I Made a Mistake by Jane Corry
| I Made a Mistake by Jane Corry | |
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| Category: Thrillers | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: A stand-alone thriller from an author who's at the top of her game. Highly recommended. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 432 | Date: May 2020 |
| Publisher: Penguin | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-0241984659 | |
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We know from the very beginning that there's a tragedy about to happen. On a January evening on a very crowded platform 3 of Waterloo Underground station a man falls under an oncoming train. That man is Matthew Gordon. Much later we see Poppy Page in the witness box of a crown court, getting a very rough ride from the prosecuting barrister.
Poppy Page is married to Stuart and he's a dentist. Poppy runs the Poppy Page Extras Agency: she provides those people who are not big-name actors but who make a set look normal. She has a good reputation in the industry and the agency is doing well.
At the Association of Supporting Artistes and Agents' Christmas party Poppy had bumped into Matthew Gordon. Way back in the day, when they were at drama school, the two were an item for three years but Gordon broke Poppy's heart when he left her for another student. Poppy was anxious to get home from the party. Her mother-in-law, Betty, was looking after Poppy's daughters, 17-year-old Melissa and 14-year-old Daisy, but Betty was seventy and Poppy didn't like to impose too much, although she freely admitted that she didn't know what they'd do without Betty. Unfortunately, the weather is not kind to Poppy and she's forced to stay the night at the hotel and despite her marriage feeling rather dull at the moment and there being an obvious spark between herself and Matthew Gordon, she doesn't sleep with him - even though he's in the room opposite her.
A series of events leaves her feeling lonely and unsupported and in a hotel in Worthing the following week, the pair spend the night together - to Poppy's horror when she wakes up the following morning.
I'm not going to tell you any more about the plot than that: you really should have the pleasure of seeing it unravel for yourself. And it is a humdinger of a plot. Every time that I thought I had it sorted, there was another twist which meant I had to scrap all my preconceptions. Even as you turn the final page you'll still be wondering...
The characters help, of course. Stuart is, well, nice. He's reliable and Poppy had thought that he'd never be unfaithful to her, but lately, with a marked lack of affection in the marriage and constant mentions of a female colleague, she's begun to wonder, and the charms of the man who left her all those years ago are more appealing than they should be. Poppy is a middle-aged woman doing her best by her family, but sometimes wondering if this is all there is. She makes one mistake and she doesn't just pay for it, she goes on paying for it until she really doesn't know where to turn. She'd love to confide in her mother-in-law - the closest to a mother she's had since she was eighteen - but would Betty tell Stuart what had happened? But - Betty has a story to tell too and her marriage wasn't the idyl that her son thought.
I read the book in a little over twenty-four hours, desperate to find out exactly what had happened and why. It's my first book by Jane Corry, but it definitely won't be my last. I'm looking forward to reading her next book and I'd like to thank the publishers for letting Bookbag have a review copy.
If this book appeals then have a look at our reviews of other books by Jane Corry. You won't be disappointed: we particularly liked Blood Sisters.
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