Apple Tree Yard

This is a perplexing review to write if only because that is how the book left me feeling - very very perplexed.

It is the first book I have read by this author and did so because it seemed to be so very highly regarded and many people hailed it as better than Gone Girl. Now I didn't love Gone Girl but I saw it's wasted potential and hoped this book may alleviate that frustration. Instead I felt very very unmoved by this book.

The book begins with a trial at the Old Bailey in London which will become central to our tale and fails to give an details about what had happened nor why our lead character is on trial.

Our lead character Yvonne Carmichael is a genetic scientist and very well educated scientist in her mid 50's who one day whilst attending a select committee at the Houses of Parliament meets a mysterious stranger whom within less than one hour has secreted her down to a secret crypt beneath the Commons and had sex with her. Now this I found did not endear me to our leading lady. The whole way in which her companion was behaving immediately had me wanting to scream “He's an absolute player”, for such an educated and intelligent woman she seemed to show very blatant lacks of common sense or good judgement.

At so many points I struggled with Yvonne, her absolute lack of judgement, her blatant disregard for her husband, who whilst far from perfect seems to be exceptionally understanding, and finally she came across as a bit of a cold fish.

The book for me ebbed and flowed, it would stall for a chapter then suddenly the action would propel us forward again, enticing us by dropping hints about how Yvonne would end up in court. I expected it to be earth shattering and groundbreaking when it came - it wasn't - it was actually a little dull. There lacked any real sense of danger or of sinister goings on, really all it boiled down to was a mundane affair with a man whom Yvonne never really took the time to get to know and all I could keep saying was “Well if you will drop your knickers for someone within an hour you really cannot be surprised when they do something unhinged” and to clarify I mean this firmly in regards to her affair in the book and not the other circumstances within with her colleague so please do not fear that I justify his actions.

All in all it was an average read, I finished it but won't really reflect back on it with much fondness.

A 3.5 read. A classic thriller/ court room crime mystery novel. Doughty knows her craft well and writes very well within this genre style. However in terms of my own personal preference, once you have read one thriller that revolves around a trial, you kind of have read them all give or take a few twists. Therefore I got a little bored with the long drawn out trial and the predictable conclusion. However considering I was in a reading slump, this book is fast paced and helped me get back into reading. I also liked how the main protagonist was a problematic character who straddled the line between victim and perpetrator. Overall it wasn't the worst crime thriller I have ever read and while I was reading it, I enjoyed it as some light hearted escapism.