Domestic noir set in London (actions have consequences)

29th July 2019

Blood Orange by Harriet Tyce, domestic noir set in London.

This novel has been on my radar since publication…. see what I thought:

Alison is a criminal barrister, married to Carl. She is struggling to keep all the plates spinning in her life and on the fringes she is also having an affair with her instructing solicitor, Patrick. It is evident that she is chaotic and the relationship with her lover and her husband serve to further undermine her. Patrick subjugates her and humiliates, often with her compliance and can yet be tender and considerate. Theirs is a push-pull relationship, similar to her relationship with her husband Carl, who burrows under her skin with his throwaway comments. Yes, she is a magnet for abusive behaviour, she is drowning in other people’s contempt.

Excessive alcohol keeps her tottering through her days. Sexual encounters keep her on her toes (or knees) – although her lifestyle doesn’t quite seem to have the intensity of addiction, it is nevertheless certainly a factor in her life that keeps her tethered to the status quo.

Alison is given a case to work on. Madeleine has killed her husband. It is clear that there has been severe domestic abuse prior to his death, offering mitigating circumstances perhaps for the trial and sentence. Madeleine’s marriage is clearly a mirror held up to Alison and her choice of partners. It is a choice ending and the novel certainly ends with a bang (no, not that kind of bang!).

I did read the book avidly and very much enjoyed it. It bowls along at a balanced pace and does a pretty good job of laying out Alison’s emotionally damaged persona, subtly building the domestic abuse scenario both for Alison at home and for Madeleine as she awaits trial. The author has well fleshed out the character of Carl, who is adept at passive-aggressive belittling (he can humiliate Alison in front of friend’s for simply cutting off the nose of a piece of Brie!). The novel has a few very minor flaws along the way, which I was happy to accommodate because I enjoyed the overall read.

We come to find out that actions indeed do have consequences, which, as the book closes, becomes a mantra and appears randomly several times. It felt like a groove that was stuck somewhere along the line and perhaps needed a bit of further editing.

Carl’s “counselling training” does not mean he is sufficiently qualified to practise as a psychotherapist, which is what he does. But perhaps Alison is doling out a bit of passive-aggressive repartee and belittling him in return… who knows.

The book opens in the Prologue with a bit of auto-erotic asphyxiation, featuring an orange (apparently you need some citrus to bring you back from blacking out) which was a strange opener for the book and perhaps didn’t quite set the relevant tone for the narrative (for me, anyway). Yes, the leitmotif of oranges is present, for example cut up innocently for young Tilly (Alison and Carl’s daughter) but somehow the introduction of oranges at intervals felt just a little contrived to justify the catchy title (and eye catching cover).

Overall, I devoured the novel. And yes, it is on a par with The Girl on the Train and I am sure we will see the novel translated onto the big screen before long.

London, too, especially North London (where Alison lives for much of the time) gets a good look-in. Even the Travelodge in Covent Garden has a mention!

Recommended. An excellent debut.

Tina for the TripFiction Team

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