Monday, February 21, 2011

Incendiary by Chris Cleave

Incendiary
This is told in the form of the voice of a working-class woman with remarkable persuasiveness—through  a letter from an enraged mother to Osama bin Laden.  Cleave has an eye for detail and political commentary and throws in the perfect mix of a little parody and a little sex.

 Living hand to mouth in London's East End, the unnamed mother's life is shattered when her policeman husband (part of a bomb disposal unit) and four-year-old son are killed in the stadium stands. Complicating matters: our narrator witnesses the event on TV, while in the throes of passion with her lover, journalist Jasper Black.

Cleave does an amazing character development that makes me feel like I know these people.  This novel was both gripping and entertaining...until the end when the violence went over the top and completely lost me.  A very disappointing ending.

Rating: 3.2 OK

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