In this hard-hitting standalone thriller from Sally Spencer, a crash survivor discovers dark family secrets as he tries to stay alive.

Bristol, 1991. Crammed into a hire car, on their way to a vital appointment, five representatives of Conroy Enterprises are running very late. Rob Conroy, the black sheep of the family, is torn between spiteful amusement at his Uncle Tony’s irritation and anxiety for the future. If Conroy Enterprises fails, it will bring Rob’s own small publishing company down with it.

But in the space of just two hours, everything changes. The car crashes, leaving Rob the only survivor. And almost simultaneously, Charles Conroy, the elderly family patriarch – who holds control of the company in his iron fist – dies of old age.

As Rob and his few remaining relatives struggle to make sense of it all, one thing becomes painfully clear: the crash was not an accident. Which means, Rob soon realises, the intended victim might not be dead . . .

My thoughts

Despite the ominous-looking cover and the blurb’s claim, this book is more a cozy mystery than a thriller. It also felt a little old-fashioned somehow.

Rob is one of two survivors of a horrible car accident that claims the life of his brother, his father, and his uncle. But the police don’t think it’s an accident. Inspector Flint, an old friend from Rob’s school days, is in charge of the investigation.

POINT OF VIEW

For the most part, the story is told in first person by Rob, mostly from his present day viewpoint, but he gives little asides told in hindsight. These roused my interest because they hinted at later, ominous hints that present-day Rob couldn’t know. But for parts when Rob can’t be there, Inspector Flint narrates the story to him. It’s a lot of “as Flint told me later”, followed by Flint’s narration from a third person point of view. It’s a bit odd and somehow off-putting to me. I wondered why the author didn’t simply divide the narration between Rob and Flint, as many other authors do. There are a lot of flashbacks and people gossiping while taking tea.

CHARACTERS

The characters feel a little over-drawn. But even so, the characters you want to hate are immensely hateable and the characters you want to love are immensely loveable.

The storytelling is quite assured and confident, even though the narrator is anything but confident. Following his fiancée’s tragic death, Rob has had a mental breakdown and ended up hospitalized. His grandfather helps him by buying a small publishing house for him, which gives Rob a sense of purpose. Is it any wonder, then, that when Rob encounters a brilliant but alcoholic writer, he wants to help the man?

Rob isn’t the most sensible or savvy man. When doing research on a particular person, it takes him (and others) a very long time to do the most sensible thing and search archives for proof. Even though the story takes place before the internet became a huge source of knowledge, many things would’ve been easily (relatively speaking) accessible through county records. He’s also incredibly naïve. He tends to hold himself responsible for things, such as his fiancée’s death, that he had absolutely no control over. I also wondered why he clings to false ideas about his new love interest Marie, which have almost no empirical evidence backing them up, and accuses her of lying to him.

Yet despite his flaws–or perhaps because of them?–I liked Rob. He often plays the role of a dunderhead trying to investigate a murder that he has no business investigating. Marie is a hard-nosed private investigator with more sense and street savvy than her love interest, but her intense private nature tends to come between them.

There are some colorful side characters, like the sweet-eating Inspector Flint, an old friend from Rob’s past. (Really, the entire mystery could’ve been easily solved if Rob had confided in Flint.) Let’s not forget the brilliant former alcoholic Andy McBride, whose breakout novel was written in composition books and anonymously hand delivered to Rob, who can apparently recognized literary brilliance but is completely clueless about the dynamics of his own family.

(And contrary to almost every other major character’s belief, I didn’t believe that Rob is intellectually bright. I simply wasn’t convinced. But I still found him sympathetic and loveable.)

GENRE

Despite the violence of the murders and despite what the cover, categorization, and blurb would lead you to believe, this isn’t a thriller or even psychological suspense. I was never convinced that Rob was in physical danger; he seemed more likely to have his heart broken. Given how hapless he is, he’d probably be more injured tripping over his own shoelaces. The author made valiant attempts to make me believe he was in danger; I just didn’t buy it.

The story held my interest. But as is usual with cozies, I had to suspend my disbelief on a number of points. I also didn’t find it particularly-Agatha-Christie-like, either. While the clues aren’t necessarily all available to the reader, it still was fairly easy to figure out whodunit (especially for avid mystery readers). It does have the quiet, slightly sanitized, quaint village filled with busybodies, so that might appeal to fans of Miss Marple.

SLIGHT QUIBBLE

And this is a petty complaint. . . . But there were far too many exclamation points! All the time! And it was rather distracting!! Maybe that doesn’t matter to many readers, but it annoyed me. It also seemed odd, given the assured confidence of the storytelling from an obviously experienced novelist. It seemed strange! Was this supposed to reflect Rob’s way of thinking?!

SATISFYING & ENJOYABLE

Even with these faults, the book is enjoyable. It’s a satisfying story, and (exclamation points aside), I had an enjoyable time reading it. It will appeal to many cozy readers. Thriller readers will need to look elsewhere for their adrenaline fix. Three stars.

Note: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions are my own.