After a brilliant debut (A Great Deliverance) and an almost as dazzling second novel (Payment in Blood), George's third mystery seems more modest—more an homage to the plot intricacies of Christie than a psychological twister in the manner of Rendell—but only for the book's first hundred pages; then the author swings into high gear as she un(Gordian) knots the old school tie. When housemaster John Corntel asks fellow Etonian Thomas Lynley, Scotland Yard CID, to find missing Bredgar Chambers' student Mattie Whately, Lynley somewhat offhandedly agrees, then becomes involved in earnest when the child's naked, tortured body is discovered in a cemetery by old friend Deborah St. James. Accompanied by tough-minded, working-class-reared Sgt. Barbara Havers, Lynley's investigation disgruntles the headmaster; antagonizes the school's principal benefactor, Giles Byrne (his son Brian is an unlikable house prefect); reveals housemaster Corntel's pathetic sexual fantasies; and almost comes to a dead halt when it collides with senior prefect Chas Quilter's loyalty to the school code of honor (resulting in his suicide). Finally, however, a tape recording implicates one student in sexual bullying, and another in blackmail that may have led to Mattie's death. Complications arise when the victim, like student suicide Edward Hus 17 years before, is revealed to have been half-Chinese and adopted. By the time Lynley and Havers sort through school politics, hazing rituals, sixth-form rites of passage, and the sexual mishaps of almost everyone—including the tormented Deborah—the solution is almost exquisite relief from the stress of living. Initially sluggish, in the manner dear to the cozy reader's heart, but George finally offers a piercing study of the education of a gentleman and his responsibilities and valor. Lynley, still lovelorn over Helen, seems emotionally opaque here, though Havers, in her family vise, fairly shimmers. Solid, fine-tuned writing—and a handsome companion piece to its two predecessors.
Pub Date: July 1, 1990
ISBN: 0553384813
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Bantam
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1990
An addictive psychological thriller.
When a mysterious novel appears on her bedside table, a successful documentary filmmaker finds herself face to face with a secret that threatens to unravel life as she knows it.
Catherine Ravenscroft has built a dream life, or close to it: the devoted husband, the house in London, the award-winning career as a documentary filmmaker. And though she’s never quite bonded with her 25-year-old son the way she’d hoped, he’s doing fine—there are worse things than being an electronics salesman. But when she stumbles across a sinister novel called The Perfect Stranger—no one’s quite sure how it came into the house—Catherine sees herself in its pages, living out scenes from her past she’d hoped to forget. It’s a threat—but from whom? And why now, 20 years after the fact? Meanwhile, Stephen Brigstocke, a retired teacher, widowed and in pain, is desperate to exact revenge on Catherine and make her pay for what happened all those years ago. The story is told in alternating chapters, Catherine's in the third-person and Stephen's in the first, as the two orbit each other, predator and prey, and the novel moves between the past and the present to paint a portrait of two troubled families with trauma bubbling under the surface. As their lives become increasingly entangled, Stephen’s obsession grows, Catherine’s world crumbles, and it becomes clear that—in true thriller form—everything may not be as it seems. But how much destruction must be wrought before the truth comes out? And when it does, will there be anything left to salvage? While the long buildup to the big reveal begins to drag, Knight’s elegant plot and compelling (if not unexpected) characters keep the heart of the novel beating even when the pacing falters. Atmospheric and twisting and ripe for TV adaptation, this debut novel never strays far from convention, but that doesn’t make it any less of a page-turner.
An addictive psychological thriller.Pub Date: May 19, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236225-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
