[BOOK REVIEW]
Shane Dunphy (Hachette Australia) 2023, 338pp, RRP $32.99 (paperback)
The latest from the prolific Dunphy (sometimes credited as ‘S.A. Dunphy’) is one of those unreliable-narrator-shifting character/dramatic thrillers which stretches credibility a fair few times. And yet, somehow, it sweeps you along nicely anyway.
High-profile and perpetually overworked London lawyer James Fitzpatrick is agonising over an exceedingly important document late one night and, after scarily losing the file on his work computer, is driven to call the company’s helpdesk and speak to the reassuring Charlotte, with whom he has a long, helpful and slightly flirty conversation. James is increasingly estranged from his teacher wife Bella, and therefore he winds up pursuing Charlotte, even as Bella finds herself falling for a hunky colleague/plot device named Caleb, especially after a traumatic experience at her posh private school workplace.
And Dunphy is very good at setting up this volatile situation and then, slowly and cunningly, peeling back layers and pulling the rug out from under his characters’ feet.
And please… your call is important to us…
Dave Bradley
This title is available through the Hachette Australia website. Click HERE to purchase
your copy.
