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This is a puzzling but very fun murder mystery, and in the inimitable style of Sophie Hannah, you’re kept guessing right up until the end. I had no clue about what had happened and couldn’t have guessed it at all before the end but, as expected, I loved the journey to get there! You'll also be added to Sophie's 'Readers List', so you'll be the first to know next time Sophie is giving something away. In Perfect Little Children (published as Haven't They Grown in the UK), a woman drives by a woman and her children who she hasn't seen in 12 years. The woman has aged but the children are still the same age they were 12 years ago???
The Couple at the Table reads like an old-fashioned murder mystery and a psychological thriller rolled into one. The plot is simple in terms of the murder, however, the investigation and the toing and froing between the characters and timeline make sure you have to read the book slowly and take everything in as at times it comes across as a little confusing. Suspenseful, spellbinding, and filled with Agatha Christie-like slightly twisted, tongue-in-cheek characters, I thoroughly enjoyed The Couple at the Table. Told in two timelines through multiple narrators so that we see the complete picture, it even finishes up with a group meeting where the murderer is revealed. And to top off the classic feel in this very modern novel, a map of the scene of the murder is included within the story (only thing missing for the trifecta is a character list).
BY FAR Sophie Hannah’s best one yet. Relatable, funny, high concept and so satisfying I watched in awe as the pieces fell into place’ GILLIAN McALLISTER Of course it is entirely possible but it will bug you as to the solution right up until it is revealed...so addictive, beautifully written and full of red herrings. Six couples are seated for dinner at six different tables an equal distance away from the others. One of the couples receives a note stating that they should beware of the couple seated the nearest to them. Who could they mean? When a death follows the note's arrival it seems that its contents were truthful and the race in discovering who the sender is and who they were referring to is on.
As well as creating her own characters, Hannah has penned novels featuring Hercule Poirot, and the denouement to The Couple at the Table feels like something Agatha Christie may have dreamed up – all the protagonists gather at the scene of the crime, during which the detective sums up exactly what happened before revealing the killer. MY THOUGHTS: Lucy Dean describes her ex-husband William Gleave as 'like a computer that's only had a quarter of its software installed.' Which made me smile. At times the description could equally well have fitted DC Simon Waterhouse, a man obsessed with a crime, a murder, that appears to have no solution. The Lucy narrator was hilariously deranged but not in a good way and the victim, Jane, sounded like a badly drawn Cruella De Vil. The whole 'letter to a murderer' thing was badly judged (and repeated twice). This was presumably so the reader could read through to find the clues, but I couldn't be arsed. It took a few chapters before I settled into this one but once caught up in the tangled lives and stories, this became hard to put down. I'd say that in comparison with the earlier books in the series, this is lighter, without the same intensity of trauma and troubled characters. It most certainly is an intriguing book and if you like your plots to go over the same scene from numerous points of view then you will love this novel. Especially if you adore books with plenty of characters that will get on your nerves and have narcissistic qualities. These characters really grated on me after a while, which I find is the making of a good story, when I become emotionally invested and either love or hate the characters.In The Couple at the Table, a woman is murdered at a couple's only retreat. She was sent to warning letters prior to the murder, one saying "Beware of the couple at the table nearest to yours" but all the tables were as close to one table as they are to another. Why would you send someone a warning letter that does not assist them?
So when I was offered the chance to review her latest, I decided it was a good opportunity to finally find out what I’d been missing. The Couple at the Table has everything you want in a mystery – a cryptic threat, a murder, a closed circle of suspects and an unguessable solution. Completely ingenious, entirely satisfying – a delight from start to finish.” Alas, this was not the book for me. However, I will gladly read the next Sophie Hannah book in the hopes that it is a great one! BY FAR Sophie Hannah's best one yet. Relatable, funny, high concept and so satisfying I watched in awe as the pieces fell into place' GILLIAN McALLISTER
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There are plenty of suspects, but not many whom we get to know well. Lucy Dean is the main player. She is the ex-wife of William, whose new wife has been murdered. Not only did she and partner Pete attend William and Jane's wedding, but they turn up at the resort where William and Jane are honeymooning. An uncomfortable situation? You'd think so. Do either couple leave? Where would be the fun in that? The story is ridiculous, the couples completely unconvincing. I heard Hannah talking about it on the radio and even as she described the story I felt she was struggling to sell the premise. She also spoke about how she made a detailed plan of the resort, writing out a map and everything. It didn't work. I couldn't picture this so-called luxury resort at all. I just kept picturing a large grim Edwardian house surrounded by caravans. Not, I think, what she was going for.
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