Thursday 23 February 2017

Review: Little Face, Sophie Hannah

Alice Fancourt steps out of the house for the first time without her baby. It's a momentous step but hopefully just a short one. However, when she returns from her errand - visiting a gym for which her mother-in-law has paid for membership - the unthinkable happens.

She goes upstairs to check on her baby but her baby is not there.

There is a baby there, but Alice swears it is not hers. Her husband, David, thinks she's mad or lying. Alice turns to the police, but they think she's bonkers, too. What is she going to have to do to prove herself?

Eventually, the story turns not just into a question of getting Florence, the baby, back, but more. Alice sees a darker, more sadistic side to her husband and feels the suffocating 'love' of her mother-in-law even more. It becomes a battle not just for a baby, for the truth, but for herself.

It's a fantastic thriller/mystery novel, and Sophie Hannah keeps you guessing at every turn. What really is going on in Alice's mind? Who should she trust? Who should we trust? For a story that is almost closed set - the settings don't range much between the house in which Alice and David live with their mother-in law, the gym, and Alice's workplace - it is hugely absorbing and fast paced.

Fans of Gillian Flynn and the unreliable narrator style of novels will hugely enjoy this.

1 comment:


  1. Hi Rebecca,

            I thought you'd might enjoy a free advanced release e-copy of the brand new comedy fantasy sci-fi "11,984."  This is not a conventional novel. It contains a lot of creative innovations, including punctuation from the future. 

            Thousands of years in the future, humanity has finally eradicated war, poverty, and all forms of human suffering. With no problems or unanswered questions remaining in the world, everyone is bored out of their minds, that is until the sun starts putting on a light show, the first warning sign it's getting ready to supernova!

           Our heroes from the year 11,984 are your typical family of two mothers, three fathers, a couple of kids, and plenty of robots. Fun-loving Troll, so called because of her giant troll doll hair(They don't have names in the future, or wear clothes) is the world's leading hydrologist/interior decorator, whose plans to retire quickly change when faced with the drought to end all droughts. Bulb, bald head glowing like a lightbulb, is the cranky Minister of Rational Thought. His faith in science is tested by the total collapse of society. Last but not least is Litterbot, the clumsy garbagebot who gets no respect, and whose highest priority--to clean--is frustrated by a world without messes. 

           As the family works on building an escape spaceship, the sun bombards them in changing colors, which unbeknownst to them causes radiation insanity. The sky colors keep growing stronger, and these totally peaceful people are at each other's throats. It gets so bad their bodies mutate (which helps them work faster) and world computer crashes (forcing them to read primitive paper books, and rely more on Litterbot.) Will they launch before getting smashed to pieces? 

          My first humor novel, Foxavier and Plinka, was published in 2013, and is also available.

    May I email the complete 11,984 manuscript of 75,000 words?

    Thank you.

    Scott Evans
    Rochester NY

    Scottevansrochester AT yahoo DOT com

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