The next book on the Library shelves was Spirals by Tatiana de Rosnay. A french author of popular fiction who has also more recently written a couple of novels in English [A Secret Kept] and [The House I Loved]. She sells a lot of books.

Spirales is written in the third person from the point of view of Helen: a 50 year old woman, very attractive and well liked in her community of rich bourgeoise in Paris. Her husband is an editor in a publishing house and appears on television from time to time. Helen does not work herself but helps out at a creche and makes visits to the elderly and infirm, her son nicknames her Saint Helen. A hot summers day in Paris finds Helen on a visit to a sick relative, she passes an apartment block and is propositioned by a man; for the only time in her life she is tempted and goes into his apartment, where she has rough, painful sex, but thinks it is the best sex she has ever had. (yes its that sort of novel). She ends up pinned to the bed with the man lying heavily on top of her, she struggles free and realises that he has died, she panics, gathers herself together and rushes out to her car and the safety of her home. Later that evening while she and her husband are entertaining a client she receives a call from the police requesting that she come to the station because her purse and identity card have been found in the bedroom of a dead man. She goes with her husband and claims that her purse was stolen and she knows nothing about the dead man. Her story is accepted, but some weeks later a young woman turns up on her doorstep, saying she knows Helen has lied.......................

Everything is in place then for a psychological thriller which sees the world through the eyes of a rich, basically decent woman whose life could easily spiral out of control because of one reckless sexual encounter. A good woman from a good family who has encountered an immigrant (the man was Serbian) and her blackmailers are youngsters without 'papers'. The book does have a bit of the feel of 'keeping the barbarians outside the city gates'. Helen comes to realise this and so cannot confide in her friends or her husband. This is not an original story and it is weighted in favour of the reader feeling sympathy for Helen's situation, although her lack of courage might give pause for thought. Efficiently written and 3 stars. ( )

Ik weet echt niet wat ik van dit boek moet denken. Het is een vreemd verhaal en het einde snap ik helemaal niet. Tot het einde hoopte ik dat het nog ergens heen zou gaan, maar helaas. Niet het beste boek van mevr. De Rosnay. ( )