ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – The Commuter by Emma Curtis
The Commuter by Emma Curtis is published by Corvus in paperback, eBook and audiobook. My thanks to Kirsty Doole for the review copy.
I used to dread rush hour. Now I live for it…
Rachel wakes from a coma to discover her controlling husband has been killed, and the police suspect her of involvement.
But all Rachel can recall from the last few weeks are tantalising flashes of a fellow commuter. A man whose name she doesn’t know.
A man who has disappeared without a trace.
Now Rachel is a wealthy widow and the vultures are circling, wanting her in prison for murder, or failing that … dead.
Can Rachel discover the truth in time to save herself?
Rachel Gordon is married to Anthony, an older, very successful businessman. Whilst travelling to work on the tube, she meets a man who she connects with. She loves her husband but this man gives her journeys a frisson of excitement as she waits to see if he will board the same tube as her. When she has an accident and wakes up from a coma to find Anthony has been killed, she can’t remember a thing about the past few months or the mysterious man she had been spending her commute with. The police believe she might have been involved with Anthony’s death but surely she couldn’t have been…..could she?
The Commuter is a book with as many layers as an onion. Even with just over 400 pages, I’m still amazed at how much was packed into the pages. Just when I thought I knew where the story was headed another curveball was thrown at me by Emma Curtis. Rachel is such a fascinating character and I wondered all the way through whether she was an unreliable narrator, whether what she thought she remembered was true or not, and generally whether she could be trusted. There’s an uncomfortable and awkward stepmother/stepdaughter dynamic between her and Anthony’s daughter, Caroline, with Rachel’s status as the younger second wife adding an extra layer to the story.
I raced through this incredibly fast-paced and twisty book. The plot is cleverly executed and kept me guessing all the way through. Recommended for all psychological thriller fans. Just be careful who you make eye contact with on your commute!
Emma Curtis spent many years as a primary school secretary, becoming fascinated by the dynamics of family life and the fault lines hidden behind seemingly perfect facades. After the success of her debut, One Little Mistake, Emma started writing full-time. The Commuter is her seventh psychological suspense novel. She lives in West London with her husband.
