Sophie Hannah - The Point of Rescue, another page- turning read! (The Point of Rescue - Sophie Hannah)

Member Name: jeffjen

Product:	The Point of Rescue - Sophie Hannah
Date:	21/03/09 (153 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A 'hard to guess' plot

Disadvantages: none

If you have read my earlier reviews, you will have noticed I am a fan of Sophie Hannah and have enjoyed her first two novels, as I love a good thriller! This, the third is just as good, and I know I have found a new author to enjoy.

Sally Thorning is a hard-working mother of two young children. Her husband often seems oblivious to the chaos around him, and Sally often feels she has three children not two!
After a particularly stressful day - someone tries to push her under a bus! - Sally is watching the news about the tragic death of a woman and her daughter. When the details are relayed on screen, Sally realises she knows of this family, in particular the father, Mark Bretherick. However, when Mark Bretherick appears on screen, Sally is shocked and surprised to see this is not the Mark Bretherick she knows, this is a completely different man altogether!

Sally had met the man she knew as Mark Bretherick, when on a short holiday by herself. A work trip she had been looking forward to had been cancelled suddenly, and Sally, desperate for a break from her stressful life had gone away alone for a few days, whilst her husband believed she was on her work trip. This deception is something that is going to come back and haunt Sally.

A further shock comes when a picture of Geraldine, Mark's dead wife is shown on the screen, and Sally realises she looks exactly like her.
Sally is not sure how to act, and after giving it some thought, she sends an anonymous letter to the police, asking them to investigate the identity of the man known as 'Mark Bretherick'.
Sally meanwhile becomes increasingly anxious and decides to pay Mark a vist...

Most of the book is written in the first person narrative, and Sally, seems unaware of any dangers, or the situation she is being drawn deeper into. I found this really frustrating about her character.

A diary is found which is believed to have been written by Geraldine Bretherick and highlights her hatred of motherhood, and cruelty she inflicts on their child, which she rationalises in the pages she writes, and does not fit in with everyone's opinion of the person she was.
Some of the chapters in this book are pages from the diary, which adds to the deepening mystery of what exactly has happened.
Did Geraldine really write this diary?

Once again Simon Waterhouse and Charlie Zailer, the police detectives who feature in Sopie Hannah's two earlier novels, are the detectives on the case. There is again some sub-storyline about their relationship, which does not detract from the compelling storyline. I have warmed to these two characters from reading the other novels, and have enjoyed the fact they appear in each book. There are also some amusing insights into the realtionships between the police and the Criminal Psychologists.

The characters of Sally and her husband, I found quite irritating at times but oddly this did not stop my enjoyment of the book, which I would have thought would happen. Sally's husband is just too laid back, and Sally's deception did not endear her to me in anyway, until further into the book.

This is a thriller which builds slowly from the first page, and draws you into the increasingly complex case. I did think half-way through that I had sussed the outcome, but I was wrong on all-accounts! I read this book in two days, and can't wait to read her new one!

Published by Hodder paperbacks 2008 and available on Amazon, £5.49 new and from £0.01 used.

Summary: A real page - turning thriller