The Pull of the Moon by Diane Janes
| The Pull of the Moon by Diane Janes | |
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| Category: Crime | |
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Reviewer: Luci Davin
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| Summary: A letter forces Kate to confront her memories of the past. Mrs Ivanisovic wants to know what happened to her son before it is too late. | |
| Buy? Maybe | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 210 | Date: April 2010 |
| Publisher: Robinson Publishing | |
| ISBN: 978-1849010467 | |
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The main story, the events in Kate's memory, is set in summer 1972. Simon's uncle has gone away for a few months and Simon and his friend Danny are meant to be doing some work on the garden over the holiday. Danny brings his girlfriend Kate along, and Trudie invites herself to join them a couple of weeks later. How did a summer of lounging around and drinking with a little work on the garden end in murder? And what can Kate tell Danny's mother Mrs Ivanisovic?
I was interested in the setting of this story in the recent past, and the group of young people as characters. The novel kept me turning the pages very quickly to find out what had happened and why Kate is so disturbed by her memories.
However, I found this book a little bit disappointing. I didn't like most of the characters much. Trudie was the most attractive, wanting to talk and do things, and she seems to enjoy the adventure of being at the house much more than the others. Kate is initially suspicious of her as a potential rival for Danny's affections but Trudie wins her round. This made the point at which things began to turn nasty more effective. I found it hard to see what Kate initially saw in Danny, though, and even for a naive young woman she was very slow to grasp what was really happening. Kate is quite a cold person – she probably has reason to be but this, and the fact that there can be no real resolution, nothing to offer hope to the reader at the end of the story, made it an unsatisfying read.
This is a first novel but Diane Janes is apparently an experienced writer of non-fiction, and The Pull of the Moon is well written and constructed – I thought this was an accomplished work but not a likeable one.
Thank you to the publishers for sending a copy of this book to The Bookbag.
Another crime novel set in the recent past is Bad Penny Blues by Cathi Unsworth, set in the 1960s. Bad Friends by Claire Seeber is about secrets and about friends who are perhaps not what they seem.
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You can read more book reviews or buy The Pull of the Moon by Diane Janes at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy The Pull of the Moon by Diane Janes at Amazon.com.
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