Curtain Call

Enora Andresson #1

by Graham Hurley

Two desperate journeys. One unscripted finale. A mesmerizing contemporary thriller.

Thirty-nine-year-old Enora Andresson is a successful actress and a woman in her prime. But for how long? Tests have revealed an aggressive brain tumour that could kill her.

Already struggling with the wreckage of her marriage and a strained relationship with her teenage son, Malo, she hasn't anticipated the appearance of investigative journalist Mitch Culligan on her doorstep. Mitch is writing a book about entrepreneur and one-time drug baron Hayden Prentice - a multi-millionaire who once crossed paths with Enora, and whom Mitch believes has helped fund the push to take the UK out of Europe. Mitch is determined to expose the murky swirl of politics, power and influence around Brexit - but in order to do so, he needs Enora's help . . .

Enora must confront her past while facing a deeply uncertain future. Can she survive near-impossible odds?

Genres: British Literature

432 pages, Hardcover

Published January 7, 2020

About the author

Graham Hurley was born November, 1946 in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex. His seaside childhood was punctuated by football, swimming, afternoons on the dodgems, run-ins with the police, multiple raids on the local library - plus near-total immersion in English post-war movies.

Directed and produced documentaries for ITV through two decades, winning a number of national and international awards. Launched a writing career on the back of a six-part drama commission for ITV: "Rules of Engagement". Left TV and became full time writer in 1991.

Authored nine stand-alone thrillers plus "Airshow", a fly-on-the-wall novel-length piece of reportage, before accepting Orion invitation to become a crime writer. Drew gleefully on home-town Portsmouth (“Pompey”) as the basis for an on-going series featuring D/I Joe Faraday and D/C Paul Winter.

Contributed five years of personal columns to the Portsmouth News, penned a number of plays and dramatic monologues for local production (including the city’s millenium celebration, "Willoughby and Son"), then decamped to Devon for a more considered take on Pompey low-life.

The Faraday series came to an end after 12 books. Healthy sales at home and abroad, plus mega-successful French TV adaptations, tempted Orion to commission a spin-off series, set in the West Country, featuring D/S Jimmy Suttle.

Launch title - "Western Approaches" - published 2012. "Touching Distance" to hit the bookstores next month (21st November).

Has recently self-published a number of titles on Kindle including "Strictly No Flowers" (a dark take on crime fiction), "Estuary" (a deeply personal memoir) and "Backstory" (how and why he came to write the Faraday series).

Married to the delectable Lin. Three grown-up sons (Tom, Jack and Woody). Plus corking grandson Dylan.

You're very welcome to contact Graham through his website: www.grahamhurley.co.uk

Or direct on seasidepictures@btinternet.com.


Series:
* D.I. Joe Faraday

Reviews

[Hannelore Cheney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Severn House for the eARC.
I love this book! Having read and enjoyed Graham Hurley's Joe Faraday novels, I was excited to start Curtain Call and wow, I was not disappointed...
Actress Enora Andressen is shattered when she is diagnosed with a brain tumor, death lurking around the corner. An operation to remove the tumor gives her hope and time. When she's approached by a journalist she's reminded of an incident 18 years ago while working on a movie, which involved a one-night stand. Little did she know it would rock her world. Recently divorced, she's ecstatic when her son shows up, having left his filmmaker father after deciding to live with him in Sweden. This is Enora's chance to reconnect with her beloved son. She's determined to make up for the years of motherly neglect due to her career. Life changes irrevocably for the both of them when her last catches up with her.
This beautiful book involves many interesting strands: Brexit, politics, the media, immigration and the murky world of crime syndicates. What's right and what's wrong...do we close our eyes to supposed acts of violence, how do we stear our moral compass so we can live with ourselves? Is a mother's love enough to right the wrongs of the past?
A dangerous trip on a vessel to France towards the end of the book is heart pounding and the final chapters are poignant. I sincerely hope to meet Enora again in a follow up book. A must read, highly recommended for anyone who loves a book that's not only a mystery, but also a tense, well written novel.

