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Monday 7 August 2017

Fatal by John Lescroart @headlinepg #bookreview




About Fatal


John Lescroart, bestselling author of the Dismas Hardy series, whose recent titles include THE FALL, THE KEEPER and THE OPHELIA CUT, returns with a gripping one-off thriller about a deadly love affair that will enthrall fans of Linwood Barclay and Harlan Coben.

Kate is happily married to Ron with two children and a beautiful home in San Francisco.

But everything changes when Kate meets Peter. What begins as a passing fancy develops into a dangerous obsession and one intense, passionate encounter.

Confident that life can go back to normal, Kate never considers that Peter may not be so willing to move on.

Until a masked man fires a weapon into the crowd of a café that Kate is in with her best friend. This tragedy is just the first in a series of horrifying events that will show exactly how fatal the consequences of one mistake can be...


My review of Fatal

I am ashamed to say that I have never read any of John Lescroart's books. I therefore had no idea of what to expect when I began to read Fatal. All I will say is that I am now a huge fan and will be reading many more of his books. Fatal is a fast paced, twisted and engaging read that I found hard to put down. This is one fantastic domestic thriller that will be hard to forget. 

The story begins with two friends, Kate and Beth going for their weekly walk. Kate is a stay at home married mum of two children, and her friend Beth, a single mum who has one daughter, is a police detective. It is while on this walk that Kate confesses that she is attracted to a man and that she is thinking of acting upon these feelings. Beth is appalled and tells her friend to forget this man. She has seen the repercussions of infidelity and tells her friend that it always ends badly. However, Kate does not listen to her friend. She is fixated with Peter Ash, and this fixation leads to one intense afternoon in a hotel room. Kate keeps this brief affair to herself, life continues. But everything changes when six months later Peter's body is found washed up on a beach will a bullet in his heart. This is when the story really begins. As Beth says, fidelity always ends badly. 

What then ensues is a riveting, page turner of a read, as Beth digs deep to find the murderer. It really is a who-done-it kind of read and the ending truly surprised me. But as well as being a good old detective story, this novel is so much more. It is a domestic thriller, with the family being at the centre of the narrative. There is a huge moralistic overtone to the narrative, that of those who are unfaithful in marriage will pay the consequences. It is this aspect that intrigued me. The depictions of everyday family life, and the reasons why men and women stray from their partners. 

Fatal is a character driven novel with a strong female voice, that of Beth Tully. I admired and liked her, and I feel that this is important to get the absolute best from this book. She isn't judgmental, just realistic, and has a strong moral compass, she also doesn't suffer fools lightly. 

Fatal was a most enjoyable read, and one that provoked many questions. I love domestic thrillers, and this one didn't disappoint. Highly recommended.

Fatal by John Lescroart is published by Headline on 15 June 2017 nd is available to buy from Amazon here.

With thanks to the publisher and Bookbridgr for a paperback copy for review purposes. 






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