"Nineteen ninety-four. Twenty-three years ago. Brandon Wells. Guildford."
Julia Winter, now 48-years-old, had fled London to Guildford after her long-time boyfriend, Christian, had dumped her for another woman. She was then 23 and ended up sharing a grand home with the owner, Genevieve D'Auncey, and 4 other tenants. There was Lucy, Gideon, Brandon and Alan. Tensions are high in the household as the roommates don't get along very well and Genevieve is a bit of a flake and makes Brandon her pet -- probably because he reminds her of her own dead son. Their house-sharing comes to a grand halt and the roomies go their separate ways. Or do they? Now, Julia and two of her former housemates are on trial for murder. NO SPOILERS.
This was sort of slow-moving and the forward pace was bogged by the shift in time between 1994 and present day. At first, it was very hard to keep track of what was going on in each time period. I must say that all of the characters are pretty unlikeable and that made their behavior and relationships hard to understand. Julia is particularly weak and the perfect target for an alpha male. It helped that I read this in one sitting so that I could keep all the characters and the events straight. I admit to geing surprised by the conclusion and I was glad that I had stuck with it after all though I'm not sure that justice was adequately served!
PS - there was no "affair at work" that cost her job. The synopsis provided is quite misleading in some aspects.
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for the e-book ARC to read and review.
This is a standalone and is not part of any series.
Genre - domestic drama, murder, some courtroom action
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