Nicci French

Husband and wife writing team Nicci Gerrard and Sean French have been churning out the psychological thrillers now for almost ten years since the release of THE MEMORY GAME.  Every year another is released and they all feature variations on a similar theme, that being of the urban girl in jeopardy.  UNTIL IT'S OVER lacks the density of some of the priors and is almost startlingly light in the mental conundrums we're used to seeing in novels by these authors.  The suspense, such as it is when it appears, doesn't gel with the casualness in which the characters go about their lives, as they keep it all upbeat and act strangely indifferent to the murders happening around them.

 

Perhaps this is a deliberate play for the female market.  Not romantic suspense as such, but skimming somewhere close to it.   Think backpacker murders in inner city London, only it is an old house with the tenants being virtually squatters.  What holds these people in the house is the prospect of losing their cheap rent when the owner decides to move his less than easy-going girlfriend in.  It is so absurd to think that a legal battle could even be contemplated in such circumstances, and it simply isn't enough of a plot driver to keep all the characters rooted in what is clearly an extremely dangerous place to be.  UNTIL IT'S OVER is a somewhat shallow read, nowhere near the calibre of what Nicci French is more than capable of, yet may be just the ticket if you aren't in the mood to agonize over the plight of the characters, and simply want to see how it all ends.

 

Kudos to the cover artist as the cover image at first appears to be a rather creepy bug!  At second glance, it can be seen that it is actually a bicycle wheel with the spokes bent out of shape (very relevant to how this book begins).