-curdling horror as the reader becomes aware of the depths of suffering involved. Loved it!
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3.2 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great read
I love Sophie Hannah books and devoured this book within a couple of days while on holiday. A must for anybody who is a fan of her previous work.
Published 23 days ago by Claire Swallow
5.0 out of 5 stars
thrilling and sharp
Sophie Hannah never fails to give readers a sharp thriller. Sophie just seems to have the knack of writing good pacy thrillers. Read more
Published 1 month ago by bookmoviefanatic
5.0 out of 5 stars
Such a good story
Thoroughly enjoyed this book. New author for me - but not any longer!!
Already looking for other books by Sophie Hannah
Already looking for other books by Sophie Hannah
Published 2 months ago by Mrs. Jennifer P. Baker
5.0 out of 5 stars
Entertaining thriller
I really struggle to understand why the review on Sophie Hannah's books are so mixed. I have read all of them now and haven't been disappointed with any of them. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Julia Schwarz
2.0 out of 5 stars
Oh dear.....
I don't know why I bother with Hannah's novels and after reading this one I doubt if I shall again! I couldn't keep track of who is who, and gave up looking back in the end. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Caroline
4.0 out of 5 stars
I loved it
I really could not put this book down. Funny enogh i didnt read it in one sitting more like ten. but that was because it actually tired me out. It had so many twists and turns. Read more
Published 11 months ago by carley adair
1.0 out of 5 stars
NOT recommended
We did this book for our book review and the general consensus was that it was crap. This review may be a spoiler alert, but if it puts anyone off, they will have saved several... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Moose Papoose
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great beginning, lousy end
The three stars are for the exciting beginning. Unfortunately, I got lost around the last third of the book. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Betsy
4.0 out of 5 stars
I loved it.
This is the second book of Sophie Hannah's, which I have read. I really enjoyed it, and could hardly put it down. Read more
Published 14 months ago by JMD
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good in part
For the most part this is an original and compelling read, but I do think that in a novel with a plot the solution has to be convincing, otherwise on completion the whole reading... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Perfectionist?
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