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Francesca Weisman can do spooky for England. Her first book, NOWHERE'S CHILD, flipped seamlessly between the past and the present, and her new novel THE SHAPE OF A STRANGER uses the same device to excellent effect. Callum Scott is a successful London barrister. One evening, as he's walking on Hampstead Heath, he is clobbered on the head. He later discovers that the blow has caused a rare condition which has damaged his eyesight. But he reckons he might be lucky when police tell him another man was killed after a similar attack at the same spot a week earlier . . . until they add that they think Callum was the intended victim all along. From this point on, THE SHAPE OF A STRANGER is a book to read with the light on, as Cal's past returns to haunt his present in the shape of old friend Rosie. He has reason to be very afraid as it becomes apparent that whoever is stalking him knows him very well. Weisman is an accomplished storyteller with a nicely understated style. The risk there, of course, is that occasionally she will miss the mark and let the narrative drift. And I did wonder whether this hot-shot barrister really would allow his wife to block his access to their kids. But generally this is an absorbing page-turner. And Weisman is a writer capable of neat little touches -- the scene where Rosie returns from the US to her ill mother and shows her the superficial trappings of success stuck in my mind. You have to pay attention as the book slips backwards and forwards in time and moves between Callum and Rosie's points of view -- Weisman keeps a firm hand on the often tricky use of the present tense for Rosie's scenes. If you like comparisons, Weisman reminds me a little of Barbara Vine, but for me her characters are far more believable. THE SHAPE OF A STRANGER IS A disquieting, claustrophobic novel where Callum doesn't know what he's seen or who to trust, and neither does the reader.
Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, February 2006
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