She Treads Softly: Talking to Strangers

Wednesday, August 21, 2024

Talking to Strangers

Talking to Strangers by Fiona Barton
8/27/24; 400 pages
Penguin Publishing/Berkley
DI Elise King #2

Talking to Strangers by Fiona Barton is a highly recommended procedural and the second book in the series featuring Detective Inspector Elise King following Local Gone Missing (2022). This is a good choice for those who enjoy procedurals.

In the small town of Epping in Essex, England, Karen Simmons, a popular hairdresser, is murdered and her body is left in Knapton Wood on the day after Valentine’s Day. Detective Inspector Elise King is back on the job after her mastectomy and chemotherapy. She is concerned about her ability to focus due to chemo brain, but is relying on notes to help her. Elise wonders if Karen was killed by a man she met online.

Kiki Nunn, a journalist and single mother, is closely following the murder investigation while aggressively conducting her own investigation into Karen's life. This includes joining online dating apps and looking at any/all of the men she was seeing.

Annie Curtis, one of Simmons’s clients, never recovered from the death of her son, eight-year-old Archie, who was killed sixteen years ago in the same woods. Although the police arrested a man for the crime, Annie still has questions about the investigation and wonders if the murders might be connected.

The short quick chapters in the narrative alter between the point-of view of Elise, Kiki, and Anne to propel the story forward and increase the tension and suspense. Although this is the second in a series, it can easily be read as a standalone novel. All the lead characters are fully realized individuals and the plot, while full of complications, is compelling. Admittedly, many fans of procedurals and investigative mysteries are going to figure out where everything is headed very early on, but it is an intriguing, thought provoking, intense, and entertaining journey to the end.

The plot in Talking to Strangers has many complexities so part of the pleasure is following the different leads, disclosures, discoveries, and viewpoints heading toward the devastating resolution. Thanks to Berkley for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

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John Updike's six rules for reviewing:

1. Try to understand what the author wished to do, and do not blame him for not achieving what he did not attempt.

2. Give him enough direct quotation--at least one extended passage--of the book's prose so the review's reader can form his own impression, can get his own taste.

3. Confirm your description of the book with quotation from the book, if only phrase-long, rather than proceeding by fuzzy precis.

4. Go easy on plot summary, and do not give away the ending.

5. If the book is judged deficient, cite a successful example along the same lines, from the author's oeuvre or elsewhere. Try to understand the failure. Sure it's his and not yours?

To these concrete five might be added a vaguer sixth, having to do with maintaining a chemical purity in the reaction between product and appraiser.....Review the book, not the reputation.... Better to praise and share than blame and ban. The communion between reviewer and his public is based upon the presumption of certain possible joys in reading, and all our discriminations should curve toward that end.