Hill's stretch of a first novel rests on a flimsy premise: a 39-year-old British woman can't move on from her college flame, a magnetic American who became a Hollywood star after they painfully parted ways. Justine Fraser, an assistant bookstore manager who lives on the south coast of England, holds amorous suitors and ex-boyfriends at arm's length while she obsesses over her long ago ex, Nicky Bennet, "the love of my life and the great lost opportunity." Their passionate affair (which ended 18 years earlier) climaxed with a marriage proposal but ended abruptly after Nicky accidentally broke Justine's wrist during rough sex and then left her for good, never to contact her again. Now, the papers report that he's walked out on a movie in mid-production and gone missing. The cryptic letter he left behind bears all the earmarks of a suicide note, but Justine picks up on clues that lead her to believe the message is specifically intended for her. So, after unintentionally providing tabloid fodder for the missing Nicky Bennet story, she hops a plane for the U.S. to embark on a misbegotten search for her former lover. By the end of this repetitive, improbable novel, Justine discovers more than she bargained for.
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