Stevie‘s review of Who She Was by Tony Parsons
Murder Thriller published by Penguin 17 Aug 23
I read Tony Parson’s Man and Boy and at least one of its sequels many years ago, but I’ve not read any of his crime fiction up until now. This particular book of his from that genre particularly appealed, because I’m always keen to read books set in Cornwall, which are more on the historical side, but contemporary is also good. In this case, we are plunged into the close-knit community of a small fishing village cum holiday destination, whose lives are permanently disrupted by the arrival of a different sort of stranger. Tom, our main protagonist and narrator, has lived in St Jude’s for ten years, having given up a career in the city to run a restaurant specialising in locally caught lobster and other fresh fish on the days when the lobster catch falls short. He is one of the first villagers to encounter Clementine, while she is sitting on the beach, awaiting the morning and the arrival of an estate agent with the keys to the cottage she is to lease for the next twelve months.
Tom is instantly smitten with Clementine, but she has also left another life behind to come to St Jude’s – in this case, her abusive ex and his equally nasty stepfather, both former police officers – and that life is one that will not give her up without a fight. Clementine is quick to make friends with all of Tom’s friends, including having a brief fling with one of his best friends, none of which stops Tom from lusting after her. So when Clementine’s ex arrives in the village, everyone is keen to protect her from him, with disastrous consequences.
Fearing repercussions from other corrupt police officers, Tom and his friends conceal what they have done, but the stepfather is soon on the prowl, and Tom resorts to ever more desperate measures to keep Clementine safe. As things spiral out of control, another police officer arrives, who is incorruptible and with her own links to the missing men. This is to be her last case before retirement, and she is keen to see justice done, no matter her feelings about those involved.
Tom and Clementine’s relationship grows deeper, and we learn both have other secrets they are concealing from their friends and each other. Eventually, an unexpected visitor from Tom’s past brings everything crashing down, and the reader learns what was really behind Tom’s decision to move to Cornwall a decade earlier.
I found this a difficult book to get through. None of the characters appealed to me, not just because they weren’t particularly nice people, but because I couldn’t bring myself to take an interest in them. The plot had potential, but I found some of its twists and turns a little too unlikely and reliant on convenient coincidences.
Grade: C
Summary:
A bonfire burns on a Cornish beach in the middle of the night.
Nearby, a young woman waits for morning, and for the estate agent to arrive with the keys to her new life in the peaceful fishing village.
She carries with her no trace of her previous life or the past she has left behind.
Quickly she becomes an object of fascination among the locals; one in particular finds that he is falling in love with her.
But can anyone really have a new life?
What happened to this woman’s old life?
And what price did she pay to escape it?When secrets long buried explode into the light, they will change the lives of everyone around her.
Read an excerpt.
