Caz Frear grew up in Coventry, England, and spent her teenage years dreaming of moving to London and writing a novel. After fulfilling her first dream, it wasn’t until she moved back to Coventry thirteen years later that the second finally came true. She has a degree in History & Politics, and when she’s not agonizing over snappy dialogue or incisive prose, she can be found shouting at Arsenal football matches or holding court in the pub on topics she knows nothing about.Frear's new novel is Sweet Little Lies.
Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Her reply:
I’m currently reading Skin Deep by the fantastic Liz Nugent. Skin Deep tells the story of Cordelia Russell, an Irish woman passing herself off as an English socialite on the French Riviera.Follow Caz Frear on Twitter.Nugent is the new queen of unlikeable heroines, in my humble opinion, and she’s the queen of the deliciously dark first line too:
I wondered when rigor mortis would set in, or if it already had.While the central mystery is who has been killed and why has Cordelia killed them, Skin Deep is far more than a classic ‘why-dunnit’ – it’s a super-smart character study, a psychologist’s dream! While Nugent doesn’t flinch from showing us the bleakest parts of human nature, she’s also careful to help us understand Cordelia, even when we want to turn away in disgust. There’s such a skill in balancing such brutality and compassion and I’m absolutely loving the Skin Deep ride so far.
Prior to this, I read The Secret Place by Tana French – the only French book to have somehow passed me by. The Secret Place focuses on the murder of a teenage boy at an exclusive Dublin school, and as with all French’s novels, it’s as much a commentary on current society and the human condition as it is a standard thriller. I’ll be honest, it probably isn’t my favourite French novel, although that’s like saying X isn’t my favourite child – I still loved it. Seriously, Tana French could write a recipe for a boiled potato and I’d probably still rave about it!
The Page 69 Test: Sweet Little Lies.
--Marshal Zeringue
Posts
