What has happened to Gerri Hill? Once a favourite author of mine, this is one of the rare books to make it onto our “don’t bother” list.
Woman A is a reluctant celebrity actress, closeted and friendless, and mysteriously successful in her movies. Her next, and final role before her planned retirement from acting, is as a cop, so she has a work shadowing placement with Woman B. So far, so predictable, and I withheld judgement, because predictable doesn’t necessarily mean “bad”.
Woman B keeps to herself and does nothing other than work. Unknown to her colleagues, her previous job ended in tragedy. Woman B is obviously not at all keen to babysit some celebrity she’s never heard of (having no interest in tv or cinema).
So, they get paired up, and on their first trip into the outside world together, Woman A’s stalker appears. The rest of the book revolves around trying to not be attacked by the stalker, while also trying to find the stalker, while also falling for each other, while travelling between a variety of hotels and motels.
So, what’s so bad with all this? Well, first the plot and second the character development. To be more specific about the plot:
- The title of the book gives away a major plot point!
- The detectives show a remarkable lack of interest and skill in actually working out what’s going on.
- They are absurdly casual about the possible appearance of the violent stalker, taking a break for some sex.
- They finally go on the run from not only the stalker, but also the police and the FBI for no discernible reason – the FBI would surely be more able to engage with this than these inadequate police officers?
As for character development, the past and current traumas of both characters is totally glossed over with a bit of physical intimacy and, presumably, the magic of the passage of time. They stare into each other’s eyes and ‘get’ each other, but have no shared interests, no reason to be together other than one likes to cook and the other likes to assist with cooking, and no suggestion that a relationship would actually work.
Do. Not. Bother.
The Locket at Amazon (and, frankly, the 4.5 stars it’s currently got there is EXACTLY why we started this blog.)
She Sighed! 