For the first little while of reading It Could Have Been Her by Lisa Jewell I was wishing I was reading it in paperback so I could flick back through the pages and keep track of all the different characters. That didn’t last long, however, once they all started shifting into focus and the absolutely brilliant plot began to take shape.
Jane Trevally is twice-divorced, living with her dogs in her crumbling family home in its beautiful grounds and gradually coming round to the realisation that she must sell it. Jane is loved by all of her step-children and is especially close to her stepson, Dexter. When Jane and her dogs find a little West Highland terrier running around in the woods around Jane’s home, she asks Dexter to help her find its owner.
That is the beginning of a twisty, murky, intriguing and compulsively readable book which belongs in the Unputdownable folder in my head.The little dog’s chip identifies him as Hugo Tucker, and Jane and Dexter take Hugo back to his home address. People associated with that address are each given their own chapters and, beware! Once you get used to them all, you won’t be able to look away.
It Could Have Been Her is a superb piece of crime fiction writing and I hope it is the start of a series about Jane and Dexter, private investigators extraordinaire! Huge thanks to Lisa Jewell for coming up with such an interesting, imaginative story.
Published by Penguin
