From Publishers Weekly
Psychological stereotyping and unconvincing plotting undermine this tale of sexual abuse, incest and murder from prolific British novelist Brett (A Shock to the System; the Charles Paris novels). Attractive, willful London TV producer Laura Fisher has a hard time with intimacy. Her father sexually abused her and beat her brother, Kent, as children, and was imprisoned for strangling their mother to death. The narrative's first half, set in 1973, chronicles Laura's decision to get pregnant and raise a healthy, normal child of her own. She picks out a stranger in a hotel bar, seduces him, then scares him off with a pistol. Twenty years later, she and her son are living together in Bristol. When he is accused of assaulting his girlfriend, and later of murdering her, Laura must confront her gruesome family legacy and the emotional damage that her brother, now a police detective, has been warning her about for years. Brett relies too often on the lurid to pique reader interest: during an attempted strangling, the intended victim finds what's happening to her "strangely erotic." He relies too heavily on childhood trauma to explain motivation as well, and his plot misdirections won't keep most readers from picking out the villain long before the melodramatic climax. This is a disappointing offering from a writer who's capable of more persuasive, and more entertaining, work.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Library Journal
Brett is best known for his amateur detective, Charles Paris, a witty, down-at-the-heels actor. He has also written several psychological suspense novels, of which this is the latest. While our reviewer found "the polished style is as good as ever" in A Shock to the System (LJ 5/1/85), the same cannot be said of Singled Out. Told mostly in flashback, it chronicles the sad story of Laura, sexually molested as a child by her father, and the impact that abuse has had on her life and on her brother's. The series of murders that follow Laura, and the possibility that her son may have killed his girlfriend and continued the brutal family legacy left by her father, who murdered her mother, haunt Laura but not the reader. Perhaps the monotone voice of the main character is supposed to mirror the emotionless quality of her life, yet the flatness doesn't quite work for a woman who is also a very successful TV producer/director. The savvy reader will guess who the real culprit is. Stick with Brett's Paris mysteries.?Francine Fialkoff, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
