No One Will Know

Eve has hooked up with rich boy Xander in Mexico and together they sail his yacht across the Pacific to Sydney. En route, she falls pregnant. But Xander is killed in an accident soon after their arrival and impoverished Eve tries approaching his wealthy family for help, only to be given short shrift. On her own, she has a fortuitous encounter with a mysterious woman who offers her a way out by introducing her to a secretive couple in Tasmania who are desperate for a child of their own.
 
There is the core of a good idea in this novel – a super-rich couple who can’t have children taking in a pregnant single girl with the intention of faking their own pregnancy and then raising her child as their own which, of course, won’t go smoothly.

But this tale goes off into ridiculous tangents of double duplicity on the part of the couple involving fake or not-fake baby bumps, easy remote coincidental births without benefit of hospital care, an inordinate amount of survival swimming in freezing Tasmanian waters, not to mention bizarre wildlife and human trafficking angles, none of which are in the least bit plausible. And as for having a six-year-old child navigate a yacht … The conclusion is rushed and then there’s the bizarre epilogue that contains another twist on the twist that you thought was the original twist but is twisted back again. Eve is vacuous and irritating as she makes so many stupid decisions. All the other characters are blank, unpleasant, stereotyped. 
 
This has to be one of the worst books I’ve read in a long time. Normally, if I dislike a book I won’t pass comments on it, let alone write a review. But this was so bad, I suffered from a case of horror fascination to keep reading (also as a warning to other potential readers) to see if it gets worse. And it does.
 
Having experienced all the many difficulties that goes with being a writer (including unwelcome criticism) I fully appreciate the challenges in getting books written, published, marketed and, if lucky, reviewed, but when an author churns out such dross and a prestigious company accepts it for publication, to me this is more evidence of an increasing lack of discerning agents and/or editors - or did A.I. have a hand in its production? 

I am glad this was a library copy and I didn’t waste my money.
 
One star.

amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

Booktopia

---