S MAGAZINE ★ 25 AUGUST 2019 53
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Author
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Secrets and lies
Long-hidden deeds are laid bare in
Jake Kerridge’s pick of new thrillers
What You Did
by Claire McGowan
(Thomas & Mercer, £8.99)
This stand-alone thriller from
the author of the Paula
Maguire series is narrated by
Ali, an Oxford graduate who
organises a reunion for her
old college mates, only for
her husband to be accused
of sexual assault by one of
their oldest friends. There
is a fashion for novels that
seesaw between past and
present as a group of
well-to-do chums discover
their friendships are built
on lies when long-buried
secrets bung a spanner
into their perfect lives.
What You Did is the best I’ve
read, combining thoughtful
reflections on topical
concerns about the abuse
of women with an old-
fashioned, sturdy mystery
plot and a lovely fluent style.City Of Windows
by Robert Pobi
(Mulholland, £16.99)
Professor Lucas Page is
a brilliant astrophysicist
missing an arm, a leg and an
eye owing to a mysterious
incident that occurred when
he used to work for the FBI.
His old employers summon
him to investigate when his
former partner falls victim to
a sniper who is bumping off
New York residents with a
series of miraculously brilliant
shots. By the time the cranky
but lovable Page solves the
who and the how, I suspecthe’ll have established himself
as your new favourite sleuth.Don’t Say A Word
by Rebecca Tinnelly
(Hodder, £8.99)
Rebecca Tinnelly’s second
novel is about a woman who
has apparently been mute
since witnessing the death
of her parents in a car crash
when she was six and raised
by a grandmother who
dismissed her as retarded.
Now the still-silent Connie
is a woman with a dying
husband and a hidden past
that her daughter wants to
get to the bottom of. No
secrets are darker than
family secrets and this book’s
subject matter is not for
the faint-hearted, but it is
exciting and suspenseful
as well as disturbing.Never Have I Ever
by Joshilyn Jackson
(Raven, £12.99)
Florida driving instructor Amy
Whey attends her latest book
club meeting where new
neighbour Angelica makes
it clear she knows about
a terrible crime Amy was
complicit in many years ago.
To protect the new life she’s
built for herself, Amy goes on
the offensive and decides to
unearth some of Angelica’s
secrets. It’s an unlikely
premise and the storyline gets
ever more absurd but it’s all
done with such panache and
expert timing that you’ll happily
suspend your disbelief.sometimes moving
personal anecdotes to
offer insights into why
women think the way
they do about their
relationships and their
own bodies.
Now comes a
follow-up, which
once again explores
the ways in which
women and men are
“underpinned by
beastly behaviours”. It
argues that we are too
quick in the modern
world to forget that we
are basically animals,
and a lot of our worst
traits as a species are
a genetic hangover
from a time when life
was more precarious and we were
programmed to breed as often as possible.
Sara says she has been frightened of
male sexuality since her teenage years due to
bad experiences with predatory men, and
writing this book has been a way of trying to
understand more about it.
It alternates between summaries of scientific
studies garnished with jokes, and funny riffs
with a serious point. It does sometimes read,
however, as if leftover material that didn’t fit
into Animal has been padded out to make up
a new volume.
At one point she writes about how difficult
it is to work out which parts of the brain
are responsible for different emotions or
processes. “The brain is not a Sainsbury’s with
clearly defined aisles... The brain is a Lidl. Yes,
it does sell milk and bread, but not where you’d
expect and you might not be able to see them
in between the trumpets, microscopes and
children’s trampolines.” That’s writing that
sticks in the mind, the perfect combination of
funny and illuminating – but I wished there was
more that was up to that standard.
Animal suggested that Pascoe might just
become her generation’s Desmond Morris,
finding a way to communicate to ordinary
readers the ways in which we are all animals
not far below the surface. Sex Power Money
does not quite fulfil that promise but it’s an
entertaining introduction to the topic that will
make you laugh and think, if not perhaps as
often as you expected.
Jake KerridgeBOOKS
To buy these books, see Express Bookshop on page 77