God this was a bad novel, still don't know how I got through it. Lots of cliches about the differences between the English and Americans. Off it goes!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

To be released at Nov09 York BC meet-up.

Usually enjoy Douglas Kennedy's books but this looks as if it may not be his best! Anyway I'll give it a try.

I can quite see why Phil didn't like this - it's not really bloke-lit. I enjoyed it, but then I have poor taste! However there are some 'ishews' with it. Firstly the cover suggests it might be some kind of romance, I know all DK's books have been put into this type of jacket; presumably as some kind of branding exercise but his subject matter is quite diverse and one size does not fit all. Consequently, I was quite taken aback to find myself in the midst of 250 pages describing the heroine's traumas with post natal depression! The blurb on the back makes no mention of this as the subject of the book either! The second half of the book is mainly taken up with a set piece courtroom drama. I'm no expert on PND, thank God, but I do know a bit about how anti-depressants work and what is in the book about them is not accurate. It makes me wonder how much research has been done in general. Having said all that I think that DK is to be congratulated on the way he writes in a female voice - his women characters, I think, are excellent. He writes with a very engaging, immediate style: one which really hooks you into the narrative. Compared to some of his other books there isn't a lot of plot here, although there is an event that happens about half way through which pushes the action in a new direction. The ending is fairly predictable. Funnily enough I have recently read another book with a very similar plot so this is nothing new, and it wasn't up to a lot either.
I feel that reading DK is a bit like having a Big Mac - you know it is rubbish, you know it's bad for you, it's not even very enjoyable but you still do it. Five minutes later you want another....

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Left propped against a plant near the toilets!