The Liberation of Alice Love by Abby McDonald

The Liberation of Alice Love by Abby McDonald
Buy The Liberation of Alice Love by Abby McDonald at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Women's Fiction
Reviewer: Zoe Page
Summary: Someone's stolen Alice's life and is living it better than she ever did. Now it's time to get it back...
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 432	Date: July 2010
Publisher: Arrow Books Ltd
ISBN: 978-0099533924
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You can just picture Alice Love standing before the panel on Britain's Got Talent.

'And what do you do?' they like to ask.
'I work in the film industry...'
'Oooh, really?'
'...as a lawyer.'
'Oh.'

Like all those accountants they're always showing, you can imagine that Alice too would receive a rather luke-warm welcome on the show. And Alice would concur that her job isn't all that glam, even if her industry itself is a bit swish. But it's an appropriate job for her, since Alice is very sensible and by-the-book. She's certainly not the type of person to go overdrawn, or run into any kind of trouble financially, so when her card is declined one day she's pretty sure it's just a computer error.

It's not.

Someone has stolen her identity, accessed her accounts and run off with all her money, every last drop of it.

It might sound rather far-fetched when described in the flip way I have just done so, but with a suitable build up and back story, combined with the reader's knowledge of the world we now live in, it seems more than plausible in the book. Alice is distraught from the start, but really bubbles over when the details come through and she finds out exactly what this imposter has been spending her money on. While real-Alice has been saving hard for the deposit for a home in London, this fake-Alice has been frittering it away on pretty and fun things, from beautiful lingerie to membership at a superb gym and cookery classes. In other words, all the things Alice has been denying herself in order to start off her nest egg. But, with the help of her brother in law's friend and the half-hearted cooperation of her bank, Alice is intent on tracking down the thief and confronting her. In order to walk in her shoes she takes a rather unorthodox approach to fraud investigation by mirroring the lifestyle fake-Alice has been living for the past few months, in an attempt to get inside her head. Every trip, from the London suburbs to the bustle of Rome to the hype of LA, brings her a little closer to understanding who stole from her and, more importantly, why.

Like Alice, I intended to travel with this book, but an exceptionally long flight delay (thank you Ryanair) left me ploughing through this for half a day straight and it's a wonderful way to read the book as with every new plot twist and turn you're reluctant to put it down and want to get through just one more chapter. I was intrigued by the blurb on the back as the premise seemed rather novel and of definite interest, but it was the actual story itself that reeled me in and kept firm hold of my attention for so long. This is clearly and exceptionally well researched book and would be a reassuring read and friendly ally for anyone recovering from identity theft.

This is chick-lit to a degree, with lots of pretty things to play with, handsome men to deal with, and tricky friend and family relationships to navigate, but it's not silly in the way some books can be, and the tone is intelligent and sincere. In response to our review of a previous title, The Popularity Rules, the author noted that her next book – this one – would feature some good men, and it certainly does, from the delicious Nathan to the sensible and helpful Stefan. In this book the frustrations and stress come from crime, not heartbreak, and it's refreshing to see some nice guys for once.

Definitely recommended, I would like to thank Arrow Books for sending us a copy to review.

If you too are anticipating a long flight delay and need some other books to add to your carry on along with this one, The Life You Want by Emily Barr XXXXXXXXXXXXXis definitely a worthy look.

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