The Drowning Woman

My reading has been pretty eclectic recently. After a a long stretch engrossed in historical fiction or serious non-fiction, I often feel the need to switch to contemporary romance, cosy crimes or more gritty thrillers.

The latter can be problematic. I'm a little concerned about the number of books that have female victims at the mercy of violent men, many of these  women being portrayed as trapped and incapable of standing up for themselves. Given that domestic violence is a very serious issue in our society, reading fictional accounts of such abuse might seem a tad unhealthy.

The trouble is, these books - like some movies - are the equivalent of those foods that can trap you with their aromas. Think the smell of frying bacon or hot chips when you're hungry on a cold winter's day, or chocolate cake baking or roasting coffee - or whatever you struggle to resist. So it is with books like this. They trap you with clever opening hooks, followed by fast-paced dialogue and non-stop action, and you find yourself on a roller-coaster, compelled to keep turning the pages even though you know the whole thing is ridiculous.

This time it's two women at the mercy of controlling men. Once started, I couldn't put it down. I won't detail the plot as it will spoil some of the twists and turns which are, of course, unrelenting. It has ludicrous coincidences. The friendships and relationships have varying levels of toxicity. The nasty male characters are as cliched as you can get. The women are gullible and trusting when anyone in their right mind would have run a mile from the situations they stupidly walk into. Etc, etc, etc. It took me just a day to read. And left me mocking myself for getting so sucked in. If you're in the mood for some high octane entertainment you will probably love it. 

(No star rating, as it will be subject to personal taste.)

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