Book Review: Staring at the Light

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Staring at the Light     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Frances Fyfield
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Psychological Suspense
Viking, Jan 2000, $23.75, 275 pp.

There must be something in her past that leaves London solicitor Sarah Fortune with a motley crew of losers for clients. Perhaps it was the lover who brutally beat her. The only group worse than Sarah’s customers is her lovers. Her current client is Belfast bomb-maker and artist Cannon Smith.

Cannon worries about the safety of his wife Julie from his worst enemy, his twin brother Johnny. Sarah hopes to protect both Cannon and Julie from his dangerous sibling. Johnny never gives up a possession as shown by the houses he owns. He would rather see his houses rot than sell any of them. Sarah believes that the violent Johnny has never recovered from the loss of his most prized possession: Cannon. She thinks he will kill Julie if given the opportunity. Just ask attorney Andrew Mitchem if Johnny is capable of violence. Johnny is coming to re-possess Cannon, which means Julie must go in a very painful way.

STARING AT THE LIGHT is a taut psychological thriller that keeps readers on the edge of their seat until the final climax. Cannon and Sarah are deep individuals with pasts that shape their present and future. However, the tale belongs to the sociopath Johnny who finds hurting people to attain his goals as more than an acceptable practice. He takes pleasure from inflicting pain. Frances Fyfield provides her audience with a tight psychological thriller that will gain the author new readers.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner