Review by Loredana Gasparri
Author: T.M.Logan
Publisher: Zaffre Publishing
Genre: Psychological thriller
Pages: 380 pages
Year of publication: 25th July 2019
Summary. …Seven days. Three families. One killer. It was supposed to be the perfect holiday, dreamed up by Kate as the ideal way to turn 40: four best friends and their husbands and children in a luxurious villa under the blazing sunshine of Provence. But there is trouble in paradise. Kate suspects that her husband is having an affair, and that the other woman is one of her best friends. One of these women is willing to sacrifice years of friendship and destroy her family. But which one? As Kate closes in on the truth in the stifling Mediterranean heat, she realises too late that the stakes are far higher than she ever imagined. Because someone in the villa is prepared to kill to keep their secret hidden.
Review
When you have really close and long-lasting friendship ties, you feel you are the happiest person in the world.
You have stories, events, feelings, emotions in the past to share, you have roots, you know you can rely on those amazing people who were there to have your back in your youth, in happy and unhappy times.
When you raise your family and share that with these amazing friends of yours, you feel your world is perfect. Your loved ones are so many, you feel protected.
One day, one of these awesome people invites you and your family to spend a 7 day holiday in France, in a Hollywood-like villa near Bézier, in Provence.
Wow, that’s heaven for sure. And it is, when you arrive there with your husband Sean, a great-looking, clever, adorable Irishman and your children, the beautiful 16-year-old Lucy and the lively 9-year-old Daniel. Here you are, Kate, with your beloved family and beloved friends, former University fellows Rowan, Jennifer and Izzy and their families, in this gorgeous villa in the middle of a breath-taking French landscape, for a dream holiday.
Heaven on Earth. It does exist!
No, it does not. Sorry.
Heaven turns into Hell quite shortly after their arrival, for Kate. A glance at her husband’s unattended mobile shows her a few messages between Sean and a CoralGirl, whose words are very difficult to misunderstand. My goodness. What a start for a holiday, discovering her husband’s affair on the very first day! And… well, the other woman is there, too. She’s one of her amazing friends, for sure.
Should Kate storm at her husband forcing him to tell her all the truth, destroy everything, go back to England and maybe file for divorce?
That’s an option. Kate doesn’t want to pick it up. Full with anger and despair, Kate pretends everything is fine and brings on her own investigations. She’ll get her husband to tell her all the truth, she’s determined to do that.
Well, she will achieve her goal… but the truth is much more complicated than she might have thought, ever. And it involves other people, those she cares the most for, unexpectedly. We stand by her, watching her keeping an eye on Sean and her friends, searching for hints to discover the truth, and we get to know her. We get to learn her own secrets… Ms Kate is honest and thorough, but there was a time when she was not. She said, she did things that had severe consequences on people, on her close friends there. Maybe, was she facing a revenge for what she did in the past?
Well, that’s an option, too. Anyhow, if you read Mr Logan’s previous books, you know he shows you facts and events in a very reasonable way, and you’re led into thinking that things are the way he tells you. Everything makes sense, the culprit must be the one he’s telling you his suspicions about through the eyes of his protagonists.
And… you’re confronted with a complete different truth. At the end of the book, you find out everything is the opposite of what it appeared to be!
This is the most enjoyable side of his style and plot-writing: Mr Logan always succeeds into surprising you with his disclosures, by adding bits by bits to his plot, while you follow unaware the main thread he wants you to focus on. Brilliant!
Edited by Loredana Gasparri
https://www.delfurorediaverlibri.it
T. M. Logan
T. M. Logan, the bestselling author of LIES, 29 SECONDS, and THE HOLIDAY, was born in Berkshire to an English father and a German mother. He studied at Queen Mary and Cardiff universities before becoming a national newspaper journalist. He currently works in communications and lives in Nottinghamshire with his wife and two children.
