Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsAn entertaining debut - but with some shortcomings.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 May 2024
Rating: 2.8/5
With this, her debut novel, Paula Gleeson has certainly produced a captivating mystery thriller. That said, it also requires the reader to suspend disbelief to quite a degree and allow the author more than a little dramatic licence.
Events are recounted from three perspectives: those of the two sisters May and June, with the third viewpoint being provided in the form of flashback narratives from their now deceased mother, Diana. May's sections are recounted in the third person, while the first person is used for Diana and June's chapters, with the latter's contributions appearing in the form of handwritten letters to her late mother. The author succeeds in giving each of the narrators distinct voices, though I have to say that I was not always entirely convinced by the persona of June, who comes across in her scribbled notes as being far more juvenile than the young adult she is supposed to be.
The book does move along at a good pace and makes for entertaining reading, but there are a number of plot developments that are somewhat simplistic and stretch credulity, in much the same way as the investigations in the "Secret Seven" books that are referenced on a number of occasions in this novel. Overall, this is a quick, fun read that marks a promising debut, but without being up there with the best in the genre.