Without Consent (Helen West Series #6)

by Frances Fyfield

Overview

A tense, twisting thriller perfect for fans of Linda Fairstein.

Prosecutor Helen West's relationship with police officer Geoffrey Bailey is becoming more serious, but the couple is at odds because Bailey's protégé, Sergeant Ryan, is suspected of rape. As the evidence slowly mounts against Ryan, West and Bailey examine the seemingly open-and-shut case; a terrible crime warrants justice regardless of their feelings toward Ryan. But as they dig deeper, a new suspect emerges—one who possesses a cold-blooded intuition about women. West and Bailey quickly find themselves trying to clear Ryan's name and avenge a series of crimes with no evidence.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062301574
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	07/01/2014
Series:	Helen West Series , #6
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	488 KB

About the Author

Frances Fyfield has spent much of her professional life practicing as a criminal lawyer, work that has informed her highly acclaimed novels. She has been the recipient of both the Gold and Silver Crime Writers' Association Daggers. She is also a regular broadcaster on Radio 4, most recently as the presenter of the series Tales from the Stave. She lives in London and in Deal, overlooking the sea, which is her passion.

Editorial Reviews

Never less than fine (Shadow Play) and often spectacular (The Playroom), Fyfield, whether she writes as Fyfield or as Francis Hegarty, is an astute crime plotter and a crafty observer of the subtle nuances that permeate middle-class English mores. Here, she's in top form. As her two series charactersprosecutor Helen West and her lover, high-ranking London policeman Geoffrey Baileymove uneasily toward matrimony, a rapist is plaguing London. The main suspect is detective sergeant Ryan, who's not only a fellow cop of Bailey's but his protg. Ryan is not an especially likable man, and his past is murky. His most recent investigations involved a series of rape accusations by apparently confused women, and it's not at all clear whether or not the crimes actually occurred. Two of the women were pregnant and died mysteriously. Then Ryan's accuser dies. Meanwhile, a bald doctor pervades the narrative: oddly celibate and ever sympathetic, he has beautiful brown eyes and wears synthetic clothes that leave no residue of foreign particles after physical contact. The doctor visits with troubled women, bearing flowers and chocolates. Fyfield treads into dangerously murky territory, exploring the blurry lines between emotional and physical assault and the confusing legal and moral definitions of rape. West and Bailey may be put through too many emotional hoops, but Fyfield proves herself to be among those rare crime writers (Ruth Rendell is another) who can address provocative topics with intelligent ambiguity. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Helen West, a lawyer for London's Crown Prosecution Service, deals mostly with cases of rape and the often hapless victims she has to persuade to carry their accusations to court (A Clear Conscience, 1995, etc.). Here, Helen and her longtime lover Police Superintendent Geoffrey Bailey have finally set a marriage date—at the Registry Office—but Bailey has a serious problem of his own: Detective Sergeant Ryan, his protégé, whom he had nurtured to responsible maturity in the force and who's now a respected family man, has been accused of rape by Shelley Pelmore, a shopgirl with a taste for nightlife. Shelley's case is but one of several plaguing Helen and her trainee assistant, Rose Darvey. Anna Stirland, nurse at a women's clinic, is another, as is Brigid Connor, a woman addicted to taking long baths and avoiding the attentions of her husband. Mention of a handsome, bald-headed man runs like a thread through many of the victims' accounts, but when Shelley Pelmore is found dead in a local park, Ryan—suspended from the force but not in jail—seems the obvious killer, until Bailey, Helen, and one of the true killer's victims take matters into their own hands.

Masterful suspense, although tempered by the author's exasperating tendency to explore every character's psyche at tedious length and to approach every crisis from an oblique angle. Downbeat all the way but, still, powerfully engrossing.

Kirkus Reviews

"Absolutely irresistible ... Her best so far. [Fyfield is] setting the stage for the next century of crime fiction." -The Globe and Mail

"Fyfield brings [her characters' alive--.The great characterization of this book also makes it demanding, [but] it's worth it." --Saskatoon Star Phoenix

"Fyfield effectively explores the morass of fear and guilt in the realm of sexual assault." --Edmonton Journal

"Dark, stylish, stay-with-you-at-night, psychological suspense of the highest calibre." --Minette Walters

"A triumph.... A cunning tale [that] will both chill, thrill and inform.... Fyfield transcends hackneyed formulas to offer a troubling read, with or without her reader's consent. Bow to the inevitable and buy it now." --Evening Standard

"Superb.... Fyfield writes compellingly, without sentiment and almost without hope, wrestling with the question of what defines consent." --Maclean's

"Fyfield's women are her strength ... all are memorably alive. [But] above all, it is the author's voice, sensible, understanding, human and forgiving, beautifully accurate in its description ... which makes this story not only deeply troubling but hopeful too.... One of her best." --The Times

"A taut thriller--gripping and convincing--that shows us how our legal system really works." --Cosmopolitan

From the Publisher