[Kath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ooo, I blooming loved this book, written by one of my favourite authors. It's billed as a stand alone but I personally think you'll get so much more from it if you have already read the author's Faraday and Winter series as there is more than just a passing nod to some of the main characters from this series contained herein. The other reason I loved it so much is that I have lived in Portsmouth for pretty much all my life and, for me anyway, it's always lovely to read about places I am familiar with. Especially given that this book delves into some Portsmouth's not so glamorous history, specifically around the football club. He really did get across the symbiosis between the city and the place known as Fortress Fratton. I was gutted when the author ended his Faraday and Winter series so this book was a bit of a blast from the past for me.
Not that the rest of the book wasn't good, what I have just mentioned was just the icing on, what for me, was a very well baked cake.
So, successful actress Enora Andresson has just been diagnosed with a life-threatening brain tumour. Not really the news she needs being as she is already trying to come to terms with a pending divorce which has already claimed her son from her; he having chosen to side with his father. But she is trying her best and has a good agent who is still getting her acting work. What she didn't factor into her life is meeting and investigative journalist who asks her to help him with a book he is writing about Hayden Prentice, her one time (and I do mean one) lover back in the dim and distant past. Needing a friend and him appearing to be just that, she agrees. Never believing that this will put the cat very much amongst the pigeons as it literally turns both her life and that of her son upside down and inside out and into the realms of the very dangerous.
I have already mentioned several things I loved about this book so I won't repeat myself. Added to those was a whole new level of intrigue, the author delivering punch after punch throughout the book to keep me wondering for its majority and then, as we raced to the end, leaving me wholly satisfied at the book's conclusion. There's definitely a lot going on in what is a relatively short book that there really are no wasted words as the author really gets on with the story at a fair pace.
Characterisation is spot on - you're never sure when you are dealing with theatrical people how much is real and how much is acting, add to that a really rather shady character and you get yourself a bit of an explosive mix.
Ok, so there was also a lot about Brexit in this book. Not something you can ignore living in the UK at the moment but, what was included was well handled and fitted into the narrative very well. Some may think it's a bit too political but, for me anyway, the balance was just about maintained.
All in all this was a cracking read for me which also took me down memory lane through some very familiar places. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

[Big Bertha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actress Enora Andresson is a character I warmed to the minute I started reading 'Curtain Call'. When in the opening chapter after giving her a aggressive brain tumour diagnosis her neurosurgeon said "The Reaper comes knocking at every door", "I'm afraid yours might be one of them." and she replied "Should I lock the door? Hide? Pretend I'm not in?" I knew I was going to like this book

Her 17 year marriage in tatters, the aforementioned devastating news, her estranged son turning up at her door - the last thing she needs is investigative journalist Mitch Calligan pursing her for help with a political expose he's writing.

Great scene setting, well written characters and a strong storyline, I liked everything about this book from the opening pages to the fast moving scenes as it reaches its conclusion.

[Roland · Rating 2 out of 5]

For all my love for Graham Hurley – and Paul Winter – not sure it is wise to delve back into the past on this round-about way. There is simply too much packed into one novel, which means that coincidences need to abound. The need to resurrect Bazza in H is disconcerting, there is obviously something the author finds not only fascinating but also inherently right about the these 80s lager louts. They hamper the Brexit lot and UKIP only for the hell of it? Just because they can? Oh, really?! At the same time, another mysogynist, alcoholic, deviant, criminal thug gets away and we are, actually, invited to like him, too.
On top of that, this reader is still unconvinced that present tense works for this kind of multi-layered story over several months.

[Greville Waterman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I need to start by admitting that Graham Hurley is one of my favourite authors. I discovered the Joe Faraday series a few years ago and inhaled them almost in one and I also enjoyed his recent WW2 series.

This book is a departure and I won't spoil it for other by describing the action but all I will say that it is well up to standard.

The writing is sharp and concise and the characters well drawn. There are passages that remind me of the Faraday series in terms of time and place but the plot is clever, credible and highly relevant to the main issues of today.

All in all an excellent book which deserves a wider readership.

[Ann Tonks]

Unlike most other reviewers, I didn't like this book at all. I wanted to. There were fascinating aspects to it - the lead character with a brain tumour; the channel boat trips; the passionate journalist. But I just didn't get the psychology of the lead. Perhaps it's because a bloke is writing a woman's character? If she really is willing to expose her son to the implied violence and outright wrongness of HP, particularly after she's suffered violence at the hands of her ex, then she's a deeply problematic person. I just felt dirty at the end of reading this book.

