I've read two of Nikki Smith’s books. Glossing quickly over my review of them, I discovered that whilst I rated them pretty highly, my enjoyment of them was shaved by the use of the present-tense narrative.
It would appear Smith has a fetish for it, because it is used, alas, here, to no advantage at all. However, it’s* a pretty gripping psychological thriller (See About the Book below). It had me asking all sorts of questions, wondering how on earth they’d be answered and making all sorts of guesses (all wrong!). The ending, however, was very abrupt, and I found myself wanting to turn non-existent pages and then thinking, is that it? There was no ‘The End’, and there were ends to tie up, so despite a fairly climactic finish, I was left dangling.
Smith certainly knows how to plot a book and create some intriguing characters, and it’s hard not to describe her books as unputdownable, despite the poor choice of tense, a rather inconclusive ending and just a few bad grammatical errors (editor please brush up on the use of sat/stood).
*Provided by NetGalley
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