| In 1976 an ex-bunny girl from the 1960s lives alone (apart from a
dog and two horses) in an isolated farmhouse. She had been the live-in
girlfriend of Lenny Maxted, half of a top British comedy duo who killed
himself in 1969. His suicide came after one of those drinks'n'drugs
parties that get a quick makeover when the press start asking questions.
None of it matters now, surely - Lenny is dead and Alice is making a
kind of life. Out of the blue she is sent newspaper clippings about a
woman's body, found in the lake of Lenny's house. Alice doesn't know who
sent the clippings, or why. Then she is descended upon by the other half
of that once-famed duo, a forgotten and cracking up comedian whose
intentions are anything but funny. Alice may be flawed, but this guy is
in melt-down. Wilson's first person narrative delivers a tense and
suspenseful thriller - woman in peril meets the man from Night Must Fall
- which starts so simply it is almost banal. It doesn't stay that way.
Once beyond asking "Why doesn't she run away?", the chaos and
horror become inevitable. |
