3 stars

Eliza Walker is a single mother whose fiancé died just six weeks after his daughter was born. She tells her now grown doctor daughter, Francine that her father’s name was Jack Carpenter. Eliza has ruined her life with booze and drugs and is only fifty-seven, but looks closer to eighty. Her doctor has told her to quit drinking or it will kill her.

Following her mother’s death, Francine discovers a letter hidden in her mother’s desk that says she is leaving Jack Carpenter – and oh by the way, she is pregnant. She is devastated. She has a father she was told was dead.

She sets about to locate her father. She finds a possible lead. Jack Carpenter is a wealthy man who lives with his wife and two children not far from where Francine lives. She sets up a meeting with him and he turns out to be her father after all.

Jack is a man who feels somewhat lost in his life. His wife Sophie is a nymphomaniac, His son Harry is a waster who is spoiled and overspends his “allowance.” His daughter Jenny is an alcoholic. Jack looks toward Francine, a respected doctor, to redeem his life.

Sophie gets it into her head that Jack has a new girlfriend. Jack cuts off the funds to his son, except for his job with Jack’s company; a job Harry doesn’t bother to show up at.

Jack and Francine go to Italy for a vacation. When Sophie ferrets out whom Jack is having the affair with, she goes ballistic and calls the hotel at which they are staying. Jack stubbornly refuses to tell Sophie that Francine is his daughter. Apparently, he is content for people to believe she is his mistress. This won’t do at all for Francine. She goes home, breaking off her relationship with Jack. Jack finally tells his family that he has a daughter. They are all afraid he will change his will. Typically, they are looking out only for themselves. They are looking for revenge.

Jack bails out his son Harry once more to the tune of 90,000 pounds. He makes an enemy of the moneylender, Tank Turnbull. Tank, too, is determined to get revenge.

When Jack and Francine are visiting the site of Jack’s latest project, a botched assignation attempt leaves Jack in the hospital. Detective Chief Inspector Daniel Appleman is assigned to the case. An old acquaintance of Jack’s he visits him in the hospital and Jack tells him about Tank Turnbull.

Jenny has left home to become homeless. She befriends another drunk named Taffy. Jenny is in deep trouble. Taffy finds her and she is taken to the hospital. She is taken from the hospital by her mother and some man, and once more she is on the streets.

The story is occasionally interrupted by vignettes of a killer who carefully plans their killings. It is someone the victims know. They greet them and seem glad to see them before they are viciously stabbed to death. DCI Daniel Appleman and DS Flower are assigned to the cases.
I knew who the killer was from practically the first murder. So, no surprise there, but I followed along nonetheless. The police investigation moves slowly – very slowly. There is no tension in the story regarding it. It just plods along. This is the weakest part of the book. The police are either kind of dumb or just plain incompetent. In other words, not up to my standards when reading a police procedural.

The book is written okay, but the dialogue is a little weak and does not necessarily follow at times. The characters are not well fleshed out and seem inconsistent. I would call it poor character development. There are a few grammatical errors which turned out to be a little funny. The plotting is pretty well done; one situation followed another quite consistently.

I have to admit that I did not like either Jack or Francine. Jack is a self-absorbed, not very bright guy. How he got to be the head of a corporation I don’t know. Francine, while she may be a good doctor, is a little flighty and unstable. She is too quick to jump to conclusions. And don’t get me started Appleman’s wife Rachael. She is all over the place; yelling at Daniel one minute, then understanding the next. Appleman seems at a loss. I’m not too sure he is a very good policeman.

I want to thank NetGalley and The Book Guild for forwarding to me a copy of this book to read.