Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty
Recommended by Danny at WEL Books
I haven’t read many books this year that I haven’t wanted to put down, and none that I read in one sitting, apart from this one.
Apple Tree Yard is the story of a middle-aged female scientist who has an affair with a mysterious man; a crime thriller which begins towards the end of the tale with the protagonist in the dock during a murder case.
Written in the first person, the reader is with the narrator all throughout her tumultuous journey which leads up to the courtroom. And all the while, her character is well drawn as an unromantic, sensible, reasoning woman who likes to keep her emotions under wraps. So different from myself and yet, some of the things she does are so primal that she had my blood running cold as I thought to myself, how in another life, it could have been me; I could have done that.
A thriller’s narrative must flow easy and slick, from word to word, thought to thought, and scene to scene, more than any other genre, and this one does the trick. But it wasn’t until I reached the very end that I realised how accomplished this piece of work is, for it had me wondering about crime and the vulnerability of human nature long after I’d finished reading the last page.