The Point of Rescue (Culver Valley Crime)

by Sophie Hannah

[Leah]

When I get a bit fed up of reading Chick Lit novels, I like to read something a bit different. Sophie Hannah is a big draw for me. I read Hurting Distance a while back and I loved it. It blew me away with the suspense and the twists and turns and I quickly got her first book Little Face. I didn’t enjoy Little Face as much as Hurting Distance, but it was still a brilliant read. The books are all linked together as the same police team – in particular Charlie Zailer and Simon Waterhouse – investigate all of the crimes. I then skipped this novel and read The Other Half Lives, which again, was a good enough read. So because I’d read so much Chick Lit recently I decided to go back to The Point of Rescue, which is book three in the series. (Little Face, Hurting Distance, The Point of Rescue, The Other Half Lives, A Room Swept White and Lasting Damage are the books so far in the series).

I thoroughly enjoyed The Point of Rescue. It took me a bit to get into it, but once I did I found it hard to put down. The premise of the novel is insane, as you can read above. You meet a man in a hotel – on a week-long break you’re not meant to be on – and when you see this man’s face on the TV because his wife and daughter are dead, you realise that isn’t the man you spent the week with. See, isn’t that just blow-your-mind stuff? Sophie Hannah is excellent at coming up with plots and I really don’t think there’s anyone who can write a psychological suspense novel like she can. The book was very well paced and I didn’t guess at all who the man behind it was.

My only issues with Sophie’s books is that she doesn’t explain at all what’s happened in previous books. So Zailer constantly refers to ‘what happened last year’ without us being explicitly told what it was, meaning you need to read Hurting Distance to find out. I also found it strange it was never explained to us why she left CID (as she has done at the beginning of the novel). I also find the relationship between Charlie Zailer and Simon Waterhouse to be hard to swallow. There’s no love there between them. It’s like they're partners at work, and then all of a sudden they’re talking getting engaged without us knowing why or without seemingly being in love. It’s peculiar. Either it should be done properly – we should see them fall in love or it should be abandoned because it left me thinking “What the heck?”. It just doesn’t seem to work for whatever reason and I can’t believe her editor hasn’t pulled her up on it to make it more believable. Quite honestly, I don’t CARE if they get married or engaged or are boyfriend and girlfriend and I’m the biggest romance person ever. I love a good love story.

I really enjoyed the story, though, Sophie’s an accomplished writer and the book was just the right length and the pace was kept quite well throughout. The way it switches from first-person to third-person worked brilliantly, too. I can’t wait to dive into A Room Swept White and Lasting Damage, and I would definitely recommend the books if you’re a suspense fan because they’re full of that.