December 2022 Value Read - The Life She Wants, by Mel Sherratt

[Bill]

Lovely Mapleton setting!

[Beth]

Yes, the story wouldn’t work on the estate in Darby! LOL.

[Beth]

Not our usual “who did it” read! Characters were well written, especially Richard, who was easy to dislike!

[Bill]

I have loved Mel Sherratt's novels since first encountering the Estate series. From the Mitchell Estate, she has branched out into police procedurals, romance, and psychological suspense, but consistently her forte remains creating characters we care about. In this book the sisters Louisa and Sarah exemplify a common pattern in the genre of psychological suspense, the envious character who gets what she thinks she wants, only to find it anything but desirable. In this case, Louisa's husband Richard, who is indeed thoroughly odious. Another couple, Juliette and David, move in nearby in the village of Mapleton, and Juliette tries to befriend Sarah. Juliette was bereaved by the death of a young daughter, and when she thinks she sights a little girl in her neighbours' garden, Richard insists it must be an hallucination. In the midsection of the novel, the view shifts to the backstory of Louisa and Sarah, their alcoholic mother, and Louisa's marriage to Richard. Then in the final part we return to Juliette as she and David discover what their neighbours are concealing in a thriller ending. I enjoyed this story despite my low tolerance for domestic abuse and was satisfied with the ending, though some readers may not agree. But I'll hide my thoughts on that in the spoiler section of the Kindle British Mysteries Group.

[Beth]

I was a wee bit disappointed with the ending but overall I thought the story was well done

We read another by this author last year, did we not? Or was it just me?

[Bill]

Yes, we’ve read a couple of her police novels.