Double Exposure - Carol Smith

Double Exposure - Carol Smith

This is my very first review so I hope I manage it ok!

I'm not a great reader, but recently I came across this book in a local charity shop for 50 pence, and thought I would try it.

It's a paperback version and around 380 pages in length. The line on the front cover is simple: "Can you trust a stranger?" It has a brief synopsis about the writer, and basically she ...
...as writing her own material.

The story.

Basically this revolves around seven strangers who meet while on holiday in the Caribbean. The meetings result is some strange friendships that subsequently develop.

We get to see characters that for various reasons decide to conceal aspects of their life from the others.
The main characters are:
Merrily Morgenstern who works for a New York bank ... more

Double Exposure - Carol Smith

This is my very first review so I hope I manage it ok!

I'm not a great reader, but recently I came across this book in a local charity shop for 50 pence, and thought I would try it.

It's a paperback version and around 380 pages in length. The line on the front cover is simple: "Can you trust a stranger?" It has a brief synopsis about the writer, and basically she is English and she became a Literary Agent as well as writing her own material.

The story.

Basically this revolves around seven strangers who meet while on holiday in the Caribbean. The meetings result is some strange friendships that subsequently develop.

We get to see characters that for various reasons decide to conceal aspects of their life from the others.
The main characters are:
Merrily Morgenstern who works for a New York bank and is a high flying executive who manages to put on a mask that hides deeper anxiety; while a mother and daughter called Cora Louise and Fontaine are from the deep south of America and worry that someone will expose their own dirty secret.
There is also Jessica, who is reserved and a little shy, and deep down is in mourning.
And Joanna and her boyfriend who have come on holiday on the spur of the moment, and while Joanna is a newly qualified doctor her boyfriend Sebastian persuades her not to disclose her profession for his own selfish reasons.
You have Lowell and Vincent who are there together and yet seem to lead very separate lives? Very much the odd couple.

The holiday breaks up, but the decision is made to begin visiting each other to continue meeting up on holiday. This means that we get taken from the Caribbean, to London and the Albert Hall, as well as America.
But somewhere in amongst all this, there is a killer lurking and someone else is on his or her trail.

What did I think?

The book is witty and entertaining, and the characters have plenty of depth but aren't too complex and that gives it a charm of its own.

The mystery surrounding the story was also good, but I did find the ending a little unsatisfactory. It's a great read through but somehow it just didn't quite fizz for me at the end and that was a slight disappointment because I had enjoyed the rest of it so much.

I'm not too sure what other books Carol Smith has written but I do think I will be looking to get some more if I spot some.

The price.

Like I said I found mine in a Charity shop for 50 pence! But I've subsequently seen it in our local WH Smith for £5.49 new and so I would think this is the sort of price you can be expected to pay somewhere else. 

...less