Worth a read....

After previously reading “Shame On You” by Amy Heydenrych and thoroughly enjoying, I was over the moon to be able to read this author’s latest novel “The Pact”. An exciting premise and enticing first few pages had me engrossed immediately.
Sadly though, as the book progressed it slowed down dramatically and didn’t seem to move anywhere. I didn’t take to any of the characters and lost all interest in who killed Nicole. They were all rather odd and I was quite dismayed to learn that all tech workers working in silicone valley, were so sexually deviant. The men in the story were all portrayed in a very bad light (apart from Detective Simon Cohen who himself was a strange vitamin promoter) and it was hard to believe that so many of the men were vindictive, misogynistic or troublesome sexual abusers even in the higher echelons of society. I appreciate the author was trying to convey a story relating to bullying in the workplace, especially female on female bullying and I agree it is more common and important than people first think but the amount of sexual harassment and bullying was very extreme for one company and a tad too unrealistic for me. Freya’s constant helplessness got me quite frustrated at times and if it had been me receiving abusive messages, I’d have left my phone at home switched off! The ending was also a disappointment for me but this was just a personal opinion, others may find the unexpected denouement to be very clever.
On a positive note, I did like how the author wrote quick chapters and the differing time lines between the characters perspectives. Although slow paced it did keep the momentum going for me and it was this that kept me reading on. “The Pact’ was an easy, undemanding read that can easily be read in a day if time allows and even though on this occasion the story didn’t hit the mark for me, I do like this author’s writing style and would read more by her again.
3 stars