The Question

Jane Asher's second novel is a compelling and well written study of the terrible effect of jealousy on a woman's life. John and Eleanor Hamilton are middle-aged, wealthy, and settled in their comfortable life in Hampshire and London. John didn't want children, so instead Eleanor used her energies to help run the company and get involved in the local community. So imagine her horror when, one day, she discovers that her husband has led a secret life for twenty years, in the shape of a mistress and a nineteen-year-old daughter - the daughter that she herself wanted but never had. The jealousy that Eleanor feels is all-consuming, driving her to limits she would never have thought possible. Then John, badly injured in a car crash, becomes a victim of PVS - Persistent Vegetative State. Although he is capable of communicating by the smallest of signals, he has no quality of life. And so the ultimate question is raised - and the ultimate opportunity for revenge. Should he live or should he die? Revenge can make for an interesting and gripping story - but in this instance, after the betrayal had been discovered, the story's twists and turns, the lies and cover-ups, I found were sometimes a little ridiculous. However, it did have a nice nasty ending!