Some time ago I read McGregor’s Out of Reach and it was ok, fine, nothing special. Exactly the sort of random quiet very mild very British somewhat older thriller that Endeavor Press (sometimes known as Lume) seems to specialize it.In other words nothing that would necessarily make you want to read more of the author immediately and certainly nothing to prepare me for how good of a second impression McGregor would make.
What a striking difference between the two books. I actually checked to make sure it was the same author and not a namesake. And now to the review itself… Once upon a time a vile man (the vilest of all really, a theater producer among other things) named Randolf Joscelyne married a pretty widow with two young children. A readymade family that he selected for their pliability and then placed firmly under his thumb and pushed down. The boy, older at the time, survived by becoming withdrawn and distant. The mother retreated into denial. But Cecily, who was only six, didn’t stand a chance. She became her stepfather’s special project, his protégé, his victim. Years passed, Cecily grew up and as an adult she is terrifying. A morbidly obese, bizarrely sexualized force of pure sociopathic will decked in designer clothes, she has become a power player in her own right as an interior decorator for the elite. She’s at the top of her game, but her mental state is snowballing into an avalanche, because her stepfather has never let go of her. After all, she belongs to him. A daddy’s girl until the end. So essentially this is her story. Though Cecily aka Joz shares the book, she is the star of the show, a grotesque one at that, but in a mesmerizing can’t look away sort of fashion. Yes, technically there is another protagonist, Faith, she just doesn’t quite have the same presence. Faith is an artist who specializes in expensive reproductions of famous works. Joz hires her for a commission, realizes Faith has something she wants and the rest is…a nightmare. Because Joz has become a sort of destructive force that nothing and no one is safe near. Faith is undergoing a separation from her stool sample of a spouse, while pregnant. So lots going on. But she’s the sane one here. So when her and Joz get locked in a battle of wills, she’ll have that going for her. That was a lot about the plot and it’s interesting and good and there’s much to be said (if one chose to) about the relationship dynamics, especially the balance of power in the male/female relationships, be it father/daughter or man/wife, the paternalistic, possessive, proprietary angle of it all and it pays to remember here that this isn’t a modem book, it’s just older enough to reflect different attitudes all that, but…but the most important thing here, the thing that makes this book stand out is the really striking depiction of evil personified in a complex multifaceted way. When you meet Joz she’s repulsive, abhorrent, vile. There’s an animal abuse scene that’ll slay you. Joz is hateable and easy to hate. And yet as the novel progresses and we learn more and more about the making of her (as it were) and the years and years of the horrible psychological abuse, she becomes something almost…pitiable. That’s no easy task to accomplish. And for that, many kudos to the author. This isn’t really a thriller as such or maybe it can eb considered a dark psychological thriller, but there’s no mystery elements. This is more of a finely tuned psychological drama about trauma and its echoes. Emotionally it’s right on the money, a real gutpuncher of a story. A difficult, devastating, bleak read, but fans of psychological fiction will likely grimly delight in it. Recommended. What's up with the cover, though. Random, generic, nothing to do with the book.
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