I’m using this as my PANDEMIC bingo square.
I’ve read several of B.A. Paris’s books: Behind Closed Doors, The Breakdown, Bring Me Back…. And I generally enjoy them. This one is also generally enjoyable.
The plot: Alice and Leo have been dating for a little over a year when they decide to move to The Circle – an exclusive, gated neighborhood in London with 12 houses (kind of like a clock). Alice is surprised when Leo gets the house for a very reasonable price given the location and amenities, but the neighbors are less than welcoming. Alice feels a sense of coldness and distrust from the other people in The Circle for reasons she can’t quite understand.
It isn’t until a mysterious private detective crashes a party that Alice realizes the house’s and the neighborhood’s dark secret, there was a terrible murder in Alice and Leo’s home not too long ago. Apparently, a very loving couple lived in the home, and the husband killed his wife before killing himself, much to the surprise of everyone who knew them. This knowledge sends Alice on an obsessive journey to solve the murder since there is little to no evidence that the husband actually had anything to do with it.
The review: I’m not a writer, and it is definitely harder than it looks, but I feel like there were some lost opportunities in this novel. A gated community in the shape of a clock where everyone is a little too close? I would love to read more about that. But the direction this story took was a little disappointing and predictable. Like many of the books I’ve read, it was very entertaining and diverting from my day-to-day, but I can’t help wish for more.
Also, the title isn’t great… The murder victim was a therapist, but that’s about it.