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Alys, Always

A superbly disquieting psychological thriller

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Alys, Always

By: Harriet Lane
Narrated by: Clare Corbett
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Summary

 Frances is a thirty-something sub-editor, an invisible production, drone on the books pages of the Questioner. Her routine and colourless existence is disrupted one winter evening when she happens upon the aftermath of a car crash and hears the last words of the driver, Alys Kyte.

When Alys's family makes contact in an attempt to find closure, Frances is given a tantalising glimpse of a very different world: one of privilege and possibility. The relationships she builds with the Kytes will have an impact on her own life, both professionally and personally, as Frances dares to wonder whether she might now become a player in her own right...

Read by Clare Corbett

(p) 2012 Orion Publishing Group©2012 Harriet Lane Contemporary Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological Thriller & Suspense Women's Fiction
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I thoroughly enjoyed this book but I really don’t understand why. The lead character was not at all likeable or attractive. She was devious and manipulative and sometimes very cruel. But somehow I was drawn in and listened very happily. The narration was excellent.

Loved this book but not sure why!

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I’m not going to explain the book because it’s far to easy to spoil it for other readers. It’s complex, difficult to fathom at times but is an excellent snapshot of human Machiavellian skills.

Unusual

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This book is so subtle and written with such economy that it could deceive you into thinking nothing much is really happening. In reality what this presents is an insight into the workings of an arch manipulator. After witnessing the tragic death of Alys, Frances is quick to recognise an opportunity, pursues it relentlessly and in doing so utilises her the ability to read people and understand what is really behind their weasel words. Her friendship with the capricious daughter is a very clever set up, with the daughter mistakenly thinking she has the upper hand, and from then on the family are left open and vulnerable for the pounce.

This is life played out like a game of chess with many dangers and pitfalls along the way and what is ingenious about this book is its sheer believability. It leaves you thinking that every successful family must surely have a Frances living amongst them. The trick is working out who they are.

An opportunity grasped with talons out

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A very believable plot with insight into people and their workings.
Some of the interpretations of the narrator felt different to my own, an inevitable consequence of audio books over reading from print.

Insightful story

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A very clever narrative told by a female persona who emerges as tending to psychopathy. Sadly reader makes the lead male character who has a lot of direct speech sound absurdly ancient and gruff, and the young female gratingly shrill.

Unsympathetic first person narrator!

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