Come and Find Me by Hallie Ephron
Never Tell A Lie, Hallie Ephron’s first novel, was a finalist in the Mary Higgins Clark Award and subsequently filmed under the title And Baby Will Fall.
An acclaimed reviewer of the mystery novel for the Boston Globe, Ephron seems to be rapidly leaving her fingerprints all over the genre of suburban crime.
‘Though I’m here in this far off place, my air is not this time and space’ go the lyrics of Josh Ritter’s song Come And Find Me. Ephron may claim no inspiration from the song but to me the words seem freakily redolent of the mood of claustrophobia engulfing our leading character, Diane Highsmith.
Slopping around the house in your pyjamas and working from home might be an idyll for some but for Diane it is anything but. Traumatised by a climbing trip to the North Face of the Eiger which went terribly wrong, it would take a very keen fingersmith to penetrate the high-security habitat that Diane exists in now.
With pallid demeanor and dark circles around her eyes it has been a very long while since this now petrified creature has dared to brave the great outdoors.
Ephron conveys the sense of Diane being a shadow of her former self well. We know that a knock at the door, in spite of the infrared security monitors, will trigger a Pavlovian reaction. Like a nervous pensioner on Halloween, Diane will be cowering in the corner – shaking in her boots. And she does seem very fond of boots.
This novel is very much of its time and will appeal to XBoxers and Wii fanatics. But don’t even begin to compare those simple, Playmobil-type avatars with the highly imaginative, creative environment of Otherworld, the Second Life-type virtual world in which pixel chick Diane functions.
With fellow, reformed ex-hacker Jake, the pair meet clients in virtual boardrooms and walk down replicated real-life streets using their techy nous to make an honest buck resolving security issues for health care clients.
With the arrival of Diane’s sister Ashley, the story descends into something quite sinister. Ephron fleshes out her characters in high resolution to the extent that we feel her paranoia and wonder whether she will ever overcome her demons.
Readers who cannot tell a SIM from a Pac-Man need not fret. While the author highlights the power wielded by those in the geeky know-how, those fond of a gentle thriller will enjoy the pace at which Come And Find Me unfurls.
At times pedestrian and with a few clunky sentences that left me squirming, mostly involving lost lover Daniel’s walking stick, the writing is dialogue-heavy and typical of its genre.
With a denouement not entirely predictable in this cyberworld brimming with paranoia, taut emotion and more than a smattering of suspense, all that remains is to say: strike a pose, don your 3D glasses, assume your avatar and join gusty Diane for the ride!
William Morrow & Co publishes Come And Find Me in hardback on 22nd March. Get yours on Amazon for £13.91, or for £11.50 for Kindle.
Rating: 3/5
Recommended for: Gamers, geeks, those of a reclusive nature. Fans of gentle paced thrillers and women who like to get even!
Other recommended reading: Helene Tursten’s Glass Devil or Karin Alvtegen’s Betrayal.
Rebecca Smeaton
What do you think?