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Alys Always Harriet Lane 9780297865018 Books

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Alys Always Harriet Lane 9780297865018 Books

Harriet Lane writes a specific type of psychological suspense: there are no crazy, axe-weilding characters, there are no tragic pasts of abuse and trauma, there is no blood and gore and there are no two characters gripped in a complex web of psychological combat.

Because Harriet Lane is too sophisticated for that. Her suspense lies in the average person quietly, but intentionally seizing an opportunity to exploit or manipulate another for their own benefit...often without the target ever knowing.

It is the secret between the reader and the protagonist: you are in collusion. Because you root for this character, even as you feel discomfort (and disbelief) for what you see them do, the chances that they take, the ends to which they aspire. We already know to fear the crazies and the psychopaths. But Ms. Lane teaches us that there are dark depths to that average-looking girl you sat next to on the subway; depths that you might want to be wary of. Or terribly, terribly afraid.

The story is civilized - it is a pleasure to live in this world, and, like the protagonist, you don't want to lose it. But old-world rules of civility rule here, don't startle the other characters, or they'll bolt and you'll be left with nothing. So it becomes a slow stalking of the goal...adjusting for set-backs, flinging the net wide and drawing it in slowly....until, in the end, you realize that what you have done (because you want the protagonist to win) is to play with other peoples lives in ways they would never let you...if you had been honest with them.


Tags : ,Harriet Lane,Alys, Always,George Weidenfeld & Nicholson,0297865013,Fiction - Psychological Suspense,Literary,Psychological,Suspense

Alys Always Harriet Lane 9780297865018 Books Reviews

This was a very entertaining story. Lane makes a rather implausible plot seem plausible. I was dying to see where this narrative was going and ultimately was satisfied with a realistic dénouement.
I found the main character cold and calculating. I could not find one redeaming quality. So, how can the reader get past that?
SPOILER alert! I expected her to get her comeuppance at the end and felt totally deflated when that was not how it played
out.
What was the message?
Great novel, Harriet Lane has a unique voice. If you haven’t picked up her other nove, Her, go and get it right now. I have gifted it to all my friends. One of the only books I have read that as soon as I finished the last page, I started reading all over again. Master of suspense and women’s cunning and ruthlessness.
It's a good thing I'm on vacation, as I read this book in one sitting, staying up far too late last night to finish it. From the first few pages, I was sucked in, as much by the author's descriptive and sometimes even lyrical prose as by the desire to see where the narrator (and main character) ends up.

The writing was so beautiful and evocative, and such a part of the pleasure of the novel, that I had no trouble resisting my usual habit of speed-reading. The author is particularly skilled at conveying place and atmosphere with clever turns of phrase, to the point where I found myself easily able to see and feel the homes in the book, the streets, the people, the weather.

The story is as much about the development of the narrator as it is about what happens to all the rest of the characters. Yes, there are a few holes in the plot, a few questions that are left unanswered. When did Frances' ambitions first take root? What really drew her into the Kyte family's lives? Certain elements of the story insinuate that Frances had a level of interest in the Kytes long before the initial dramatic incident, but we are left wondering. What was her attraction to them? Was it pure ambition? If so, then it would be extremely unlikely that someone with that much skilled ambition would have been content to plod along for the first 35-ish years of her life. The chance encounter that we are supposed to believe propelled Frances to change so dramatically, from a nondescript plodder into a wise and extremely adept manipulative schemer, is just not fleshed out well enough to supply the motivation necessary for such a change. And of course, because it IS such a chance encounter, it feels even more contrived. If Alys and Frances could have been brought together in another way, where we could better feel Frances' growing fascination with Alys and desire to become Alys, the book would have held together a lot better.

Still, this was an extremely enjoyable read. In addition to the lovely and skilled descriptive writing, I was drawn to watching how the character developed and changed, seemingly before my very eyes. Great book.
I have given this book 5 stars because of the way it held my interest. Is there anything more compelling to the human psyche than treachery and avarice and a cool sense of distance from it all emanating from the person holding all of the chess pieces and placing them exactly where she wants them to go?

Francis saw an opportunity when she learned that the horrible accident she witnessed one stormy night involved the wife and mother of a prominent writer's family and her ability to insinuate herself into their narrative and the fabric of their lives.was a source of both wonder and, I admit, distaste.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a novel written with ingenious invention.
Who hasn't fantasized about morphing into someone else? preferably someone gorgeous, admired, successful, powerful and loved. Some people just fall right into the a lucky situation while others need to slog it out and fail. Frances, a 35ish copy editor has spent decades observing successful people. Quiet, subtle and unassuming Frances connives and finally weasels her way into the lives of the Kyte family - the family of a celebrity author that she meets quite by accident. How Frances succeeds in doing this is what drives the novel.
Everything falls into place very conveniently. Too conveniently but this still makes a fun read. Well written, subtle and vastly entertaining I look forward to Harriet Lane's third novel. I highly recommend Her, for another fun read.
Harriet Lane writes a specific type of psychological suspense there are no crazy, axe-weilding characters, there are no tragic pasts of abuse and trauma, there is no blood and gore and there are no two characters gripped in a complex web of psychological combat.

Because Harriet Lane is too sophisticated for that. Her suspense lies in the average person quietly, but intentionally seizing an opportunity to exploit or manipulate another for their own benefit...often without the target ever knowing.

It is the secret between the reader and the protagonist you are in collusion. Because you root for this character, even as you feel discomfort (and disbelief) for what you see them do, the chances that they take, the ends to which they aspire. We already know to fear the crazies and the psychopaths. But Ms. Lane teaches us that there are dark depths to that average-looking girl you sat next to on the subway; depths that you might want to be wary of. Or terribly, terribly afraid.

The story is civilized - it is a pleasure to live in this world, and, like the protagonist, you don't want to lose it. But old-world rules of civility rule here, don't startle the other characters, or they'll bolt and you'll be left with nothing. So it becomes a slow stalking of the goal...adjusting for set-backs, flinging the net wide and drawing it in slowly....until, in the end, you realize that what you have done (because you want the protagonist to win) is to play with other peoples lives in ways they would never let you...if you had been honest with them.