Sara-Jayne Townsend is a published crime and horror writer and likes books in which someone dies horribly. She is founder and Chair Person of the T Party Writers’ Group. http://sarajaynetownsend.weebly.com/
Claire is seven years old when her 18-year-old sister Alison goes missing on the final night of a family holiday at an exclusive resort on the fictional Caribbean island of Saint X. A few days later her body is found. Two local men who work at the resort are arrested, but with no evidence to prove they killed Alison, they are eventually released.
Years later, Claire, living and working in New York and going by her middle name Emily, gets into a taxi and recognises the driver as one of the men accused of her sister’s murder. She leaves her cell phone in the cab so she can call him later and have an excuse to meet him, convinced that he knows what happened to her sister. It’s an obsession that takes over Claire’s life to the expense of everything else: friends; family; and ultimately, her job.
Not so much a crime novel as a study of grief, the narrative flicks back and forth from the family’s final holiday together, to Claire’s dogged pursuit of the man she is convinced killed Alison, interspersed with scenes from the life of the man she is pursuing (known as ‘Gogo’ to most people). It’s not exactly a suspense-filled page turner, more a character study, but I found it utterly compelling nevertheless. Claire’s position of privilege – part of a white family with the means to take expensive exotic holidays every year, to places where the non-white locals work long hours for not very much money looking after rich white tourists – is something she initially takes for granted, but is eventually obliged to scrutinise that privilege more closely. She also carries around a significant amount of emotional baggage, which makes her a decidedly unreliable narrator.
In many ways this novel makes for uncomfortable reading, and if you like fast-paced thrillers this one might not be for you. But as a study of grief, and how the death of a child has a far-reaching effect on the rest of the family, it makes for compelling reading. The novel also explores the issues of race, class and privilege, all of which are highly topical in the current climate.
The beautifully descriptive narrative of this haunting novel stayed with me for a long time after I’d finished reading it. It’s well worth a read if you fancy something a bit more thought-provoking than the usual crime thriller.
