Book Review - Hurting Distance by Sophie Hannah

Synopsis:  Three years ago, something terrible happened to Naomi Jenkins -- so terrible that she never told anybody. Now Naomi has another secret -- the man she has fallen passionately in love with, unhappily married Robert Haworth. When Robert vanishes without trace, Naomi knows he must have come to harm. But the police are less convinced, particularly when Robert's wife insists he is not missing. In desperation, Naomi has a crazy idea. If she can't persuade the police that Robert is in danger, perhaps she can convince them that he is a danger to others. Then they will have to look for him -- urgently. Naomi knows how describe in detail the actions of a psychopath. All she needs to do is dig up her own troubled past ...

First Line:  "This is not my story."

Random Quote:  "The more carefully I watch her, the longer I spend sitting here in this small grey room with her, the more ordinary she will seem.  It's like when you can't bear to look at a picture of some gruesome deformity because you're too squeamish.  When you eventually force yourself to stare it and familiarise yourself with all its details, it soon becomes something mundane, nothing to be scared of at all."

British highway exit - Image by Erwin Bolwidt (El Rabbit) via Flickr

Review:  Sophomore efforts often misfire - even sophomore years tend to be sort of mildly dreadful and a letdown after all the discoveries of being a freshman.  This book, however, is really good and redeems the author for me after the utter disaster of Little Face.

Hannah's device of alternating perspective from first-person to third-person by chapter is still here, but as in The Wrong Mother, it is much less distracting as a device than it is in Little Face.  The difference is that  the story utterly compelling and distinctive as are the characters.  This novel kept me reading and reading on the edge of my seat as I waited for her to play out all the strings.  I found the story and the characters believable and convincing and interesting psychologically.  The story is definitely disturbing, but it's well-written and doesn't cut corners or shy away from the complexity of human relationships.

This was a great read and redeemed Hannah for me.  I look forward to her fourth novel.