Death Duty

by Clare Littleford

'I don't know what he hit me with. Something hard, that's all, something hard against the back of my head and then lights out, I hit the floor.' When she's attacked and knocked unconscious, social worker Jo Elliott assumes she was merely the random victim of an opportune mugging. Gradually, the doubts set in. A half-glimpsed face watching her in the supermarket; an attempted break-in at night. As the days pass, Jo begins to suspect she was deliberately targeted. Although she caught only the briefest glimpse, she can't help feeling she's seen her attacker before. As she begins to piece the clues together, Jo becomes more and more convinced that what at first appeared to be a random attack might have some connection with a case she was involved in eight years earlier. A case involving a problem family called the Metcalfes. A case that went horribly, terribly wrong...

Paperback

First published April 5, 2004

Reviews

[Ainabooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

The development is quite slow. The book can be saved by the end of the story. Some people may consider it was a bit predictable but i think the author gave the reader no more than the required information.

[Paul Bolton · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is so amazing how many different emotions one can get from reading a single book. Let's get one thing straight - I loved then book, it made me feel happy, sad, glad and mad. It was the way Jo appeared so docile, to things that were going on around her - a five year old could of see how she was been manipulated, and yet apparently a trained social worker couldn't? It had little bits of everything in, but I do think one of its strongest influences has to be from the twisted thrillers of Nicci French. This book evokes the same type of uncomfortable edge of seat writing, where you know what should happen, what is obviously going to happen - it is there obvious to see that what is about to happen is wrong..... and they still do it!!!! Littleford definitely takes you right to the edge and forces you to examine your own soul, own ethos on life and asks - what would you do? My one problem is at the end it forced me to rethink all my feelings of Jo. Was she good, bad, the minipulator, or the minipulate?

I still don't know, but you know what? - It is great position to be in.

Great knock out book, that will get you thinking.

[Junipa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found myself disliking the protagonist more and more as I got further into the book. I thought she was whiny and weak and made some really stupid decisions.

Glad I finished the book. The ending was a surprise.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book kept me interested from the beginning however at times I was wondering where it was going. It has a dramatic conclusion and some questions remain unanswered. The overall feeling can only be described as creepy. Clever writing and character building.

[Heather]

I thought the book was going to be simple. For some reason I kept reading and it kept sucking me in deeper. What a great ending!! I'm glad I didn't give up on it.