I have finally chosen this one after browsing my e-reader. The title didn’t catch my attention, but it’s Nicci French’s and I had to read it as I tend to want to read all books by the same author when I’ve read one interesting book. I like Nicci French and I’m kind of familiar with their writing style already. I’m fond of a few books of them, but this is not one of them and I’ll state why.
Ellie Faulkner just got a news by police that her husband Greg died on car accident. Ironically, he was not alone. There was an unknown woman sitting on the passenger seat next to him, who also died. When Ellie heard from the police that Greg didn’t even use his seatbelt, she became suspicious that it was not an accident, but murder because she knew that her husband always used his seatbelt.
As typical of Nicci French’s works, the police and the detectives declared it as accident and they closed the case, so Ellie had to play detective, but also because she really wanted to know the role of that unknown woman, whose name apparently was Milena Livingstone. To do this, she went to where Milena used to work at and she met Frances. Seeing the chaotic situation, Ellie offered to help them. She used her best friend’s name Gwen and acted like she was a teacher. While Ellie spied on Milena’s schedules and email, she’s seen as an angel by the people at the company, especially by Frances, who was very thankful of her presence.
Meanwhile, Ellie’s real friends were worried of her. There’s no moment of rest for Ellie because they kept coming and tried to do everything for her. There were moment when I found that her friends were so bothersome as they really wanted to know where she’s been to and what she’s done. Ellie herself has tried to tell them that Greg’s accident wasn’t an accident, but they thought she couldn’t accept the truth yet, hence, she also didn’t tell them that she’s been spying on Milena’s stuff and leading a double life because her friends have started to think that she needed a professional help. One day, she found Frances died on the floor at her work. She was shocked, she called the police anonymously and left.
Frances’ death caused the police to interrogate everyone at Frances’ workplace, but also Gwen, whose name Ellie used. Ellie had to come clear to all her friend about what she’s done. In the end, the murderer tried to kill Ellie, but she survived.
This story is very lengthy and it’s also rather boring, but I managed to read it til the last words. The last few chapters were not disappointing, nevertheless. Read til the end, it’s unthinkable that the most worried person is the one who murdered. But it’s possible.
