Without Consent (Helen West Mystery) - Hardcover

Fyfield, Frances

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670876828 ISBN 13: 9780670876822

Publisher: Viking Adult, 1997

Synopsis

Rape is a crime that particularly haunts prosecutor Helen West, especially when all the evidence in a recent string of murders points to a police officer who is best friend to her rumpled lover, Superintendent Geoffrey Bailey

About this title

Review:

All of the guilt, pain, and ugliness that surrounds the crime of rape are woven deep into the fabric of Frances Fyfield's splendid novel about London prosecutor Helen West and her lover, high-echelon police officer Geoffrey Bailey. One of Bailey's protégés, a rough, unlovable sergeant named Ryan, has been accused of several rapes. Fyfield is so skilled at creating and maintaining suspense that we're never sure of Ryan's guilt or innocence until the very end, even though we know that another man, a mysterious doctor, is responsible for some of the vicious attacks. While the rape investigations unfold, West and Bailey make plans to be married, which is another event made believably uncertain by Fyfield's uncanny ability to probe human doubts and frailties. Other Fyfield books available in paperback include Perfectly Pure and Good, A Question of Guilt, and Shadows on the Mirror.

From the Back Cover:

"Absolutely irresistible ... Her best so far. [Fyfield is] setting the stage for the next century of crime fiction." -The Globe and Mail

"Fyfield brings [her characters' alive--.The great characterization of this book also makes it demanding, [but] it's worth it." --Saskatoon Star Phoenix

"Fyfield effectively explores the morass of fear and guilt in the realm of sexual assault." --Edmonton Journal

"Dark, stylish, stay-with-you-at-night, psychological suspense of the highest calibre." --Minette Walters

"A triumph.... A cunning tale [that] will both chill, thrill and inform.... Fyfield transcends hackneyed formulas to offer a troubling read, with or without her reader's consent. Bow to the inevitable and buy it now." --Evening Standard

"Superb.... Fyfield writes compellingly, without sentiment and almost without hope, wrestling with the question of what defines consent." --Maclean's

"Fyfield's women are her strength ... all are memorably alive. [But] above all, it is the author's voice, sensible, understanding, human and forgiving, beautifully accurate in its description ... which makes this story not only deeply troubling but hopeful too.... One of her best." --The Times

"A taut thriller--gripping and convincing--that shows us how our legal system really works." --Cosmopolitan

About this edition

• Publisher: Viking Adult
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0670876828
• ISBN 13: 9780670876822
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224