Starting with The Last Flight by Julie Clark
Claire Cook is the beautiful wife of politican Rory Cook. He is handsome and dynamic, the son of a former senator whose shadow I suspect he lives in and never finds himself overcoming his mother's mystique.
Rory Cook is also an abusive and controlling husband. After enduring physical and mental abuse in her marriage as well as being in the public eye just about every moment of the day, Claire has the perfect plan to get away for good.
Her every movement is watched, her calender is public so she needs the perfect scenario to slip away and disappear. With a new identity and stashed cash Claire is on her way to disappearing and becoming someone else. Months of planning are destroyed when Rory swaps the agenda and goes on the trip to Detroit where Claire's documents are waiting.
An opportunity presents itself when a young woman offers to switch tickets with Claire at the airport. Instead of boarding a flight for San Juan she heads to Oakland California. Eva has Claire's ticket and they both hope to start a new life elsewhere. Lots of intrigue and you will reread the prologue when you finish the story, learning the identity of the person narrating in the beginning.
A Double Life by Flynn Berry
The story begins with Claire, a medical doctor living in London. Claire isn’t her true name as it’s been changed for her protection. About 25 years ago her father Colin attempted to murder her mother Faye.
Twenty plus years ago upper crust English gentleman Colin meets working class woman Faye whilst on dates with other people. They leave the restaurant together and seem to hit it off. Faye finds Colin is just a regular fellow and has no idea of his wealth or upbringing.
One evening Colin takes Faye to a friend's house for a dinner party. This is the first time she meets James and Rose. From her description it’s like arriving on a masterpiece theater or national trust property. In spite of the fact his friends are from a different social and class level than she has ever been involved in, they seem to except her and she has a good time.
Eventually Colin grows tired of Faye and leaves their home and their two children. One night, allegedly, he returns to their home armed with a pipe and beats the nanny to death then tries to murder Faye. Colin flat out disappears afterwards. His car with blood covered searts is found abandoned near a cliff but no one can find him.
Afterwards Faye takes Claire and her infant son Robbie to Scotland to start a new life. There are hundreds of domestic violence cases and murders reported annually in the U.K. but as Colin was a Lord and policically connected, this particular murder and assault case stays in the news. People blog about the details and wonder where Faye and her children went. Did he do it or was it a burglar? Naturally the family needed to disappear and start over.
So that was the backstory woven in but the focus is on how Claire and her brother Robbie handle their lives with so much tragedy in their backgrounds. It seems to obsess Claire especially as she is contacted by police every few years with a "sighting of her father" and it dredges everything up again. The settings are London, Scotland and Coatia.
This is loosely based on a true story about Lord Lucan who disappeared in 1979 after a murder. Same situation with an abandoned bloodied car and wrapped pipe. Hmmmm...
I loved Flynn Berry's novel Northern Spy so I thought I'd try another of her books. I liked it better but I am now going to read her first novel Under the Harrow next.
Sharing with Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday.
