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Hare's well-crafted second novel oozes glamour . . . Did someone mention Agatha Christie? Yes, but with the bonus of subtle reflections on race and class' Observer The vast bulk of the story takes place on the cruise liner as Lena gets involved with a very rich family and secrets are revealed as well as murders!
Knowing that she needs to leave London and that it is an opportunity of a lifetime, she accepts and travels in comfort to New York on the Queen Mary. However, someone on board is wanting to make her life hell, and what better way than framing her for murder. But who and why would someone go to the trouble of following her onto the ship to stage the elaborate plot? Overall, though despite these reservations I do enjoy this book as it has a lot more depth to it than other books in this genre. I love the cover to which is stunning. We follow Lena as her life before getting on the Queen Mary and during her time on the Queen Mary is revealedDuring her journey, she finds herself at the same table within Abernathy family: ultra rich, sophisticated and also very dysfunctional family: each of them keeps terrible secrets and one of them is a killer who plans to put blame on Lena for his/ her own misdemeanors. But who and why? Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.
An odd twist is revealed quite out of the blue making it appear almost ridiculous and I have to say it fell flat for me. I enjoyed this story and the mystery very much. I loved the setting of the Queen Mary, and the author did a wonderful job of describing life on the ocean liner. I also liked that Lena’s love interest is a member of the staff of the ship, and that made for some interesting scenes from the working class. The Abernathy’s were quite an interesting, obscenely wealthy family, and although none of them were very likable, they were very interesting.
The ending! I don't mind what happens, exactly, and I applaud an atypical conclusion. But it just felt like it was underwritten, and certainly I needed more reasoning and feeling behind the choices that are made. And while I also don't mind that Lena is not the detective and largely reacts to things throughout the story instead of acting--this felt right, as a passenger--I do think that at the end, we needed more of an emphatic statement and proactive decision-making from her. A fabulous Christie-esque mystery. Brilliantly written, so evocative, and keeps you guessing all the way through’ Charlotte Levin, If I Can’t Have You Its also a book about self discovery and its all wrapped up in this murder mystery format which is quite a lot to take in. It is clear from the beginning of the book that someone is plotting against Lena so you get what you expect when two of the men of the American family are murdered on ship. Indeed, one of the most important threads that runs through the novel – the racial identity of Lena – couldn’t have been better explored for the era. A strong yet vulnerable heroine
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