[John Loaring · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite enjoyable but the central character, Enora Andesson, does not have the same appeal as Faraday, Winter and Jimmy Suttle in Hurley's earlier books. The novel only really spiked my interest when characters from the Faraday series, such as Bazza and his wife, were referred to.

[JenniferB · Rating 2 out of 5]

Characters were too hardbitten for me. Lots of topics that I don't identify with: Brexit, football hooligans, journalism, drugs. Too much bad language for me. Good suspense, but plot is a bit ridiculous.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was expecting a police procedural of one of my favourites. What I got was a stand alone which rattled along at a pace and was thoroughly enjoyable.

[Simona · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this

[Maureen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just could not get into this one. I did not find the female main character to be well-written, which made it difficult for me to be interested in the plot.

[L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally not what I expected but I’m ready for the next one. Listened to the audio version. Julia Franklin was a perfect choice for reader.

[Vinnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good story about seedy gangters and politicians. Good first book in the Enora Andressona saga.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book Its sort of a continuing of what happened after the Joe Faraday and Paul Winter series finished, but a departure from the streets of Portsmouth Somebody got rich after Bazza McKensie passed away and the heroine somehow gets mixed up in it from a wild night on a yacht in the south of France 18 years ago and the resulting son of that hasty union is the son of the leader ( now upright Businessman?) of the 6.57 crew Pompey supporters.

[Rog Harrison · Rating 2 out of 5]

"The author is a good writer and I enjoyed his books which involved police officers. This story features an actress with a brain tumour and does include references to characters in the author's previous books. However sadly the story was not to my taste at all and I did not enjoy it." was what I wrote on 22 December 2019.

I realised after a couple of pages that I had read this before but as I did not remember the story at all I decided to carry on reading. I was surprised to see that I first read this less than a year ago. It's a depressing read and I did not enjoy it any more second time around.

[Lysergius · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting novel from Graham Hurley. It has all the components of his earlier novels, the 657 specials, the Pompey swagger and the wealth that crime brings. Against a backdrop of Brexit Britain, the protagonist, a film actress, diagnosed with a brain tumour, and the Pompey gangster she meets again after a fling in in Antibes 17 years ago; is played out. This a all classic Hurley, but there is a darker, wistful, almost mystical note in the final scenes on the IOW at Tennyson's house - intimations of (im)mortality perhaps?

[Janice Lombardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enora has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Her neurosurgeon asks about her husband for support. Enora tells him that Berndt, her husband, is in Stockholm, planning to remarry. Her son, Malo, is also at Berndt's penthouse in Stockholm. Enora tells her good friend and next door neighbor, Evelyn, of her diagnosis. Evelyn also mentions that a man, Mitch Culligan, had stopped by for Enora, yesterday. The following day, Enora and Mitch have breakfast and she finds out that Mitch is a journalist. Enora gets very ill at the restaurant. An ambulance is called and she wakes up to the news that she had brain surgery. It is doubtful if the tumor will be back - Enora needs another MRI in 3 months.

Enora was an actress has been fairly often in the spotlight. Mitch is writing a book about Hayden (Saucy) Prentice, and he shows Enora some pictures and her memory is jogged. She had a one-night stand many years ago with Hayden and he told her that he was an accountant. Malo comes to live with Enora. He is on drugs and she does her best to help him to straighten out. But when Mitch calls her to tell Enora about Hayden's accident, he suggests she go see him. She does and brings Malo with her. Malo is fascinated by Hayden. Hayden and his "gang" were "MAFIA - style" types in the past. - "these guys were no strangers to violence - it builds loyalty
and family bonds.

Malo and Enora become more entrenched with Hayden ("H" as he is now known) as the story continues. Crucial political differences are at a fevered pitch.This to a point where H is becoming more important to Malo than his mother. After a talk with Evelyn, Enola decides to take the "wait and see" approach - for now.

But as the story continues.....

Many Thanks to Severn House Publishers and NetGalley for the ability to read this moving story.