You made a mistake. But they’re saying it’s murder.
As taglines go, this one is definitely an eye-catcher, even an eyebrow-raiser. But does it keep its implicit promises, of drama, tension and thrills? I’m pleased to report that it certainly does.
What’s it about?
I’m going to pinch the blurb for this one:
Every Monday, 49-year-old Ellie looks after her grandson Josh. She loves him more than anyone else in the world. The only thing that can mar her happiness is her husband’s affair. But he swears it’s over now, and Ellie has decided to be thankful for what she’s got.
Then one day, while she’s looking after Josh, her husband gets a call from that woman. And just for a moment, Ellie takes her eyes off her grandson. What happens next will change her life forever.
Because Ellie is hiding something in her past.
And what looks like an accident could start to look like murder…
What’s it like?
After a devastating prologue, ‘I Looked Away’ is a slow burn that revolves around the first person narration of two characters: Ellie and Jo. While we witness critical moments from Ellie’s childhood – the loss of her mother and the gradual encroachment of her new stepmother – we also observe Jo’s homelessness as she flits from town to town, hiding from her past.
While I found Ellie’s story desperately sad, Jo’s felt a little awkward to me, as if the intention was for her to sample a bit of all the kinds of difficulties a homeless person might experience, in order to give Jo something to do and to engender sympathy in the reader for the plight of homeless people. What truly made Jo’s story interesting, for me, was the persistent sense of an untold story in her background. It’s clear that Jo is running away, but from what or from who is a secret I itched to know.
This is a very modern storyline in its sympathetic depiction of the central characters and Corry even encourages us to sympathise with the wicked stepmother at points, though of course Ellie finds this impossible, and Shelia persists in her cruelty beyond the point where a bystander might seek to encourage forgiveness. The men, being mostly weak or wicked, are another story altogether!
Final thoughts
‘I Looked Away’ is a decent thriller with twists I didn’t see coming and I enjoyed reading it.
At times, the vulnerability of both main characters is almost painful. Both girls make key decisions involving men, in their late teens, where I wished fiercely that someone responsible could have stopped them, or at least had a relationship with either of them that was sufficient to facilitate a chat and provide alternative perspectives, though on reflection it might not have made any difference at all, given the tendency of teenagers to believe they know best! It’s indicative of Corry’s skill at creating characters that I’m discussing these women as if they are real; their situations and decisions are simultaneously so frustrating and so convincing that they feel like case studies anyone working in an institution should read.
Corry’s own encounters with homeless people, described in the ‘Note from Jane’ included after the final chapter, have made her aware of how easily people can slip into homelessness without the right support and I think, for me, her desire to elucidate on this theme in her novel made it feel (for me) a little bit like an old fashioned morality tale at certain points – though of course, a truly old fashioned tale would have focused on deploring the sins of the characters, rather than encouraging understanding of their burdens. Regardless, I enjoyed reading this and look forward to reading Jane Corry’s other novels.
