What do You think about Hurting Distance (2007)?
Sophie Hannah, the author is 40, and a fellow UK psychological thriller author, Tara French, recommends this book with a quote on the cover. Maybe there is a generation of young women UK authors who know how to spin a tale with shifts of point of view, non linear time lines, and glimpses at terror from trauma in the human psyche. One woman, Naomi, makes sundials for a living after becoming rich selling a font she designed to adobe as a university student. Her chapters are in first person, and show she is a bit deranged, as she is obsessed with her affair with a married man. They meet on Tuesdays at the traveltel in Room 11. The details seem to make the book and make it believable, although the heinous, sick crime that is finally uncovered is preposterous, a stag club where men watch a woman raped while eating a gourmet meal. But the main character, Charlie, a police sergeant and her sidekick, Simon, whom she loves but can’t get with, give the reader a anchor to make the whole story work. The detail on sun dials is disarmingly interesting. Themes of the book include (1) there are no coincidences; (2) hurting distance, only when someone is close can you be hurt; and (3) the worst pain is when someone dismantles the reality that you have. These are all powerful themes and are presented in a subtle manner that seep into one’s consciousness. It is a bit jarring to read in the gaps in plot line, but it all works with a karmically satisfying ending.
—Annabelle
What a book! This one was definitely better than the first book of the series. With so much intrigue that enthuse you to keep reading and engage you in a very smart way.Hurting Distance takes place after a year from Little Face. Naomi Jenkins reports her lover Robert Haworth missing based on him not appearing for their usual weekly meeting place, a hotel. She was having an affair with him behind his wife's back. And when no one at the police station took her seriously, she claimed this Robert raped her. It's enough accusation to make the detectives move and investigate. Her lie lead the police to find Robert bashed on the head in his house while his wife was grinning. What is going on? and what's more to this case missing persons? In the mean time, Charlie Zailer is on a vacation with her sister. Granted, things always go wrong with family members.I really loved this book for the strong emotional baggage it had not that the first book wasn't. But Hurting Distance was even more intriguing and gripping compared to the first one. This time I felt for the women involved as much as for Charlie herself. There were some little gaps I was annoyed with but the action was worth it.I guess I'll be starting the next one now :D
—ɑƨħŵɑɡ ♥Team Magnus Damora FOREVER♥
This is the fourth Spilling CID I've read but the second in the series. Once again, I found the book a mixed bag. Well-written with some interesting characters (though some unbelievable), the book follows the same pattern as the others I've read with a 3rd person narrative interspersed with a 1st person. As the 1st person narrative also includes her talking in her head to her missing/injured lover this can become confusing. What I have found with Hannah's work is that there is usually an initial premise that the reader has to accept to be able to enjoy the work as a whole. Suspension of disbelief, I would call it. In this book I found the continual surmising ..... "He might have ... she maybe ..... they probably think/act, etc ....." unconvincing and this meant that I never really believed in the plotline which was fanciful to say the least. The brutal nature and descriptions of this plotline were another reason that I could only give this book two stars. Every time I start to read a book in this series I am very hopeful but, so far, I have been disappointed each time.
—Ellen
