Reviewed by BERYL EICHENBERGER
Listen to this Review:
There’ve been a number of recent crime novels where authors have relished telling readers how to ‘off’ those people they really hate. Not
to be taken seriously, they seem to be a fashion, guzzled by readers.
So, when celebrated author Sophie Hannah decides to take the opposite tack, we’re left with a combination of the curious, ingenious and the very original. The Opposite of Murder by Sophie Hannah dwells on those murderous thoughts you may have had, knew you’d never fulfil, but the planning, the detail, is revenge in itself. Perfection guaranteed, without the mess.
So it is with Jemma, the rather perverse, now adult stepdaughter who has lived under her stepmother Marianne’s rule since a child. The insidious stepmother from hell. Molding, controlling, emotionally, psychologically abusive, meddling, Jemma has suffered over decades. Her father is under Marianne’s spell, even Jemma’s husband and child seem taken in. Until the last humiliating straw. Jemma has planned the perfect murder, time frame, diary entries, and a little help from a friend.
But – good sense prevails: she realises that, by reporting her intentions to the police, the murder simply can’t happen. As she sits at the local police station giving her ‘preventative murder confession’, Marianne is actually being murdered in exactly the way Jemma describes! As the chief suspect, despite her alibi, it’s a whirligig of clues – dipping, circling, diving – as bizarre as the concept, to find the perpetrator.
Red herrings, cops with issues, secrets, hidden articles, lovers, marriage falling apart, dead-beat friends, anger, and buckets of revenge: Hannah employs all the elements – messing with your head, irritating at times, witty and wise and, I felt, a contradiction in terms. But I kept reading. Because I wanted to know ‘whodunnit?’ and, despite the long and winding road, that revelation was truly satisfactory, and unexpected, as one would expect. Hannah has a loyal readership who will love this.
About SOPHIE HANNAH
UK Jewish author, Sophie Hannah, is a best-selling author of crime fiction. Her books – published in 49 languages – have sold millions of copies worldwide. At the request of Agatha Christie’s family and estate, she is working on the new series of Hercule Poirot novels, referred to as ‘continuation novels’, a subgenre of the crime novel.
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