Susan Harrison’s debut novel is a stunning achievement. Her
story is told in alternate viewpoints between the two main protagonists, who
are both damaged products of their environment and upbringing. Her focus is
firmly upon character and motivation, analysing the psychology of each party
and trying to determine their impulses and motives.
In some senses it’s difficult to achieve a critical distance
from the book knowing that Harrison died shortly before publication. Any
criticism, however minor, sounds like ill-will, given that she cannot defend
herself. However, to my mind in some instances the book felt just a little
over-written; with the psychological discursions obscuring the plot rather than
advancing it, but perhaps this had been her intention.
She herself described the work as “a study of two people at
the limits of their ability to cope”, and for me where the novel works best is documenting
the discreet retaliations that Jodi employs to keep the grievances in check
that she feels towards her philandering partner. I particularly enjoyed the way
that Harrison chose to make the two main characters fairly passive in their
approach, with neither being particularly likeable at times, hence the title of
the novel.
Many reviewers seem to want to compare the novel to Gillian
Flynn’s “Gone Girl” but to me that seems a lazy comparison. The two books are
fundamentally very different, and this felt darker, more calculated, somehow
more real. The real loss is Harrison herself, and as a reader I feel an overwhelming
sense of sadness that this powerful debut will also need to serve as her
epitaph.
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