Review ~ Thursday's Children by Nicci French

Penguin Books
Michael Joseph
2014

It's always a relief when you pick up book 4 in series of crime novels, only to find that it's as good, if not better than those that have gone before. I am fast becoming fascinated by the main protagonist, psychotherapist, Freida Klein. She is truly an enigma, and previous stories have only hinted at, but never fully explained anything about her past. 

Thursday's Children, sees Freida return to her childhood home, ostensibly to look after her mother, who has recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness. But as always Freida gets drawn into a mystery, which, although happening in the here and now, also spans decades, and reopens memories for Freida, which she had rather kept hidden.

I think this has been my favourite of the books so far, mainly because it gets into Freida's psyche and reveals just how vulnerable she is and the reasons why that vulnerability has been so well hidden.

The interesting relationship between Freida and her mother is tight and scarily realistic but it is the relationship Freida has with her teenage school friends, now much older, of course,  where the mystery really bites hard. I enjoyed visiting this wild and windswept part of Norfolk with Freida, and all credit to the authors for maintaining the momentum of the series in such a fabulous way.

I loved it and can't wait to read the next book in the series, Friday On My Mind...

About the author

Nicci French is the husband and wife team of journalist Nicci Gerrard and writer Sean French.

Amazon UK

My Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Michael Joseph for my copy of this book.

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Review ~ Waiting for Wednesday by Nicci French

Waiting for Wednesday

Michael Joseph
2013

This is the third book in the excellent Freida Klein series of psychological thrillers from the talented husband and wife writing duo, Nicci French. Waiting for Wednesday is an altogether darker story than the previous two books and picks up where book two, Tuesday's Gone ended, with psychotherapist, Freida, still recovering from her catastrophic trauma from the previous story. Supposedly recuperating at home, Freida gets in inadvertently drawn into the investigation into the murder of seemingly, ordinary mum, Ruth Lennox. 

As always, with these novels, Freida is quickly drawn into the very heart and soul of the story and the many twists and turns in the narrative really keep you gripped from beginning to end. The writing is excellent, with the stories getting stronger and stronger. I'm not sure that I can reveal too much of the plot without giving too much away, except to say that there are couple of dangerous episodes for Freida, and as always you start to fear for her well-being and peace of mind. The eclectic mix of characters who support Freida are again in full voice, I especially love the relationship Freida has with Josef, and enjoy reading about the vitriolic relationship she has with her nemesis and fellow psychotherapist,  Hal Bradshaw.

The murder at the heart of the story is well explained and the police banter between DCI Karlsson and his team feels authentic without being too procedural but it's also nice to get to know a little about the investigative team as people rather than just police officers.

My opinion is that you should read these stories in the order in which they were written, as to start mid series would detract from the overall effect and you would miss all the subtle nuances of the sum total of these excellent crime stories.

My thanks to Michael Joseph and NetGalley for my copy of this book.

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