“On the surface we were the perfect couple, but no one knows what we’ve been hiding…”
- Book: Her Perfect Revenge
- Location: Sussex
- Author: Lesley Sanderson
Lesley Sanderson is a new to me author, however, after this mind-blowing little journey, I shall definitely be adding more of her previous eight psychological thrillers to my list – but preferably those without water involved – Read on and you’ll see what I mean!
…
It is the wedding day of Alex and Felicity, two members of a wild sea swimming group. Some of the members are friends outside of their daily dip, but many only ever meet each other on the beach, occasionally going for a warming coffee together afterwards. Both Alex and Felicity are lecturers in English at the local University, although Alex is technically Felicity’s superior and Head of Department. He has also been married before, to Beth, who was a teacher when they first met in London, but who, on relocating to the coast to support Alex’s career, had become a homemaker, although maybe not through choice? Their marriage was not always a match made in heaven, but when a terrible accident takes Beth from Alex, he is understandably devastated. Beth had also been part of the swimming club, so she also knew Felicity, with the two of them having struck up an instant friendship.
It is no surprise to anyone when Felicity and Alex get together, some time after Beth’s accident and their beach side wedding is much anticipated, although Alex’s strange request that as many of the guests as possible should partake in a midnight sea swim after the reception, is not quite so eagerly received, especially as one or two of them know they will have had a few drinks. Alex is very much a creature of habit, so after he at first enters the water as expected, hand in hand with his new wife, alarm bells begin to ring when he suddenly leaves her side and swims out alone into much deeper water than is usual. Felicity’s worst fears are confirmed when Alex fails to return to the beach, after everyone else has long since left the water and changed into some warming clothes, with the police and coastguard being called out as an emergency.
When a body is washed up the following day and is identified as being that of Alex, the police begin an investigation as to whether this has been simply a terrible accident, or whether foul play might be involved, so that they are prepared for whatever results the autopsy might reveal. Felicity is at first treated kindly as the grieving widow, however several seemingly unconnected twists of fate soon sees her firmly in the frame for murder, which she vehemently denies.
But is Felicity as innocent as she makes out, or is she a lot more clever and manipulative than the police give her credit for? Although for that matter, was Alex the attentive partner he had always portrayed himself as? In fact, who amongst the remaining swimming club members, might also have had an axe to grind, either against Alex himself, or indeed Felicity too?
…
This well constructed, dual timeline storyline, narrated from multiple viewpoints, was presented in short, punchy chapters, which were well labelled so that I always knew where I was and whose voice I was listening to.
The difficult discussions surrounding coercive, gaslighting behaviour, encompassing both physical and mental abuse and control mechanisms, were pivotal elements to this story and were navigated in detail by author Lesley Sanderson, in language which was both realistic to the situation, sympathetic to the victim, yet with some excellent empathetic narrative which did not over-sensationalise the issue.
I will admit that I had worked out what was going on here quite early on into the story – or at least I thought I had! Some of my deducements were sound, however, there were elements which seemed to be shifting and changing almost by the chapter, like so much quicksand which caught me unawares every time. Names were removed from my suspect list, only to be added back again five minutes later, with what I thought had to be the last twist being one I didn’t see coming, and the absolutely final twist equally as unexpected and totally mind-blowing. I was almost pleased to turn the final page, just so that I wouldn’t have to face any more surprises, although I did devour the book in a couple of sittings anyway.
The well drawn characters were neither to like or dislike in strong measure either way, as none of them were portrayed as particularly genuine or authentic. Although I did have some small measure of sympathy for Beth, I couldn’t really relate to, or invest in, any of them. It was only the instant synergy between Beth and Felicity which was a constant throughout, although as it transpired, this didn’t prevent them from being as duplicitous or manipulative as any of their counterparts.
I can see that author Lesley Sanderson tends to write stand alone psychological thrillers. However, I felt that the characters of DS Gavin Williams and PC Chloe Button, really worked for me, as their ideas about the handling of the case were very similar and the synergy between them was excellent. I would definitely like to see them work together on other cases, should Lesley ever decide to dip her toe into writing a police procedural series.
I think that in this book, location was every bit as important as the characters and storyline. Therefore, with any hints at an actual real location being very vague, for myself and I suspect, for many other confirmed ‘armchair travellers’ out there, reading this was a little frustrating. However, that being said, the narrative was very descriptive about place and time and with the mere passing mention of Pevensey, I was able to check that out and deduce that I was reading about somewhere on the coast in Sussex. Author Lesley Sanderson definitely managed to use the full palette of words at her disposal, to evoke in me (a confirmed non swimmer and aquaphobia sufferer), a genuine sense of fear and dread, as she vividly brought to life the perils of wild water and sea swimming, especially in the darkness of night, which for me far outweighed any health benefits the participants in this activity may have continuously advocated for.
I was left to ponder whether ‘the end in anyway justified the means’ in this particular storyline, but I most certainly enjoyed the journey!
Please wait...
