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Four best friends, and their families, head to Provence to spend a week together to celebrate turning forty. Four friends who share a history, share memories and with whom they share all their secrets. Or do they? What happens when you go away with a group of people you think you know, only too find you don’t know them at all? Outstanding and very well-written debut psychological thriller. So gripping I genuinely found it difficult to put down, K. L. Slater, on LIES Initially it looks as if this is a story about an affair and a breakdown between a couple, but the longer the group spend together, the more we learn about the the other characters. Soon it's clear that they are all flawed, all suffering and all trying to maintain a façade to protect themselves or their children. Each of the four friends is well crafted, with snapshots from some of the husbands to help show further insight or observations about what is happening at the villa. I loved how curious I was to find out more about each of the women, their relationships with each other, their motivations, fears and dilemmas. There are some powerful scenes, some emotive issues raised and basically, well, it's just a fabulous read with a cast of fantastic characters and such a dramatic finale that nothing - not even a crisp, cool glass of wine - will be able to distract you from finishing it!
friends travel to South France with their spouses. It’s a tradition they have continued since they graduated from university. Soon Kate finds out that her husband is having an affair with one of her besties. The complete thing unnerves her and she uncovers the woman. But while she gathers proof against her husband, she discovers deeper, darker secrets buried. I also thought the way he describes the children was very well done. Some very likeable, some not! He captures the teenagers particularly well, including the role their mobile phones play in their everyday life. In fact the mobile phone features in nearly every one of the character be it for work or personal reasons and its use is considered quite deeply within the novel. The impact it has on conversation, the distance it can put between parent and child and even it's use within modern day parenting. It also adds to the tension in Kate's idea of her cheating husbands and I enjoyed the moments where she steals a look at it at every available opportunity. He has a choice of Rowan, with her brattish five year old in tow, and her vapid parenting tactics (“please sit down, darling”, while the said five year old runs amok in a restaurant).
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Or Jennifer, who was unhealthily over invested in her two teenage son’s lives, particularly the eldest, “Jakey”. I pity any girl “Jakey” takes home to meet mum in the future, the epitomy of mother in law from Hell awaits her.
T M Logan's third novel takes place in a villa in the south of France – the perfect setting for a scorching thriller full of simmering tension and heated emotions. I read this book in 2018. But I recently re-read the book. The next book in the series, Moonflower Murders, will release in August 2020. I was hugely impressed with the depth and interweaving plot lines, how expertly Logan handles the multiple threads and how well he captures the range of relationships and dynamics between the families, friends, husbands, wives and children. The dialogue between the teenagers is particularly strong and the way their problems, concerns and secrets wriggle their way into the forefront of the story is really clever. It really is a terrific read and an exceptionally well executed thriller.
Who is in the cast of The Holiday?
Kate and her 3 close friends from university have met up, once a year, to re-bond and stay in touch, however work and family life have occupied most of their time recently so they haven't seen each other in a while. With their 40th birthdays fast approaching they have all made the effort and along with their partners and children, are meeting up in a luxurious villa in France, for a weeks holiday in the glorious Mediterranean sunshine. The characters weren’t particularly likeable, but I think this almost added to the story and made everyone a suspect. This also helped the book being completely unpredictable and even at the end I was left like - what just happened?!
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