Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner
Charlotte's Friend
Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Susan Kennedy
Class/Genre: Mystery Psychological Suspense
St. Martin's, Aug 1998, $21.95, 247 pp.
When Charlotte Pierce was growing up, she was an unhappy loner. She loathed her parents and younger brother because of all the abuse they inflicted on her. At boarding school, Charlotte meets her only two friends, Barty and Therese, and adopts them as her family. To maintain the twosome as her family, Charlotte manages to keep them apart by turning them against each other even as she remains their best friend.
Now in her forties, Charlotte has spent much of the last two plus decades manipulating her two friends into doing her bidding. Anyone who happens to become involved with either Barty or Therese is forced away or simply murdered. Barty's lesbian lover was killed and so was a BBC producer. Charlotte controls Therese through the woman's lover, who has a criminal history. However, a school reunion is coming up and Charlotte's machinations may finally come out into the open.
CHARLOTTE'S FRIENDS is a well-written story that grabs the reader with its dark subject. However, though the story line is extremely interesting and demonstrates that Sarah Kennedy has talent, the characters except for the lead protagonist seem flat, lacking emotion and motives, thereby hurting the novel. Overall, this dark tale will be enjoyed by fans of psychological terror.
Harriet Klausner
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner
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