Georgina Fleming (1945–2020)

While I liked another of White's novels enough to buy this one (thankfully on sale) I'm not finishing it. Ange is a slimy loser who has made her own unsatisfactory life and has the idea that she deserves Fabian's money. White didn't even try to make up a reason that could be remotely justifiable. Ange had an opportunity to do better in life, but she knew her choices were bad and I'm sick of hearing her whine about them. Plus there's no way she could pull off a fake this convincing with a show more family like Fabians and as if he'd marry her without an iron-clad pre-nup. Oy vey. DNF it is. show less

Barry and Cheryl are a young, desperately poor couple, who get picked to appear in a reality television series about poverty in Britain. Initially, they are taken to the hearts of the public, but predictably the tide of opinion turns – fuelled by a ruthless tabloid press – and they find themselves reviled, hated and scared to show their faces in public. And then their three children are kidnapped, and events take a truly monstrous turn.

This book sums up so much about why I generally show more detest reality television. Such programmes can be exploitative and cruel, making heroes and villains out of ordinary, often vulnerable people. Barry and Cheryl think that all their dreams will come true by appearing on this programme – and for a while it seems that they are right – but the media care little about them, and encourage the public to vent all their hatred on this young couple, determined to show them as irresponsible and greedy dole-scroungers (if this all sounds familiar, it’s probably because there are programmes that do EXACTLY this, although this book predates many of the current crop of such shows). The venom with which they are treated – and it is mainly aimed at Cheryl, rather than Barry – is breathtaking and disgusting.

The twists and turns come thick and fast, and at times I was not sure who or what to believe. As the public animosity takes its toll on Cheryl, her thoughts become confused and a sense of paranoia creeps in. I found the story utterly compelling, although in many ways it was not at all enjoyable. It was all too believable, and quite accurately reflected how people are worshipped or reviled as a result of their appearance on programmes like the fictional one in this book ‘The Dark End of the Street’ – yet they are not really prepared or equipped to deal with such strong feelings from a public who don’t really know anything of them, other than how the programme makers manipulate their appearances on television.

My only real criticism of the book would be the final two pages. The story is completed by then, and these last couple of pages feel like a clumsily tacked-on, and unnecessary epilogue. Other than that though, it’s a gripping thriller which can make for uncomfortable reading. show less

This is a charming and hugely entertaining mystery and I would love to see the BBC television production. Wicked and wild, Gillian White's characters can be terrifying or humorous and frequently both.

#68, 2004

Ouch. This was a really gripping book, which I had trouble putting down. It's the story of two neighbors, Jennie and Martha, and the deterioration of their relationship - it's a bit of a "Fatal Attraction" tale, dealing with obsession on the one hand, and, well, something else on the other. In the prologue, we learn that one of the women is in prison for the murder of the other - but we don't know which was which. This was in my mind almost constantly while I was reading, creating a show more lovely tension - wanting to know who, what, where, how and why. And the ending is so delicious. I'd highly recommend this book.

SPOLIER
WARNING . . .

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!

OMG! OMG! OMG! Part of me saw this coming, but I was still really surprised. Any thoughts on which one of them it is? I'm leaning toward Martha being the one in prison. All along, it seemed more likely that Jennie was the murderer, which made me suspect that it would be Martha (just as a twist). But now . . . ARGH! The pattern of entries isn't consistent, so that doesn't seem to be a clue. But for some reason, I feel like Martha is the one in prison - she was the one who seemed the most unstable by the end of the book. Which sucks, really. Jennie was, obviously, insane, and I disliked her from pretty much the very start. In addition to the obsession (which might be overlooked on account of mental illness), I found her habits and attitudes to be entirely replusive. I identified more with Martha, although I'm not really all that much like her. But still . . . WOW! It did blow my socks off. I can't decide whether I loved it or hated it (but I think I loved it, really). ::grin::

I do think the story was well crafted. Jennie's obsession had a sort of terrifying veracity, and Martha (who I suspect was the trickier one to write) was also believeable. Not long into the book, I started thinking there was no way that White could pull off any sort of believeable story where Martha could allow herself to stay in a relationship with Jennie, but she managed to do it. I can't decide if she (Martha) chose to take the easy route, or was just too kind where it wasn't warranted. Or, just too screwed up herself (in a more hidden way), that she got caught up in the obsession, too. Probably a bit of all three. I still think that Martha behaved stupidly (and I'd have never trusted my child with Jennie. EVER. PERIOD), but I was able to suspend my disbelief long enough to see how Martha could have been swayed. Loved it, and plan to read more by this author.

So . . . any other thoughts about which one you think was the killer? show less