It is a conventional start to a thriller. Anna is up to enjoy an hour of peace and quiet, listening to a podcast in the kitchen, before Hamish and the girls come down. The marriage is off the boil and, frankly, Anna lacks the will to put it right. However, Hamish’s solution is more nuclear; he is leaving this morning with Anna’s best friend, Estelle, and he is taking the girls with him. That leaves Anna stunned and in no mood to welcome the subsequent arrival of Estelle’s now ex, Fin. He is a bit of a celebrity and somewhat needy.
Anna’s turbulence is exacerbated as the podcast she was listening to concerns a true crime and miscarriage of justice involving the death of an old acquaintance, Leon Parker. Unable to cope mentally with her own family break-up, she re-immerses herself in the podcast and determines to find out the truth behind the facts. The facts are that Leon Parker and his two children (by different ex-wives) died at sea, poisoned while alone on board the luxury yacht, Dana, which was then scuttled.
Fin goes along for the ride, using their quest to fuel his sagging social media presence. What he does not know yet is that Anna has another connection to the case, via Parker’s new wife, Gretchen Teigler. Fin’s exposure of them on social media could, and does, unleash forces too unpleasant to contemplate.
Cue a helter-skelter dash across Europe as Anna and Fin seek answers to the Dana killings and flee pursuing would-be assassins.
It all feels very modern with podcasts and the power social media to the fore. Some suspension of credibility is needed in the David and Goliath struggle of Anna and Fin versus the all-seeing and all-powerful Gretchen Teigler.
No spoilers in saying the outcome is as
conventional as the start; but what is sandwiched in between is anything but.
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