Probably Fyfield's best (Shadow Play - Frances Fyfield)

Member Name: sunmeilan

Product:	Shadow Play - Frances Fyfield
Date:	13/03/06 (85 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Strong storyline filled with suspense

Disadvantages: Not to be read alone on a dark night

Introduction
This is one of Frances Fyfield's Helen West series, of which she has written at least 6. Fyfield also writes a series of books about a lawyer called Sarah Fortune, which are not bad, as well as some one-offs, which I would not recommend, particularly not Undercurrents and The Nature of the Beast (about which someone else has written a great review), at least not to start with. One of the reasons I think the Helen West series is so good is that Fyfield is a practising criminal lawyer, having worked for the Metropolitan Police and Crime Prosecution Service as a prosecutor, exactly as Helen West is. When she begins to steer away from the field about which she knows least in her one-off novels, the momentum is somehow lost. The Helen West series has been adapted for TV with Amanda Burton as Helen West. I have not seen the series, but Amanda Burton fits the character of Helen West as I see her very well.

The author
Fyfield's real name is Frances Hegarty, under which name she has also written a handful of books. Although her writing takes up a great deal of time, she does still do some work as a prosecutor. She tends to present the perpetrator of the crime in her books at the beginning, much as Columbo does, then concentrates on developing the motive, to great effect. She has won a number of literary prizes for her work.

The plot
The storyline centres around Rose Darvey, who works as a clerk with Helen West. She is rude, abrasive and very secretive about where she lives. Helen, however, befriends her and eventually discovers that she is afraid of her father, whom she escaped from a few years before, for initially unidentified reasons. At the same time, Helen is dealing with Mr Logo, who has been caught several times for talking to little children or turning up in school playgrounds. Despite his record, he manages to get off each time, persuading everyone that he talks to children because his own child has disappeared with her mother. It soon becomes apparent that Mr Logo is Rose's father, although Helen West does not find out until much later.

Mr Logo, a road sweeper, is a complex character, who seems both creepy and childlike at the same time. He is great friends with his next-door neighbour, Margaret, an old lady that played a great part in Rose's upbringing. Yet Margaret, going upstairs in Logo's house one day, finds the suitcase that she knows his wife was carrying with her on the day that she left him. What does this mean? And why hasn't Rose (or Eenie as she was known to Margaret) been in touch after all these years? At the same time as all this, records are going missing from the Crown Prosecution Service office - could Rose be the culprit?

The characters
Helen West, Rose Darvey, Mr Logo and his neighbour, Margaret, are all intricately described, in such a way that you really want the good to win and the bad to lose painfully. Helen's ongoing relationship with Geoffrey Bailey, a policeman, is looked at, although not in as much detail as in other books in the series - Helen is a commitment-phobe and Geoffrey is fast becoming fed up and tempted by another woman while away on a training course. Rose has a series of young policemen on the go, whom she makes meet her from work every day so that she won't have to travel home alone. Not one of them knows her real address though, until one day, she is discovered being abused in the police accommodation block by PC Michael. Far from being shocked, he takes Rose under his wing and they slowly fall in love throughout the course of the book. Moving and very well done. Logo's relationship with Margaret is also well written - they rely on each other for company, having both lost the people they love. The disappointment when Margaret realises that Logo isn't the innocent she once thought comes over very strongly.

Conclusion
Very well written, great plot and the suspense that is built up throughout the book culminates nicely in a fine ending, although we know early on who the perpetrator of the crimes is. That is the sign of a good book, I think, if you know who the perpetrator is, but are still spurred on to the end. Fyfield is probably one of the few authors that can write about the middle class and the working class equally well. I really have very little to criticise about this book. Not one to read alone in the dark though - the book has been described in The Times as being "An under-the-bedclothes oh-my-God heartstopper" - as always slightly exaggerated, but not far off. Ideally, this series should be read in order - start with "A Question of Guilt". All in all, an excellent book.

The book can be purchased from Amazon from £3.24 for a used version - a bargain for such a great book I think. Published by Penguin books.

Summary: Strong plot with eerie atmosphere