- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd; New edition edition (21 Sep 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0099410877
- ISBN-13: 978-0099410874
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 10.8 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,641,487 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
A woman's naked and dead body is found outside the Essex commuter village of Branston. Crown Prosecutor Helen West and the local police discover a world of passion and envy ready to explode under the veneer of village gentility.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organise and find favourite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This thriller features Fyfield's popular characters Helen West and Geoffrey Bailey. West is a prosecution lawyer and Bailey her Detective Superintendent boyfriend. As usual Fyfield's characters are as interesting as her plots. In this story West and Bailey are living together in a rented house out of London: they usually live in London and keep separated establishments. When the body of a woman is found in a shallow grave close to where they live it seems the partner of Helen's only friend in the area is the guilty party. Fyfield's prose is a pleasure to read and her work is enthralling.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
a matter of taste
20 Dec 2006
Format:Paperback
everything the other reviewer didn't like, I did. the inner world of the characters is rich and interesting. yes, they do go on about not being married, but that's because it was a shoved in their faces all the time in the strange community they'd settled in.
Sure some of the story wasn't absolutely part of the plot, but it added to the portrait of the people. I even enjoyed the totally unnecessary description of a trainride to London.
Sure some of the story wasn't absolutely part of the plot, but it added to the portrait of the people. I even enjoyed the totally unnecessary description of a trainride to London.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
First in a series curse
2 Feb 2006
Format:Paperback
This is the sort of book that makes me believe any "first in a series" book is bound to be overburdened with exposition, backstory and more backstory. Then I remember glorious examples like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and The Game of Kings and remember what a little restraint can do. A reader shouldn't be sick to death of the heroine and hero of a mystery novel let alone a series by chapter 3 but that's exactly where this one left me. Helen West comes across as a self-absorbed, self-satisfied jerk. Geoffrey Bailey fares slightly better though add in the wimp factor and he's similarly unwelcome by page 50 or so. The mystery itself is interesting enough and might have been quite good had the author spent more time on the victim, the suspect, their friends and family instead of droning on about Helen, her boyfriend (not her husband as we're told a dozen times per chapter!) and equally annoying policewoman Amanda.
None of the characters is particularly likable which makes for a tiring read. And they can barely tolerate each other. West and Bailey feel superior to the family that owns the pub. Bailey feels superior to his subordinate Amanda. West feels superior to pretty much everyone else in town and certainly to every established institution. And we're treated to a ringside seat on all this because West and Bailey's internal monologues fill page after page.
The ending, however, is what made me yearn to slap these two. An "innocent" is killed, a man was wrongly accused, someone is fired and lives are damaged all around. But despite escaping unharmed except for a dirty jacket, West and Bailey whine and whine and whine to themselves and each other. It's all about them. They feel guilty. They feel disillusioned. They are oppressed by life in the 'burbs. They need a new place to live.
They need to get a grip.
None of the characters is particularly likable which makes for a tiring read. And they can barely tolerate each other. West and Bailey feel superior to the family that owns the pub. Bailey feels superior to his subordinate Amanda. West feels superior to pretty much everyone else in town and certainly to every established institution. And we're treated to a ringside seat on all this because West and Bailey's internal monologues fill page after page.
The ending, however, is what made me yearn to slap these two. An "innocent" is killed, a man was wrongly accused, someone is fired and lives are damaged all around. But despite escaping unharmed except for a dirty jacket, West and Bailey whine and whine and whine to themselves and each other. It's all about them. They feel guilty. They feel disillusioned. They are oppressed by life in the 'burbs. They need a new place to live.
They need to get a grip.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
