Notes on a Drowning by Anna Sharpe #BookReview #BlogTour

Kat has worked hard to become Special Adviser to the Home Secretary, and is eager to finally put the dark and tragic part of her past behind her. But when she discovers a series of cover-ups, she begins to wonder whether her seemingly perfect new boss could be involved. Then she she’s shocked to discover a letter that raises worrying questions about a girl found drowned in London… Natalia.

There are complex and painful reasons for Alex and Kat not to work together, but when it becomes clear that there are powerful people involved in Natalia’s death, and that other girls are at risk, Alex and Kat must overcome their differences to find answers.

Will they save the girls and discover the truth? Or will the high-powered players in this game stop Alex and Kat for good?

I love a political thriller but Notes on a Drowning was particularly irresistible because it’s the contemporary crime fiction debut of Anna Sharpe, who is currently better known as historical fiction author Anna Mazzola. It’s always a little daunting coming to a book I have been eagerly anticipating for a while but this razor-sharp novel was everything I’d hoped for and more.

Anna Sharpe is a natural storyteller and so she doesn’t rush the first part of the book as she introduces the main characters, most notably Kat and Alex. Alex is initially the more sympathetic character; she is a lawyer who is under pressure from her boss, Paul, who insists she must stop taking on legal aid cases. Nevertheless, she reluctantly agrees to a request from a colleague to look into the inquest into the drowning of Natalia, a young Moldovan girl who apparently fell from a party boat into the Thames. The post-mortem found there were drugs in her system and so it looks to be a straightforward case but her sister, Rosa insists she never took drugs. Meanwhile, Kat is a Special Advisor to Richard Carmichael, the newly appointed Home Secretary.  She is clearly driven and hugely ambitious – without the benefit of a privileged upbringing, she has had to work harder than most for her position and she is good at her job. However, her reaction when she learns that she is expected to join a delegation to Tokyo is bewildering. It’s quickly apparent that Kat has some dark secrets but after she accidentally stumbles upon what appears to be Home Office cover-ups, she must confront her shady past – and Alex. 

Although the relationship between Kat and Alex is central to proceedings, the dynamics between them and other characters is intriguing too. Alex is a single mother to a teenage daughter, has a complicated relationship with her estranged husband, Jason and is still haunted by the disappearance of her sister, Elisa twelve years ago. Meanwhile, as everything Kat thought she knew is torn away from her, she has to figure out who she can really trust. The convincing dialogue and natural humour of these early chapters allow the characters to develop fluidly and so when the action began to heat up, I was just as invested in their lives as I was in their desperate search for the truth. Both women are carrying a bitter burden of guilt, regret and resentment, and although they realise they have to work together, there’s a brittle fragility to their relationship which is fascinating. 

This is a novel which is centred on women throughout; sisterhood, friendships, misogyny in the workplace and exploitation all feature here and even at the high-octane, dramatic moments, the storyline is underpinned by its chilling plausibility. Corruption and cowardice at the highest levels result in some terrifying revelations coming to light as Kat, Alex and their loved ones realise just how much danger they are in. As the full extent of the deadly conspiracy is exposed, the unrelenting sense of tension in Notes of a Drowning becomes almost unbearable; this is crime fiction at its most gripping. However, despite her serpentine plot being breathtakingly exciting, Anna Sharpe never forgets the victims and as devastating as the betrayals and fear endured by the two women may be, the real tragedy lies in the knowledge that the exploitative persecution of the most vulnerable members of society happens in real life too. 

Shocking, compulsive and deeply moving, Notes on a Drowning is a first-rate thriller and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Anna Sharpe is the pseudonym of Anna Mazzola. She’s the award-winning author of three historical thrillers plus one ghost novel. Her debut novel, The Unseeing, won an Edgar Allan Poe award in the US. Her third novel, The Clockwork Girl, set in 18th century Paris, reached number 11 in the Sunday Times Chart.