(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)

Olivay, widowed for a year and sleepwalking through life, meets Henry by chance. She takes him to her Los Angeles loft, thinking it will just be for the night. But the following morning, bombs detonate across the city, and she and Henry are trapped together. Henry is skittish, solicitous, and strangely distracted. Who is this man she’s marooned with as the city goes on lockdown? Why is she catching him in lie after lie? Is he somehow connected to her husband’s death and the terrorist attacks outside?

What we have here is a novelist with a wonderful command of the English language, combined with a lack of story-telling. What started out as a promising psychological thriller, ended being a bit of a confusing mess.

Let's get one thing right from the start, though - Deborah Reed can put sentences together. Her writing is both poetic and distressing - there are sentences that make you feel the beauty of your surrounds, and then there are others that make you shiver right down to your bootstraps. Some real talent there.

But if a book was only based on the authors word-choices...

The opening of this book was wonderful - following the death of her husband, Olivay meets Henry and she decides he is a good choice for a one-night stand. Then he comes back the next day, hat in hand to tell her not everything is as it seems...and just when you think it is about to get interesting, terrorism happens and the story of Olivay kind of gets shuffled sideways and partially forgotten as we learn more about Henry - his background, history, motivations...which would have been okay if we hadn't set up for something different at the start. By the time we actually got back to Olivay's husbands' death, I didn't really care anymore...

Also, who cares about page after page of her cat? That was just silly.

Overall, I would still recommend this - there is enough in it for those who like a bit of psychological suspense with a dash of women's fiction. Give it a try and decide for yourself.


Paul
ARH