WRITERS ABROAD MAGAZINE: THE THIRD SPACE
BOOK REVIEWS
The Breakdown, psychological thriller by B. A.
Paris
Reviewed by ANGELA WILLIAMS
A howling storm is blowing and Cass Anderson has to
drive home along a deserted back road through a wood at
night. She sees a woman in a stationary car, stops briefly
sensing something is not right, but fearing for her own
safety drives on. Next day she discovers that the woman
in the car has been brutally murdered and from then on
Cass is plagued by guilt. Persistent, silent phone calls
and bouts of memory loss blight the young teacher's
hitherto rosy existence as her life begins to unravel.
A gripping premise gets the book off to a rattling start, hooking the reader in. I
identified with Cass, wondering how I would have reacted in a similar situation.
If you enjoy the unreliable protagonist sub-genre, as epitomised by Gone Girl
and Girl on a Train then you will find this a compelling read. The linear story
told in the present tense from Cass's point of view gives the novel a visceral
immediacy as you ride shotgun on the central character's emotional roller
coaster. The pace isn't slowed down by having to leaf back and think who,
what, when, why? So it's a great book to read in just a few sittings or when one
is reading in an environment with distractions. On the other hand I did miss
the challenge of the corkscrew plot twists in, Gone Girl and the complexity of
multiple points of view in, Girl on a Train. Genre aficionados may see the
denouement coming.
The Breakdown is very firmly set in the English countryside (loved this aspect)
in an isolated house which Cass and her husband Matthew have recently
moved to. The contrast of the undercurrents of threat and betrayal in an
idealised setting in provincial England made this novel both comforting and
disquieting to read.
Available from Amazon
The World of Suzie Wong by Richard Mason
Reviewed by LAURA BESLEY
This book caused more than a few ripples when it was
released in 1957. Reading it 60 years later, I can see
why. It reads more like a memoir than a work of fiction
which possibly fueled the strong opposition against it.
Robert, an English painter, unknowingly takes up
residency in a hotel which doubles up as a brothel. He
befriends the women working there, but has a
particular fondness for Suzie Wong, a woman he met on
the star ferry before he moved in.
42 | MAY 2017