Genre:
Psychological Thriller
Description:
It is high
summer and Rex Allen moves into his new house, The Telescope. Barely
has he begun to unpack when his attractive neighbor, Evangeline
Glass, invites him to one of her regular parties.
Rex finds
himself obsessing on Evangeline. He begins to immerse himself in her
life, filming her at first, then following her movements, convinced
there’s more to her than meets the eye. When Rex discovers
Evangeline’s secret he persuades her to visit him for a two hour
period each week and to become another person – Coral.
But why?
Author:
Richard
Godwin is a widely published author, with a focus on horror and
crime, and a playwright. He has written two full length novels –
Apostle Rising
and Mr. Glamour and
has contributed multiple short stories to anthologies.
You can
learn more about the author on his website.
Appraisal:
Mr. Godwin
reveals the plot underlying One
Lost Summer like a card sharp.
He steadily doles out the pack one by one, hiding the trumps with
clever sleight of hand, only revealing the complete set right at the
conclusion. This is a clever, intelligent psychological thriller.
The
characters are all very strong, every one is an enigma; no one is
quite what they seem. Even when the reader thinks they have the
person figured out the author flips their behavior again, shows a
little more of their personality and position.
First and
foremost is Rex who doesn’t really know himself. He’s clearly
wealthy, but there’s no clue how he’s made his money. He drinks a
lot of the best wine and whisky. His behavior is abnormal - recording
Evangeline on film, often not washing, hearing things in the house –
he’s edgy for some buried reason. And as the tale is told in the
first person through Rex the reader is as puzzled as the protagonist.
Then
there’s enigmatic Evangeline, who tries to control everyone and
everything around her, but actually is the one being contained. She
has plenty of secrets herself. And her husband Harry – possessive
of his wife and possessing a dubious background. Finally the lesser
characters - the hangers-on and party goers such as weak willed
Brenda and her husband.
After an
initial chapter setting the scene, where Rex moves into his new house
(called The Telescope because the previous owner had the instruments
all over the house – perhaps to watch Evangeline too?) and meets
her, the tension and mystery quickly build. There are plenty of
puzzles (and blind alleys) laid out for the reader.
The layout
and style of One Lost Summer
is interesting. The chapters are short, and the book is broken into
sections, each titled to reveal in themselves a little more of the
plot. The writing is economical and tightly focused. The attributes
of each character are usually strikingly described – such as the
clothes they wear, the patterns, the brands (Chanel, Montrachet
wine). It all subtly adds to the ambiance without being distracting
and is key in the psychological process of Rex working on Evangeline.
Overall I
thoroughly enjoyed this work. With summer apparently approaching this
would make an excellent holiday read.
Added
for Reprise Review: One Lost
Summer was a nominee in the Thriller category for B&P 2014
Readers' Choice Awards. Original review ran August 5, 2013
Format/Typo
Issues:
None.
Rating:
***** Five Stars
Reviewed
by: Keith Nixon
Approximate
word count: 35-40,000 words
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