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LOOKING DOWN
by Frances Fyfield
Time Warner, May 2005
320 pages
6.99GBP
ISBN: 0751533408


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

I used to read all Frances Fyfield's books, but for some reason had lost track of them three or four ago. Fifty pages into LOOKING DOWN, I remembered why -- next to nothing had happened, it was like wading through treacle and lots of people were standing around making vaguely cryptic speeches like something out of an Amanda Cross novel. "I am kind and curious by nature," says a character, unprompted and apropos of not much at all, at one point.

Several books ago I seem to recall that Sarah Fortune, the leading character, was a lawyer. She now appears to be a high-class call girl with a select clientele and a habit of attracting lame dogs. Yes, yes, the tart with a heart. Yawn. She's living in a genteel London flat left to her by a former client, surrounded by other unbelievable oddballs, not least her cat-burglar brother.

The crime, such as it is, happens on the first page and the whodunit is signalled with a troupe of marching girls not long after. So from then on it's a great deal of talk and really not much action at all -- which is unfortunate, as the opening scene with a girl falling over the cliff in front of Richard Beaumont, one of Sarah's weirdoes, is a promising start.

And the threads, such as they are, get gathered together far too slickly and with too many coincidences. I did wonder if I'd missed something after Sarah's assumptions about the dead girl near the end -- but checking back proved I hadn't. The mystery is so far back you'll need to hire a taxi to reach it.

The only scenes to have any sort of pull on me were those between Richard -- he who painted while a girl died -- and police surgeon John where awkwardly burgeoning straight male friendship is the focus. But naturally the strength of these scenes are buried under acres of verbiage.

Barbara Vine can do this sort of book with her eyes closed. Minette Walters can do this sort of book whilst multi-tasking with three other activities. But those writers can plot and make you care about their characters. With Fyfield, frankly my dears, I didn't give a damn.

Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, May 2005

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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