Sphere €17.39
REVENGE is sweet. Though less so when you're getting your revenge on the wrong person.
In Second Chances, Lizzie Walsh has fled Wexford for Dublin, where she won't be reminded of the murder of her sister, Megan.
Lizzie has made a life she loves. She has a great job raising funds for a charity, a gorgeous wannabe actor boyfriend, and she volunteers for a helpline.
But one day she sees Megan's murderer, Joe Jones, now free as air, strolling along Grafton Street without a care in the world.
Lizzie turns into a stalker.
Joe Jones is universally acknowledged as a nice guy, kind to his elderly neighbours and the oul' fellas at the pigeon racing club where he hangs out. What a sickener.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Lizzie's mother has discovered Megan's diary - and, as astute readers will have guessed, Joe's not the bad guy.
The story is told in parallel, Megan's diary gradually revealing the truth of her death as Lizzie tangles herself fatally in Joe's life, determined to repay the harm done to her family.
Poor gormless Joe is unwittingly spreading his sweetness on the desert air as he loves his neighbour and does good to those who hate him.
Second Chances is cosy, not plotty, a reassuring winter read for lovers of sedate chicklit.
Publisher's site
2 comments:
Can't understand that review - is it the same book? I loved this story, it kept me on the edge of my seat. Besides the plot, I loved all the characters and thought Joe was wonderfully realised as a man who has been released from prison and whose only wish is to have a quiet life doing what he loves. Not chick lit, far grittier and funnier and very moving.
'Chicklit' isn't pejorative! I liked this book a lot, but it wasn't (for me, anyway) a gripping page-turner so much as a gentle, funny story.
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